Discourse within a sentence: An exploration of postpositions in Japanese as an interactional resource

Hayashi, Makoto

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/1715 Copy

Description

Title

Discourse within a sentence: An exploration of postpositions in Japanese as an interactional resource

Author(s)

Hayashi, Makoto

Issue Date

2004-07

Keyword(s)

• Grammar and interaction
• conversation analysis
• postpositions
• typology
• Japanese

Abstract

This study explores a phenomenon in Japanese conversation that might be regarded as “discourse-within-a-sentence,” or interpolating a sequence of talk during ongoing sentence construction. It explicates the way in which Japanese speakers use postpositional particles as a resource to incorporate an element in a parenthetical sequence into the syntax of a sentence-inprogress. It is shown that the usability of postpositions for achieving discourse-within-a-sentence comes from the situated workings of postpositions used in a wider range of interactional contexts. Through a detailed examination of relevant instances from transcribed Japanese conversations, this study addresses such issues as (i) “sentences” in interaction as both a resource for, and an outcome of, intricate interactional work; (ii) postpositions as resources for retroactive transformations of turnshapes in Japanese; and (iii) the relationship between typological features of the grammar of a language and forms of interactional practices.

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/1715

DOI

https://doi.org/10.10170S0047404505043023

Copyright and License Information

Copyright owned by Cambridge University Press 2004.

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