Construction of a binary evaluative taxonomy within a story
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Eric Hauser
Eric Hauser is an associate professor at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo, Japan. He received his doctorate in Second Language Acquisition from the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 2003. He has recent publications in
Journal of Pragmatics ,Modern Language Journal , andPragmatics .
Abstract
Making use of Occasioned Semantics, I look at how a taxonomy of different types of alcoholic beverages is constructed within a story told during the closing of a meeting at a neighborhood organization. The data are in Japanese with English translation. The use of taxonomic analysis within Occasioned Semantics is discussed, with a separate example. The story is shown to be placed at a point in the closing routine where an invitation to join a post-meeting drinking session is expectable. Within the story, the teller, Kaicho, who is the head of the organization, constructs an occasioned inclusion taxonomy of alcoholic beverages. He then adds two binary evaluative contrasts to the more specific level of the taxonomy. What Kaicho accomplishes through telling the story, what he accomplishes through constructing the taxonomy with its evaluative contrasts, and how the constructed taxonomy cannot be seen simply as the reflection of an underlying cognitive structure are discussed. It is argued that an ad hoc element is an inherent part of any actually occurring taxonomy. The role of cultural knowledge in the analysis of meaning in interaction is discussed.
About the author
Eric Hauser is an associate professor at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo, Japan. He received his doctorate in Second Language Acquisition from the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 2003. He has recent publications in Journal of Pragmatics, Modern Language Journal, and Pragmatics.
Appendix: Symbols used in morpheme-by-morpheme gloss
Adopted from Greer et al. (2017) (GI&T), except where noted.
| AS | aspect marker (not in GI&T) |
| CL | classifier (not in GI&T) |
| CND | conditional |
| COMP | complementizer (not in GI&T) |
| CP | copula |
| EX | existential verb (not in GI&T) |
| H | hesitation marker |
| HON | honorific |
| IP | interactional particle |
| LK | linking particle |
| N | nominalizer |
| NG | negative |
| O | object marker |
| POL | polite form |
| PP | postposition (not in GI&T) |
| Q | question marker |
| QT | quotative |
| S | subject marker |
| TP | topic marker |
| VOL | volitional |
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Editorial
- Full Length Articles
- Construction of a binary evaluative taxonomy within a story
- Deployment of I don’t know and wakannai in second language classroom peer discussions
- Discourse module in mind: a biolinguistical hypothesis of macro-structure
- Dialogical functions of metaphors in medical interactions
- Construction of risk in road safety advertising: a multimodal analysis of Vietnamese child helmet awareness advertisements
- The rhetorical structure of analytical writing: a developmental approach
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Editorial
- Full Length Articles
- Construction of a binary evaluative taxonomy within a story
- Deployment of I don’t know and wakannai in second language classroom peer discussions
- Discourse module in mind: a biolinguistical hypothesis of macro-structure
- Dialogical functions of metaphors in medical interactions
- Construction of risk in road safety advertising: a multimodal analysis of Vietnamese child helmet awareness advertisements
- The rhetorical structure of analytical writing: a developmental approach
