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Coordinated tautologies in Spanish and Russian

  • Victoria Escandell-Vidal

    Victoria Escandell-Vidal is Professor of Linguistics at the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED). Her research focus on the interfaces between grammar, semantics and pragmatics from a cognitive perspective. She is the author of several books Introducción a la Pragmática (Ariel, 1996/2006) Fundamentos de Semántica composicional (Ariel, 2004), La comunicación: lengua, cognición y sociedad (Akal, 2014) and has co-edited Procedural Meaning: Problems and Perspectives (Emerald, 2011, with M. Leonetti and A. Ahern) and 60 problemas de gramática (Akal, 2011, with M. Leonetti and C. Sánchez). She has published papers in journals such as Language Sciences, Lingua, Studies in Language, Journal of Pragmatics, Language and Speech. She is currently the PI of a project investigating how semantic feature mismatches are inferentially solved in the course of utterance interpretation.

     EMAIL logo     and Elena Vilinbakhova

    Elena Vilinbakhova is Senior Lecturer of Linguistics at St Petersburg State University. Her research interests include semantics, pragmatics and corpus linguistics. Dr Vilinbakhova has published several papers in linguistic journals. In 2016 she was awarded an Academia Europea Prize for young Russian scientists in the category Humanities for her work on Russian tautologies. Her current project explores how patterns with lexical repetitions (tautologies and reduplication) can be analyzed and interpreted within the stereotype theory.
Published/Copyright: July 28, 2018
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Intercultural Pragmatics
From the journal Intercultural Pragmatics Volume 15 Issue 3

Abstract

This paper examines a special pattern of tautological constructions – a is a and b is b – in Spanish and Russian. The phenomenon was first described by A. Wierzbicka, who cited Rudyard Kipling’s “East is East and West and West,” referring to it as “double tautologies” with the associated meaning of “irreducible difference.” Later, J. Meibauer called this pattern “coordinated tautologies” (CT) and suggested that they carry the implicature that “the referents of the respective subject NPs should be kept distinct, should not be confused, etc.”

In the present study, we address the issue of compositionality in the construction and interpretation of CT. The data taken from Spanish and Russian corpora listed in the appendix and an Internet survey conducted with 91 native Spanish speakers prove that “irreducible difference” is not a necessary ingredient in the interpretation of and-conjoined tautologies, nor is it its only argumentative point. We also argue that “irreducible difference” is not associated with this pattern alone (it can also appear in tautologies linked by the conjunction but, or without any conjunction) and that the exact number of conjuncts is not limited to two. Later, we discuss how exactly the frequent contrastive interpretation arises. Finally, we conclude that coordinated tautologies are not fixed form/function pairs; rather, the meaning they encode can be accounted for in regular compositional terms, and their different interpretations are the result of pragmatic enrichment in which the encoded meaning is combined with contextual information.

Keywords: tautologies; equative structures; coordination; contrast; compositionality

About the authors

Victoria Escandell-Vidal

Victoria Escandell-Vidal is Professor of Linguistics at the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED). Her research focus on the interfaces between grammar, semantics and pragmatics from a cognitive perspective. She is the author of several books Introducción a la Pragmática (Ariel, 1996/2006) Fundamentos de Semántica composicional (Ariel, 2004), La comunicación: lengua, cognición y sociedad (Akal, 2014) and has co-edited Procedural Meaning: Problems and Perspectives (Emerald, 2011, with M. Leonetti and A. Ahern) and 60 problemas de gramática (Akal, 2011, with M. Leonetti and C. Sánchez). She has published papers in journals such as Language Sciences, Lingua, Studies in Language, Journal of Pragmatics, Language and Speech. She is currently the PI of a project investigating how semantic feature mismatches are inferentially solved in the course of utterance interpretation.

Elena Vilinbakhova

Elena Vilinbakhova is Senior Lecturer of Linguistics at St Petersburg State University. Her research interests include semantics, pragmatics and corpus linguistics. Dr Vilinbakhova has published several papers in linguistic journals. In 2016 she was awarded an Academia Europea Prize for young Russian scientists in the category Humanities for her work on Russian tautologies. Her current project explores how patterns with lexical repetitions (tautologies and reduplication) can be analyzed and interpreted within the stereotype theory.

Acknowledgements

This research has been partially supported by grant FFI2015-63497-P from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad and the European Regional Development Fund to the project SPIRIM (Escandell-Vidal and Vilinbakhova), and by grants MK-713.2017.6 of President of Russian Federation for young scientists and grant 31.42.653.2017 of St Petersburg State University (Vilinbakhova).

We have presented previous versions of this research at the 7th International Conference on Intercultural Pragmatics and Communication (Split, 2016) and at a UNED seminar (Madrid 2016). We are very grateful to the audiences (particularly L. Horn and V. Žegarac) for stimulating debate and discussion. We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments, which helped us to improve the manuscript. Thanks also to K. Hook for checking the English and to V. Leonetti for her help with the survey, as well as to E. Babaina, A. Kriukova & A. Prousakova for the English translation of the appendices. Any remaining shortcomings are our own.

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Appendix

A The questionnaire

Spanish version (original)

Frases coloquiales

Estamos investigando cómo se interpretan algunas frases coloquiales. Puedes colaborar con esta investigación proporcionando tus respuestas a través de un cuestionario muy simple. Completarlo no te llevará más de cinco minutos.

Antes de empezar necesitamos saber algo sobre ti, para poder establecer algunas correlaciones estadísticas. No te pediremos ni recopilaremos ninguna información personal, ni tu nombre ni tu correo electrónico.

¡Gracias por tu colaboración!

Proyecto SPIRIM (FFI2015-63 497-P)Las frases que nos interesan aparecerán entre comillas. Por favor, marca para cada frase la opción o las opciones que te parezcan naturales.

  1. [Contexto: “Los de Alcafrán” son un grupo de música que acaba de empezar su carrera.] La frase “Los de Alcafrán son los de Alcafrán y los Beatles son los Beatles.” puede querer decir que…

    1. son muy diferentes; los Beatles son claramente mejores.

    2. son muy distintos; cada grupo tiene cosas positivas.

  2. La frase “El trabajo es el trabajo y la casa es la casa.” significa que…

    1. lo más importante es la casa.

    2. lo mejor es poder trabajar desde casa.

    3. hay que saber dejar el trabajo en la oficina y dedicar el tiempo en casa a la vida familiar.

  3. La frase “Madrid es Madrid y Barcelona es Barcelona.” quiere decir que…

    1. Madrid y Barcelona son muy diferentes.

    2. Madrid y Barcelona son muy parecidas.

  4. 4. “El dinero es el dinero ____ la salud es la salud, porque sin salud no se puede hacer nada.” ¿Qué falta en el espacio en blanco?

    1. y

    2. pero

    3. ,

  5. “Aunque al final el tribunal te acabe declarando inocente, una imputación es una imputación y un juicio es un juicio.” ¿Cómo podría continuar esta frase?

    1. Una imputación es una cosa y un juicio es otra cosa diferente.

    2. Las imputaciones y los juicios siempre causan desgaste y estrés.

  6. “Madrid es Madrid y Barcelona es Barcelona, pero para vivir la mejor ciudad es Sevilla.” Esto implica que…

    1. Madrid y Barcelona son, en el fondo, muy parecidas.

    2. Madrid y Barcelona son, en el fondo, muy diferentes.

  7. “El trabajo es el trabajo y el amor es el amor.” ¿Cómo podría continuar esta frase?

    1. El amor es lo que realmente importa.

    2. No debes enamorarte de un compañero de trabajo.

    3. Si dos personas se aman de verdad, sus caminos acabarán juntándose.

  8. “El teatro es el teatro y el cine es el cine.” ¿Cómo podría continuar esta frase?

    1. A mí me gustan las dos cosas por igual.

    2. Tienes que escoger lo que prefieras.

    3. Desde el punto de vista narrativo, son dos géneros muy diferentes.

  9. “Moscú es Moscú, Londres en Londres, Bruselas es Bruselas y París es París.” significa que…

    1. en el fondo, son ciudades muy diferentes.

    2. en el fondo, son ciudades muy parecidas.

  10. “Hoy en día el matrimonio no es el matrimonio y la familia no es la familia.” ¿Qué significa?

    1. La idea actual de matrimonio y de familia ya no es la de antes.

    2. Hoy la gente no aprecia las cosas importantes.

    3. Matrimonio y familia son dos cosas muy diferentes entre sí.

English translation (not used to collect data)

Colloquial phrases

We are investigating how some colloquial phrases are interpreted. You can collaborate with our research by providing your answers through a very simple questionnaire. Completing it will take you no more than five minutes.

Before we start we need to know something about you to be able to establish some statistical correlations. We will not ask for or collect any personal information, your name or email.

Thank you for your cooperation!

The SPIRIM project (FFI2015-63 497-P)

The target sentences occur within quotation marks. Please, for each sentence choose the option or options that seem natural to you.

  1. [Context: “Los de Alcafrán” is a musical group that has just begun its career.] The phrase “Los de Alcafrán is los de Alcafrán and the Beatles is the Beatles” can mean that

    1. the groups are very different; the Beatles are clearly better.

    2. the groups are very different; each group has its own strengths.

  2. The phrase “work is work and home is home“ can mean that

    1. the most important thing is home.

    2. it’s better to work from home.

    3. one has to know how to leave work at the office and devote time at home to family life.

  3. The phrase “Madrid is Madrid y Barcelona is Barcelona“ can mean that

    1. Madrid and Barcelona are very different.

    2. Madrid and Barcelona are very similar.

  4. “Money is money ____ health is health, because one can’t make money without health.“ What could you fill the blank with?

    1. y (and)

    2. pero (but)

    3. , (comma)

  5. “Even if in the end the court finds you not guilty, an imputation is an imputation and a trial is a trial“. How could you continue the phrase?

    1. An imputation is one thing and a trial is something different.

    2. Imputations and trials always cause exhaustion and stress.

  6. “Madrid is Madrid, and Barcelona is Barcelona, but the best city to live in is Seville.“ This suggests (>implies) that…

    1. Essentially, Madrid and Barcelona are very similar.

    2. Essentially, Madrid and Barcelona are very different.

  7. “Work is work, and love is love.“ How would you complete this sentence?

    1. Love is what really matters.

    2. You should not fall in love with a coworker (>colleague).

    3. If two people really love each other, they will end up together.

  8. “[The] theatre is [the] theatre and [the] cinema is [the] cinema.“ How would you complete this sentence?

    1. I like them both equally.

    2. You have to choose which you like better.

    3. From a literary point of view, they represent two different genres.

  9. “Moscow is Moscow, London is London, Brussels is Brussels, and Paris is Paris.“ This sentence means that…

    1. These cities are essentially very different.

    2. These cities are essentially very similar.

  10. “Today marriage is not marriage and family is not family.“ What does it mean?

    1. The current vision of marriage and family is no longer thе same as before.

    2. People do not appreciate important things today.

    3. Marriage and family are two very different things.

    4. Marriage and family differ seriously.

B Results

Sex (91 respondents who provided the information)

Men – 40.7 %

Women – 59.3 %

Age (90 respondents who provided the information)

18 to 30 – 36.7 %

31 to 50 – 44.4 %

51 or Older – 18.9 %

Level of Study (90 respondents who provided the information)

Primary – 1.1 %

Secondary – 10 %

Higher – 88.9 %

  1. [Context: “Los de Alcafrán” is a musical group that has just begun its career.] The phrase “Los de Alcafrán is Los de Alcafrán and the Beatles is the Beatles” can mean that (91 individuals who responded to this question)

    1. the groups are very different; the Beatles are clearly better. 39 (42.9%) respondents found this interpretation acceptable

    2. the groups are very different; each group has its own strengths. 57 (62.6%) respondents found this interpretation acceptable

  2. The phrase “work is work and home is home” can mean that (90 individuals who responded to this question)

    1. The most important thing is home. 1 (1.1 %) respondents found this interpretation acceptable

    2. It’s better to work from home. 0 (0%) respondents found this interpretation acceptable

    3. One has to know how to leave work at the office and devote time at home to family life. 89 (98.9 %) respondents found this interpretation acceptable

  3. The phrase “Madrid is Madrid y Barcelona is Barcelona.” can mean that (91 individuals who responded to this question)

    1. Madrid and Barcelona are very different. 90 (98.9 %) respondents found this interpretation acceptable

    2. Madrid and Barcelona are very similar. 1 (1.1 %) respondents found this interpretation acceptable

  4. “Money is money ____ health is health, because one can’t make money without health.” What could you fill the blank with? (91 individuals who responded to this question)

    1. y (and) 12 (13.2 %) respondents found this insertion acceptable

    2. pero (but) 79 (86.8 %) respondents found this insertion acceptable

    3. , (comma) 0 (0%) respondents found this insertion acceptable

  5. “Even if in the end the court finds you not guilty, an imputation is an imputation and a trial is a trial.” How could you continue the phrase? (90 individuals who responded to this question)

    1. An imputation is one thing and a trial is something different. 32 (35.6 %) respondents found this continuation acceptable

    2. Imputations and trials always cause exhaustion and stress. 58 (64.4 %) respondents found this continuation acceptable

  6. “Madrid is Madrid, and Barcelona is Barcelona, but the best city to live in is Seville.” This suggests (>implies) that… (89 individuals who responded to this question)

    1. In the(ir) essence, Madrid and Barcelona are very similar. 57 (64 %) respondents found this interpretation acceptable

    2. In the(ir) essence, Madrid and Barcelona are very different. 32 (36 %) respondents found this interpretation acceptable

  7. “Work is work and love is love.” How would you complete this sentence? (89 individuals who responded to this question)

    1. Love is what really matters. 27 (30.3 %) respondents found this continuation acceptable

    2. You should not fall in love with a coworker (>colleague). 57 (64 %) respondents found this continuation acceptable

    3. If two people really love each other, they will end up together. 8 (9 %) respondents found this continuation acceptable

  8. “[The] theatre is [the] theatre and [the] cinema is [the] cinema.” How would you complete this sentence? (90 individuals who responded to this question)

    1. I like them both equally. 21 (23.3 %) respondents found this continuation acceptable

    2. You have to choose which you like better. 15 (16.7 %) respondents found this continuation acceptable

    3. They represent two different genres. 61 (67.8 %) respondents found this continuation acceptable

  9. “Moscow is Moscow, London is London, Brussels is Brussels, and Paris is Paris.” [This sentence] means that… (90 individuals who responded to this question)

    1. These cities are very different in the(ir) essence. 86 (95.6 %) respondents found this interpretation acceptable

    2. These cities are very similar in the(ir) essence. 4 (4.4 %) respondents found this interpretation acceptable

  10. “Today marriage is not marriage and family is not family.” What does it mean? (90 individuals who responded to this question)

    1. The current vision of marriage and family is no longer thе same as before. 85 (94.4 %) respondents found this interpretation acceptable

    2. People do not appreciate important things today. 4 (4.4 %) respondents found this interpretation acceptable

    3. Marriage and family are two very different things. 3 (3.3 %) respondents found this interpretation acceptable

Published Online: 2018-07-28
Published in Print: 2018-07-26

© 2018 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  3. Coordinated tautologies in Spanish and Russian
  4. “Stop doing this at once!”: The preferred use of modality for advice-giving by English language learners
  5. Comprehension of conversational implicatures in L2 English
  6. Forum
  7. Politeness strategies and the representation of women in the Holy Qur’an
  8. Book Reviews
  9. Troy McConachy: Developing Intercultural Perspectives on Language Use: Exploring Pragmatics and Culture in Foreign Language Learning
  10. Grosjean, François Li, Ping: The Psycholinguistics of Bilingualism
https://doi.org/10.1515/ip-2018-0009
Keywords for this article
tautologies; equative structures; coordination; contrast; compositionality

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  3. Coordinated tautologies in Spanish and Russian
  4. “Stop doing this at once!”: The preferred use of modality for advice-giving by English language learners
  5. Comprehension of conversational implicatures in L2 English
  6. Forum
  7. Politeness strategies and the representation of women in the Holy Qur’an
  8. Book Reviews
  9. Troy McConachy: Developing Intercultural Perspectives on Language Use: Exploring Pragmatics and Culture in Foreign Language Learning
  10. Grosjean, François Li, Ping: The Psycholinguistics of Bilingualism
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