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Article In: Functions of Language: Online-First Articles

The role of information packaging in shaping linguistic structure

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Abstract
It is generally agreed that intonation units tend to correspond to processing units (Chafe, Wallace. 1979. The flow of thought and the flow of language. In Talmy Givón (ed.), Discourse and syntax, 159–181. Leiden: Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 1987. Cognitive constraints on information flow. In Russell S. Tomlin (ed.), Coherence and grounding in discourse, 21–51. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 1994. Discourse, consciousness, and time: The flow and displacement of conscious experience in speaking and writing. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2018. Thought-based linguistics: How languages turn thoughts into sounds. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Inbar, Maya, Shir Genzer, Anat Perry, Eitan Grossman & Ayelet N. Landau. 2023. Intonation units in spontaneous speech evoke a neural response. Journal of Neuroscience 43(48). 8189–8200. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; and many others). As noted by other authors in this collection, the one new idea at a time pattern shows up robustly across typologically quite different languages. It is seen, for example, in languages with complex nominal expressions (Louagie, Dana & Uta Reinöhl. 2022. Typologizing nominal expressions: the noun phrase and beyond. Linguistics 60(3). 659–714. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and those with serial verb constructions (Pawley, Andrew. 1987. Encoding events in Kalam and English: Different logics for reporting experience. In Russell S. Tomlin (ed.), Coherence and grounding in discourse, 329–360. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2009. On the origins of serial verb constructions in Kalam. In Talmy Givón & Masayoshi Shibatani (eds.), Syntactic complexity: Diachrony, acquisition, neuro-cognition, evolution, 119–144. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Givón, Talmy. 1991. Some substantive issues concerning verb serialization: Grammatical vs. cognitive packaging. In Claire Lefebvre (ed.), Serial verb constructions: Grammatical, comparative and cognitive approaches, 137–184. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Reinöhl et al. this volume). Similar prosodic packaging can also be seen in languages with very elaborate morphologies. It can, furthermore, account for the formation of some of their typological structure. Such effects are illustrated here with conversational data from Mohawk, a polysynthetic language indigenous to northeastern North America.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The language
  • 3.The prosody of intonation units
  • 4.One new idea at a time
  • 5.What constitutes a new idea?
  • 6.A precursor to morphological structure
  • 7.Shaping information
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Abbreviations
  • References
References (17)
References
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. 1987. Cognitive constraints on information flow. In Russell S. Tomlin (ed.), Coherence and grounding in discourse, 21–51. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1994. Discourse, consciousness, and time: The flow and displacement of conscious experience in speaking and writing. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2018. Thought-based linguistics: How languages turn thoughts into sounds. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Givón, Talmy. 1991. Some substantive issues concerning verb serialization: Grammatical vs. cognitive packaging. In Claire Lefebvre (ed.), Serial verb constructions: Grammatical, comparative and cognitive approaches, 137–184. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
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Inbar, Maya, Shir Genzer, Anat Perry, Eitan Grossman & Ayelet N. Landau. 2023. Intonation units in spontaneous speech evoke a neural response. Journal of Neuroscience 43(48). 8189–8200. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Louagie, Dana & Uta Reinöhl. 2022. Typologizing nominal expressions: the noun phrase and beyond. Linguistics 60(3). 659–714. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
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