The Conversation Frame
Forms and functions of fictive interaction
Editors
This edited volume brings together the latest research on fictive interaction, that is the use of the frame of ordinary conversation as a means to structure cognition (talking to oneself), discourse (monologues organized as dialogues), and grammar (“why me? attitude”). This follows prior work on the subject by Esther Pascual and other authors, most of whom are also contributors to this volume. The 17 chapters in the volume explore fictive interaction as a fundamental cognitive phenomenon, as a ubiquitous discourse-structuring device, as a possibly universal linguistic construction, and as an effective communicative strategy in persuasion and language pathology. The data discussed involve a wide variety of unrelated languages (spoken and signed) and modes of communication (oral, written, visual), across cultural contexts and historical time.
The research presented combines linguistics and cognitive science, while bridging the gap between core grammatical studies and modern conversation and discourse analysis. The volume further reaches across what may be the most basic divide in linguistics: that between descriptive, theoretical, and applied linguistics.
The research presented combines linguistics and cognitive science, while bridging the gap between core grammatical studies and modern conversation and discourse analysis. The volume further reaches across what may be the most basic divide in linguistics: that between descriptive, theoretical, and applied linguistics.
[Human Cognitive Processing, 55] 2016. xi, 384 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins
Table of Contents
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List of contributors | p. ix
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Acknowledgements | p. xi
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Part I. Introduction
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Fictive interaction and the conversation frame: An overviewEsther Pascual and Sergeiy Sandler | pp. 3–22
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Fictive interaction and the nature of linguistic meaningSergeiy Sandler | pp. 23–41
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Part II. Fictive interaction as cognitive reality
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Generic integration templates for fictive communicationCristóbal Pagán Cánovas and Mark Turner | pp. 45–62
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Real, imaginary, or fictive? Philosophical dialogues in an early Daoist text and its pictorial versionMingjian Xiang | pp. 63–86
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Silent abstractions versus “Look at me” drawings: Corpus evidence that artworks’ subject matter affects their fictive speechKaren Sullivan | pp. 87–109
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Part III. Fictive interaction as discourse structure
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Persuading and arguing with the reader: Fictive interaction as discourse organizing device in witchcraft pamphlet prefaces (1566–1621)Krisda Chaemsaithong | pp. 113–130
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Invocation or apostrophe? Prayer and the conversation frame in public discourseWilliam FitzGerald and Todd Oakley | pp. 131–150
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On discourse-motivated “sorries”: Fictive apologies in English, Hungarian, and RomanianGusztav Demeter | pp. 151–168
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Part IV. Fictive interaction as linguistic construction
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What about? Fictive question-answer pairs for non-information-seeking functions across signed languagesMaria Josep Jarque Moyano | pp. 171–192
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Fictive questions in conditionals? Synchronic and diachronic evidence from German and EnglishTorsten Leuschner | pp. 193–213
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Intonation of fictive vs. actual direct speech in a Brazilian Portuguese corpusLuiz Fernando Matos Rocha and Pablo Arantes | pp. 215–234
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Polish nominal construction involving fictive interaction: Its scope and functions in discourseEmilia Królak | pp. 235–253
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Evidential fictive interaction (in Ungarinyin and Russian)Stef Spronck | pp. 255–275
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Recursive inflection and grammaticalized fictive interaction in the southwestern AmazonHein van der Voort | pp. 277–299
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Part V. Fictive interaction as communicative strategy
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“Say hello to this ad”: The persuasive rhetoric of fictive interaction in marketingLine Brandt and Esther Pascual | pp. 303–322
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The use of interactive structures as communicative strategy in Dutch and Portuguese aphasic speakersChristine Versluis and Lou-Ann Kleppa | pp. 323–342
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Echolalia as communicative strategy: Fictive interaction in the speech of children with autismAline Dornelas and Esther Pascual | pp. 343–361
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About the contributors | pp. 363–366
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Author index | pp. 369–373
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Language index | pp. 375–376
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Subject index | pp. 377–384
“This collection is informative, insightful, and impressive for the variety of phenomena considered. It shows convincingly that fictive interaction is surprisingly pervasive in view of being so little studied. Its diverse manifestations leave no doubt that the conversational frame has a fundamental role in the organization of language and discourse.”
Ronald W. Langacker, University of California, San Diego
“Fictive Interaction has become an indispensable tool in linguistic analysis. This volume not only confirms its value, but also shows all its strength through a range of varied and informative examples. It’s a ‘must read’ for anyone interested in the conceptual power and versatility of the conversation frame.”
Barbara Dancygier, University of British Columbia
“This is a wonderfully timely volume. Meaning construction being a joint, intersubjective enterprise, this collection extends the insight that the structure of this enterprise the conversation frame underlies several features of human cognition and communication to new domains, including clinical phenomena, historical texts, and the processing of visual art, to name just a few. It sets an exciting new research agenda across the humanities and the cognitive sciences.”
Arie Verhagen, Leiden University
“Intersubjectivity is typically considered an interactional phenomenon by dialogists, a mental phenomenon by cognitive linguists, and a social phenomenon by structuralists. A major contribution of The Conversational Frame is that it shows how these perspectives can be integrated by exploring different, more or less sedimented forms of “fictive interaction”.”
Jordan Zlatev, Lund University
“All in all, the studies comprised in The Conversation frame. Forms and functions of fictive interaction certainly represent a big step forward in investigating how fictive interaction can be explored in a number of domains. It may provide food for thought for someone who is exposed to this field for the first time and will definitely appeal to most specialists in the language and cognitive sciences.”
Elena Buja, Transilvania University of Brașov, Romania, in Language and Dialogue 7:3 (2017), pp. 467–473
“In sum, with its unified theoretical framework, well-formulated hypotheses, adequate argumentation and approachable writing style, The conversation frame is an essential resource for researchers familiar with the theory of fictive interaction and a useful reference for those working on Cognitive Linguistics, Interactional Linguistics, Discourse Analysis, or theoretical linguistics in general. Research on fictive interaction has rapidly gained ground in both its theoretical framework and applications, and is acquiring increasing significance within linguistics. The phenomenon should thus be impossible to be ignored by all language researchers committed to exploring the very nature of language.”
Yushan Zhao, Zhejiang University, in Review of Cognitive Linguistics 16:2 (2018).
“In sum, this well-structured volume discusses a ubiquitous phenomenon, fictive interaction, covering a variety of unrelated languages and modes of communication, across cultural contexts and historical time, which thus makes it suitable for a large range of readers from different (sub)fields. [...] The research in this edited volume combines linguistics and cognition, bridging the gap between core linguistic studies and modern conversation and discourse analysis. With interesting examples discussed (such as comics and artists’ descriptions), this fine publication will be interesting to a general public, including those not studying linguistics.”
Siqi Qiu and Yirui Liang, Zhejiang University, China, in Language and Cognition 10 (2018)
Cited by
Cited by 14 other publications
Crevels, Mily & Hein van der Voort
2020. Areal diffusion of applicatives in the Amazon. In Advances in Contact Linguistics [Contact Language Library, 57], ► pp. 180 ff. 
Dancygier, Barbara
2021. Fictive Deixis, Direct Discourse, and Viewpoint Networks. Frontiers in Communication 6
Pascual, Esther, Aline Dornelas & Todd Oakley
Pascual, Esther & Emilia Królak
PASCUAL, ESTHER & BÁRBARA MARQUETA GRACIA
2023. Viewpointed morphology: A unified account of Spanish verb-complement compounds as fictive interaction structures. Journal of Linguistics ► pp. 1 ff.
Rocha, Luiz Fernando Matos, Sandra Aparecida Faria de Almeida & Luciana Andrade Paula
2023. Discurso direto fictivo. Cadernos de Estudos Linguísticos 65 ► pp. e023003 ff.
Sandler, Sergeiy & Esther Pascual
2019. In the beginning there was conversation. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) ► pp. 250 ff.
Spronck, Stef & Daniela Casartelli
2021. In a Manner of Speaking: How Reported Speech May Have Shaped Grammar. Frontiers in Communication 6
Vandelanotte, Lieven
2023. Constructions of speech and thought representation. WIREs Cognitive Science 14:2
Werner, Valentin
2021. Catchy and conversational? A register analysis of pop lyrics. Corpora 16:2 ► pp. 237 ff.
Xiang, Mingjian & Esther Pascual
2022. Debate with zhuangzi. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) ► pp. 137 ff.
Xiang, Mingjian, Esther Pascual & Bosen Ma
Xie, Fan, Esther Pascual & Todd Oakley
2023. Functional echolalia in autism speech: Verbal formulae and repeated prior utterances as communicative and cognitive strategies. Frontiers in Psychology 14
[no author supplied]
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Subjects
Main BIC Subject
CFG: Semantics, Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis
Main BISAC Subject
LAN009030: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / Pragmatics