Syntax in the Making

The emergence of syntactic units in Finnish conversation

Author

Marja-Liisa Helasvuo | University of Helsinki

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027226198 (Eur) | EUR 99.00

ISBN 9781556193941 (USA) | USD 149.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027298065 | EUR 99.00 | USD 149.00

Research on the interplay between language structure and language use has shown that grammar is shaped, maintained, and modified by language use. In this view, then, grammar is not seen as existing apart from language use, but rather as a set of recurrent, grammaticized patterns of discourse.
This book focuses on syntactic structuring in Finnish from the viewpoint of language use. The author sets out to study syntactic structures in their local contexts in order to discover the more global patterns and constraints on the use of these structures. The coding strategies point to the clause core as the locus of syntactic structuring: this is where syntactic relations emerge most clearly. It is shown that the key to understanding the coding of the core syntactic relations is the category of person. The clause core also shows strong intonational unity as it is most often presented in one intonation unit. Furthermore, analysis of spoken discourse shows the robustness of the category of noun phrase, both as a clausal constituent and as a free syntactic unit, the free NP.

[Studies in Discourse and Grammar, 9] 2001. xiv, 175 pp.

Publishing status: Available

https://doi.org/10.1075/sidag.9

Table of Contents

List of tables and figures | p. xi

Preface | pp. xiii–xiv

Introduction | pp. 1–17

Dynamics of the clause | pp. 19–83

Grammaticization of the subject role | pp. 85–103

Free NPs | pp. 105–131

Intonation and syntactic structuring | pp. 133–149

Conclusion | pp. 151–154

Appendix | pp. 167–169

Name index | pp. 171–173

Subject index | p. 175

Cited by

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2007. Principles shaping grammatical practices: an exploration. Discourse Studies 9:3 ► pp. 299 ff.

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2022. ‘Incrementing’ in conversation. A comparison of practices in English, German and Japanese. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) ► pp. 513 ff.

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2015. The world is raining. In Subjects in Constructions – Canonical and Non-Canonical [Constructional Approaches to Language, 16], ► pp. 205 ff.

Helasvuo, Marja-Liisa

2003. Emergent grammar. In Handbook of Pragmatics, ► pp. 1 ff.

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2004. Searching for Words: Syntactic and Sequential Construction of Word Search in Conversations of Finnish Speakers With Aphasia. Research on Language & Social Interaction 37:1 ► pp. 1 ff.

Helasvuo, Marja-Liisa

2004. Shared syntax: the grammar of co-constructions. Journal of Pragmatics 36:8 ► pp. 1315 ff.

Helasvuo, Marja-Liisa

2015. Searching for motivations for grammatical patternings. Pragmatics. Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA) ► pp. 453 ff.

Helasvuo, Marja-Liisa

2019. Free NPs as units in Finnish. Studies in Language 43:2 ► pp. 301 ff.

Helasvuo, Marja-Liisa

2020. Chapter 4. The noun phrase as an emergent unit in Finnish. In The ‘Noun Phrase’ across Languages [Typological Studies in Language, 128], ► pp. 72 ff.

Helasvuo, Marja-Liisa

2021. Free NPs as units in Finnish. In Usage-based and Typological Approaches to Linguistic Units [Benjamins Current Topics, 114], ► pp. 59 ff.

Helasvuo, Marja-Liisa

2022. Emergent grammar. In Handbook of Pragmatics [Handbook of Pragmatics, ], ► pp. 502 ff.

Helasvuo, Marja-Liisa & Tuomas Huumo

2015. Canonical and non-canonical subjects in constructions. In Subjects in Constructions – Canonical and Non-Canonical [Constructional Approaches to Language, 16], ► pp. 1 ff.

Helasvuo, Marja‐Liisa & Maria Vilkuna

2008. Impersonal is Personal: Finnish perspectives. Transactions of the Philological Society 106:2 ► pp. 216 ff.

Hofstetter, Emily, Leelo Keevallik & Agnes Löfgren

2021. Suspending Syntax: Bodily Strain and Progressivity in Talk. Frontiers in Communication 6

Huhmarniemi, Saara

2019. The movement to SpecFinP in Finnish. Acta Linguistica Academica 66:1 ► pp. 85 ff.

HUUMO, TUOMAS

2010. Nominal aspect, quantity, and time: The case of the Finnish object. Journal of Linguistics 46:1 ► pp. 83 ff.

Huumo, Tuomas

2023. Chapter 7. The Finnish existential clause. In Existential Constructions across Languages [Human Cognitive Processing, 76], ► pp. 220 ff.

Huumo, Tuomas & Marja-Liisa Helasvuo

2015. On the subject of subject in Finnish. In Subjects in Constructions – Canonical and Non-Canonical [Constructional Approaches to Language, 16], ► pp. 13 ff.

Kaiser, Elsi & John C. Trueswell

2008. Interpreting pronouns and demonstratives in Finnish: Evidence for a form-specific approach to reference resolution. Language and Cognitive Processes 23:5 ► pp. 709 ff.

Keevallik, Leelo

2013. The Interdependence of Bodily Demonstrations and Clausal Syntax. Research on Language & Social Interaction 46:1 ► pp. 1 ff.

Klippi, Anu & Marja-Liisa Helasvuo

2011. Changes in Agrammatic Conversational Speech over a 20 Year Period – From Single Word Turns to Grammatical Constructions. Journal of Interactional Research in Communication Disorders 2:1 ► pp. 29 ff.

Koivisto, Aino

2014. Utterances ending in the conjunction että. In Contexts of Subordination [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 249], ► pp. 223 ff.

Kolehmainen, Leena

2014. The translation of null subjects: a test case for the explicitation hypothesis?. Across Languages and Cultures 15:1 ► pp. 25 ff.

Laury, Ritva, Tsuyoshi Ono & Ryoko Suzuki

2019. Questioning the clause as a crosslinguistic unit in grammar and interaction. Studies in Language 43:2 ► pp. 364 ff.

Laury, Ritva, Tsuyoshi Ono & Ryoko Suzuki

2021. Questioning the clause as a crosslinguistic unit in grammar and interaction. In Usage-based and Typological Approaches to Linguistic Units [Benjamins Current Topics, 114], ► pp. 123 ff.

LEONARD, LAURENCE B., SARI KUNNARI, TUULA SAVINAINEN-MAKKONEN, ANNA-KAISA TOLONEN, LEENA MÄKINEN, MIRJA LUOTONEN & EEVA LEINONEN

2014. Noun case suffix use by children with specific language impairment: An examination of Finnish. Applied Psycholinguistics 35:4 ► pp. 833 ff.

Lindström, Jan

2022. Interactional linguistics. In Handbook of Pragmatics [Handbook of Pragmatics, ], ► pp. 795 ff.

Lindström, Jan K.

2006. Interactional linguistics. In Handbook of Pragmatics, ► pp. 1 ff.

Liu, Meichun, Yuyan Liang & Yuwei Wan

2023. Novel Lexical Semantic Change and Interactivization. In Chinese Lexical Semantics [Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 13495], ► pp. 125 ff.

Miljan, Merilin & Ronnie Cann

2013. Rethinking case marking and case alternation in Estonian. Nordic Journal of Linguistics 36:3 ► pp. 333 ff.

Pekarek Doehler, Simona, Yael Maschler, Leelo Keevallik & Jan Lindström

2020. Chapter 1. Complex syntax-in-interaction. In Emergent Syntax for Conversation [Studies in Language and Social Interaction, 32], ► pp. 1 ff.

Priiki, Katri

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Shor, Leon

2016. Cognitive and interactional motivations for prosodic phrasing: A corpus-based analysis of the clause in spoken Israeli Hebrew. CHIMERA: Revista de Corpus de Lenguas Romances y Estudios Lingüísticos 3:2 ► pp. 325 ff.

Sosa, Sachiko

2015. Negation in Eastern Khanty narratives from the perspective of information flow*. In Negation in Uralic Languages [Typological Studies in Language, 108], ► pp. 615 ff.

Stoenica, Ioana-Maria, Simona Pekarek Doehler & Anne-Sylvie Horlacher

2020. Chapter 3. Emergent complex noun phrases. In The ‘Noun Phrase’ across Languages [Typological Studies in Language, 128], ► pp. 44 ff.

Suomalainen, Karita, Anna Vatanen & Ritva Laury

2020. Chapter 2. The Finnish se että initiated expressions. In The ‘Noun Phrase’ across Languages [Typological Studies in Language, 128], ► pp. 12 ff.

Thompson, Sandra A.

2019. Understanding ‘clause’ as an emergent ‘unit’ in everyday conversation. Studies in Language 43:2 ► pp. 254 ff.

Thompson, Sandra A.

2021. Understanding ‘clause’ as an emergent ‘unit’ in everyday conversation. In Usage-based and Typological Approaches to Linguistic Units [Benjamins Current Topics, 114], ► pp. 11 ff.

Thompson, Sandra A. & Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen

2005. The clause as a locus of grammar and interaction. Discourse Studies 7:4-5 ► pp. 481 ff.

Thompson, Sandra A. & Tsuyoshi Ono

2020. Chapter 1. Introduction. In The ‘Noun Phrase’ across Languages [Typological Studies in Language, 128], ► pp. 2 ff.

Vatanen, Anna, Tomoko Endo & Daisuke Yokomori

2021. Cross-Linguistic Investigation of Projection in Overlapping Agreements to Assertions: Stance-Taking as a Resource for Projection. Discourse Processes 58:4 ► pp. 308 ff.

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2014. Semantic roles and verbless constructions. Studies in Language 38:3 ► pp. 512 ff.

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This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 november 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

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