This volume embarks on an exploration of the processual and dynamic character of grammatical constructions in emergence, both from an ‘emergent’ and an ‘emerging’ perspective. ‘Emerging’ constructions develop out of their discourse contexts. Talking of emerging constructions is compatible with a view of grammar as a stable system of rules and structures which may ‘emerge’ (i.e., come into existence) out of a pool of previously unordered elements. ‘Emergent’ constructions on the contrary are due to the on-line production of grammar in time. The term ‘emergent’ emphasises the fact that a grammatical structure is always temporary and ephemeral. In both senses, grammar is modelled as a highly adaptive resource for interaction. On the basis of empirical studies on spoken English, German, Hebrew, Swedish and French, the volume addresses the following questions: How can what initially appears to be construction x end up being construction y in on-line syntax? What are the local interactional needs which such processes respond to in the process of their emergence? Does the on-line (re-)modelling of a construction concern its syntactic or semantic side ‐ or both? And finally: Should emergent grammatical structures as they unfold in real time be seen as stages in the emerging of grammar? * exploration of the processual and dynamic character of grammatical constructions in emergence * based on empirical studies on spoken English, German, Hebrew, Swedish and French Frontmatter 1 Table of Contents 6 Constructions: Emergent or emerging? 8 1 Introduction 8 2 Emergence: Elements of a definition 9 3 Emergent, but not emerging: Paul Hopper’s approach to grammar 10 4 Constructions as emergent gestalts 15 5 Emergent vs. emerging – how large is the gap really? 17 6 The contributions in this volume 22 7 Conclusion 25 References 26 Emergent Grammar and Temporality in Interactional Linguistics 29 1 Introduction 29 2 Fixed expressions and formulaicity 30 3 Emerging and emergent 33 3.1 Uses of the term ‘emergence’ in recent linguistics 34 3.2 Structuration 35 4 Projection 36 5 The such a/an construction 37 6 Structuration in Conversation 39 7 Conclusions 48 References 49 Emergent grammar for all practical purposes: the on-line formatting of left and right dislocations in French conversation 52 1 The temporality of language and the temporality of action 52 1.1 Projection 53 1.2 Emergent grammar 54 1.3 Object and purpose of this paper 56 2 Left and right dislocation 57 2.1 A critical word on terminology 57 2.2 Forms and functions of left and right dislocation in French 58 3 Data and analysis 60 4 Distributed syntax 61 4.1 Co-constructed left dislocations 61 4.2 The left-periphery as a try-marker 66 4.3 On-line configured syntax: a case of recipient design 71 4.4 Summary 75 5 On-line extended syntax: right dislocations and increments 75 6 On-line reconfigured syntax 80 6.1 On-line revisions of syntactic trajectories 81 6.2 Pivots 84 6.3 Summary 86 7 Conclusion: an emergent grammar for all practical purposes 87 Symbols used in transcripts 89 Symbols used in the gloss/translation 90 References 90 Constructions vs. lexical items as sources of complex meanings 95 1 Two views of non-compositionality 95 2 General research question 96 3 Methodology and corpus 98 4 Verstehst du? ‘Do you understand?’ 100 4.1 Formal properties of verstehst du? 101 4.2 Distribution of verstehst du? 102 4.3 Conversation analytic findings 103 4.3.1 Verstehst du? as an index of relevance and insistence 104 4.3.2 Verstehst du? indicating problems of formulation 111 4.3.3 Verstehst du? used for refocusing 112 5 The negative construction (NP) nicht verstehen (können) (COMP)/can/do not understand NP/COMP 115 5.1 Formal and semantic properties 115 5.2 Conversation analytic findings 116 5.2.1 The negative construction as a pre-disagreement 118 5.2.2 The negative construction as a reproach 119 6 Conclusions 123 6.1 Lexical items vs. phrasal constructions as bases of meaning 123 6.2 Problems with the notion of a “construction” 127 Transcription conventions 129 References 130 Online changes in syntactic gestalts in spoken German 134 1 Garden path structures and spoken language 134 2 A new epistemology for linguistics 136 3 A “nice” case of a garden path sentence 139 4 Increments – a special case of garden path structuresin spoken language? 140 4.1 Garden path structures involving lexical ambiguity 142 4.2 Garden path structures involving syntactic ambiguity 144 5 Increments, garden path structuresand online syntax : uncertain constellations 155 6 Conclusion 156 References 160 Between emergence and sedimentation: Projecting constructions in German interactions 163 1 Introduction 163 2 Between sedimentation and local emergence:The relevance of projections in spoken interactions 164 3 From bi-clausal sentence patterns to complex constructions6 168 3.1 Pseudo-clefts in German interactions 168 3.2 Die Sache/das Ding ist ... (‘the thing/point is ...’)-constructions 176 3.3 Extrapositions with es (‘it’) 181 4 Conclusion 187 References 188 Improvisation, temporality and emergent constructions 193 1 Introduction 193 2 Improvisation 193 2.1 Making and letting go 195 2.2 Prefabricated, yet different 196 2.3 Before, now and soon 197 3 From emergence to improvisation 200 4 Improvising by means of blending various construction(al fragment)s 203 4.1 Making and letting go 207 4.2 Prefabricated, yet different 207 4.3 Before, now and soon 208 5 Improvising by isolating one constructional fragment which thereby becomes a highly available and variable syntactic pattern 210 5.1 Making and letting go 214 5.2 Prefabricated, yet different 214 5.3 Before, now and soon 215 6 Montage and analogy: two principles of improvisation 217 7 Conclusion 220 References 221 Verb-first conditionals in German and Swedish: convergence in writing, divergence in speaking 225 1 Introduction 225 2 What the grammar books say 226 3 Historical background 228 3 V1 conditionals in written German and Swedish 231 5 V1 conditionals in spoken Swedish and German 244 6 Emergent syntax and V1 conditionals in spoken German and Swedish 257 7 Conclusions 265 Data sources referred to 266 References 267 Action, prosody and emergent constructions: The case of and 270 1 Introduction 270 2 Togetherness of action 271 3 Togetherness in prosodic/phonetic form 279 4 Wider implications 286 5 Conclusion 292 Appendix 294 References 295 On the emergence of adverbial connectives from Hebrew relative clause constructions 300 1 Introduction 300 2 Data 304 3 Lack of resumptive pronoun in spoken Hebrew discourse 305 3.1 The syntactic role of the coreferent in the relative clause 306 3.2 The part of speech constituting the coreferent 307 3.3 The part of speech realizing the coreferent as a functionof its syntactic role 308 3.3.1 Subject coreferents 308 3.3.2 Direct object coreferents 310 3.3.3 Indirect object coreferents and adverbial complement coreferents 310 4 The functions of relative clauses in discourse 311 5 From relative clause to adverbial connective 314 5.1 The semantics of the antecedent 314 5.1.1 Semantically empty antecedents 315 5.1.2 Antecedents related to the concept of time 317 5.2 Grammaticization of adverbial complement constructions 322 5.2.1 Adverbial complements of place 324 5.2.2 Adverbial complements of manner 325 5.2.3 Reanalysis as a single processing chunk 327 6 Conclusion 330 Appendix: Transcription method 333 List of Abbreviations 334 References 334
This volume embarks on an exploration of the processual and dynamic character of grammatical constructions in emergence, both from an ‘emergent’ and an ‘emerging’ perspective. ‘Emerging’ constructions develop out of their discourse contexts.Talking of emerging constructions is compatible with a view of grammar as a stable system of rules and structures which may ‘emerge’ (i.e., come into existence) out of a pool of previously unordered elements. ‘Emergent’ constructions on the contrary are due to the on-line production of grammar in time. The term ‘emergent’ emphasises the fact that a grammatical structure is always temporary and ephemeral. In both senses, grammar is modelled as a highly adaptive resource for interaction.
On the basis of empirical studies on spoken English, German, Hebrew, Swedish and French, the volume addresses the following questions: How can what initially appears to be construction x end up being construction y in on-line syntax? What are the local interactional needs which such processes respond to in the process of their emergence? Does the on-line (re-)modelling of a construction concern its syntactic or semantic side ‐ or both? And finally: Should emergent grammatical structures as they unfold in real time be seen as stages in the emerging of grammar?
Peter Auer and Stefan Pfänder Constructions: Emergent or emerging? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Paul Hopper Emergent grammar and temporality in interactional linguistics . . . . 22 Simona Pekarek Doehler Emergent grammar for all practical purposes: the on-line formatting of left and right dislocations in French conversation. . . . . . . . . . 45 Arnulf Deppermann Constructions vs. lexical items as sources of complex meanings. A comparative study of constructions with German verstehen . . . . . 88 Wolfgang Imo Online changes in syntactic gestalts in spoken German. Or: do garden path sentences exist in everyday conversation?. . . . . 127 Susanne Günthner Between emergence and sedimentation. Projecting constructions in German interactions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 Thiemo Breyer, Oliver Ehmer and Stefan Pfänder Improvisation, temporality and emergent constructions. . . . . . . . 186 Peter Auer and Jan Lindström Verb-first conditionals in German and Swedish: convergence in writing, divergence in speaking . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 Dagmar Barth-Weingarten and Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen Action, prosody and emergent constructions: The case of and . . . . 263 Yael Maschler and Susan Shaer On the emergence of adverbial connectives from Hebrew relative clause constructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 Main description: This volume embarks on an exploration of the processual and dynamic character of grammatical constructions in emergence, both from an 'emergent' and an 'emerging' perspective. 'Emerging' constructions develop out of their surrounding discourse contexts. 'Emergent' constructions are due to the on-line production of grammar in time. On the basis of empirical studies on spoken English, German, Hebrew, Swedish and French, this volume shows how in both senses, grammar is a highly adaptive resource for interaction
