Spontaneous Spoken Language Syntax and Discourse

by Miller, Jim; Weinert, Regina

• ISBN13: 9780198236566
• ISBN10: 0198236565
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-05-28
• Publisher: Clarendon Press

Summary

The authors examine the types of clauses used by people when they are speaking off the cuff. They also analyze the devices speakers use when organizing larger chunks of language, such as conversations. Using data from English, German, and Russian, they develop a systematic analysis of spoken English and highlight cross-language properties. They argue that there are major and systematic differences between spoken and written language, and conclude by exploring the implications of their findings for typology, first-language acquisition, and education.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations	xiii
1 Introduction	1	(27)
1.1 Introduction	1	(3)
1.2 Spoken and written language in linguistics	4	(2)
1.3 The data	6	(8)
1.3.1 Data from English, German, and Russian	7	(3)
1.3.2 Adequacy of the data	10	(4)
1.4 Genres: dimensions, individuals, and education	14	(8)
1.5 Spontaneous spoken language	22	(6)
2 Sentences and Clauses	28	(44)
2.1 Introduction	28	(1)
2.2 Sentences in spontaneous spoken language: an overview	29	(3)
2.3 Sentences in spoken texts	32	(2)
2.4 Text-sentences in spoken language	34	(12)
2.4.1 Intonational criteria	34	(1)
2.4.2 Intuitions about sentences in spoken language	35	(6)
2.4.3 The sentence: a changing concept	41	(5)
2.5 The sentence as a unit of analysis	46	(25)
2.5.1 Sentences and clauses in spontaneous dialogue	46	(3)
2.5.2 Sentences and syntactic analysis	49	(7)
2.5.3 Sentences, clauses, and distribution	56	(2)
2.5.4 Spoken language with fragmented syntax	58	(3)
2.5.5 Fragmented syntax in spoken Russian	61	(10)
2.6 Conclusion	71	(1)
3 Clauses: Type, Combination, and Integration	72	(61)
3.1 Introduction	72	(4)
3.2 Clauses	76	(3)
3.2.1 Definition of clause	76	(2)
3.2.2 Clauses and situations	78	(1)
3.3 Constraints on complexity in spontaneous spoken language	79	(1)
3.4 Main and subordinate clauses	80	(14)
3.4.1 Finite constructions missing from the corpus of spoken language	81	(4)
3.4.2 Non-finite constructions missing from the corpus of spoken language	85	(3)
3.4.3 Passives	88	(1)
3.4.4 Proportion of main and subordinate clauses	89	(5)
3.5 Form and function: when a subordinate clause is not a subordinate clause	94	(6)
3.5.1 English	94	(1)
3.5.2 Spoken Russian	95	(5)
3.6 Order of main clause and subordinate clause	100	(4)
3.7 WH constructions	104	(28)
3.7.1 Relative clauses	105	(15)
3.7.2 WH clefts	120	(10)
3.7.3 Headless relative clauses in Russian	130	(2)
3.8 Conclusion	132	(1)
4 Noun Phrases: Complexity and Configuration	133	(57)
4.1 Introduction	133	(2)
4.2 Complexity of noun phrases	135	(8)
4.2.1 Noun phrases in written English	135	(4)
4.2.2 Noun phrases in spontaneous speech	139	(4)
4.3 Spontaneous spoken English	143	(16)
4.3.1 The data and its coding	143	(2)
4.3.2 The spontaneous spoken narrative	145	(8)
4.3.3 Extract from spontaneous conversation	153	(1)
4.3.4 A newspaper text	153	(6)
4.4 Spoken and written Russian	159	(10)
4.4.1 Russian conversation and Russian newspaper text	160	(4)
4.4.2 Split noun phrases	164	(5)
4.5 Noun phrases in spoken German	169	(7)
4.6 Split NPs: a problem for constituent structure	176	(6)
4.6.1 `Split' NPs in Russian	177	(3)
4.6.2 `Split' NPs in Australian languages	180	(2)
4.7 Theoretical implications	182	(8)
4.7.1 Configurational languages and spoken language	182	(1)
4.7.2 Scrambling and `split' NPs	183	(3)
4.7.3 Functional constituents as heads	186	(4)
5 Focus Constructions	190	(73)
5.1 Introduction	190	(3)
5.2 Concepts for the analysis of discourse	193	(3)
5.2.1 Focus (1)	193	(1)
5.2.2 Deixis	194	(1)
5.2.3 Theme and thematization	195	(1)
5.2.4 Given and new information	195	(1)
5.3 Results	196	(2)
5.4 Focus (2)	198	(5)
5.4.1 Overview	198	(1)
5.4.2 Halliday	198	(2)
5.4.3 Chafe: components of contrastiveness	200	(1)
5.4.4 Dik: extended notion of focus	200	(2)
5.4.5 Vallduvi	202	(1)
5.4.6 Grosz and Sidner: focus space and transition	202	(1)
5.5 Macro- and micro-focus	203	(6)
5.5.1 A text schema	203	(2)
5.5.2 Transitions and contrasts	205	(1)
5.5.3 Macro- and micro-focus in a spoken Russian text	206	(3)
5.6 Given	209	(20)
5.6.1 Ellipsis	209	(3)
5.6.2 Ellipsis in Russian	212	(17)
5.7 Highlighting devices	229	(30)
5.7.1 Knowledge stores and focus spaces: highlighting entities	230	(1)
5.7.2 Existential and existential-possessive constructions	230	(1)
5.7.3 New entities in written texts	231	(1)
5.7.4 New entities in the Map Task dialogues	232	(1)
5.7.5 SEE and KNOW	233	(3)
5.7.6 Highlighting constructions in German	236	(1)
5.7.7 NP-Clause	237	(5)
5.7.8 Highlighting new propositions	242	(17)
5.8 Russian word order	259	(3)
5.9 Conclusion	262	(1)
6 Focus Constructions: Clefts and like	263	(72)
6.1 Introduction	263	(1)
6.2 An overview of the clefts	263	(43)
6.2.1 Cleft types	263	(1)
6.2.2 The main points in the analysis	264	(1)
6.2.3 Distribution of clefts in the data	265	(2)
6.2.4 Theoretical preliminaries	267	(7)
6.2.5 RWH clefts	274	(17)
6.2.6 WH clefts	291	(9)
6.2.7 IT clefts	300	(5)
6.2.8 Conclusions	305	(1)
6.3 LIKE	306	(29)
6.3.1 Previous accounts of LIKE	307	(5)
6.3.2 Why LIKE is not a pause filler	312	(3)
6.3.3 Non-contrastive focus	315	(2)
6.3.4 LIKE as a non-contrastive focuser	317	(11)
6.3.5 LIKE in the spontaneous conversations	328	(6)
6.3.6 Conclusion	334	(1)
7 Historical Linguistics and Typology	335	(38)
7.1 Introduction	335	(1)
7.2 Historical Linguistics	335	(3)
7.3 Typology	338	(34)
7.3.1 English conditional constructions	338	(2)
7.3.2 Participles and gerund	340	(1)
7.3.3 Negation	341	(1)
7.3.4 Relative clauses	342	(11)
7.3.5 Clause combining	353	(10)
7.3.6 Subject-prominent and topic-prominent languages	363	(3)
7.3.7 Noun phrases	366	(3)
7.3.8 Word order	369	(3)
7.4 Conclusion	372	(1)
8 Written Language, First Language Acquisition, and Education	373	(53)
8.1 Introduction	373	(1)
8.2 Chomsky's theory of language acquisition	373	(2)
8.3 A critique of Chomsky's theory	375	(44)
8.3.1 Introduction	375	(1)
8.3.2 Magnasyntax vs. the syntax of spontaneous spoken language	376	(2)
8.3.3 Magnasyntax and the goals of generative grammar	378	(3)
8.3.4 Misuse of magnasyntax in discussions of first language acquisition	381	(2)
8.3.5 The non-degenerate nature of written language	383	(1)
8.3.6 Computationally complex structure-dependent rules, formulas, and imitation	384	(1)
8.3.7 Creativity	394	(2)
8.3.8 How long do children take to acquire their native language?	396	(4)
8.3.9 Degrees of competence and literacy	400	(3)
8.3.10 Grammaticality judgements	403	(3)
8.3.11 Mechanisms of language acquisition	406	(13)
8.4 Language processing by humans and by computer	419	(2)
8.5 Literacy and education	421	(5)
Epilogue	426	(1)
References	427	(16)
Index	443