Bridging constructions

ntents Preface iii Acknowledgments ix 1 Bridging constructions in typological perspective Valérie Guérin & Grant Aiton 1 2 The poetics of recapitulative linkage in Matsigenka and mixed Matsigenka-Spanish myth narrations Nicholas Q. Emlen 45 3 Short, finite and one-sided bridges in Logoori Hannah Sarvasy 79 4 Bridging constructions in Tsezic languages Diana Forker & Felix Anker 99 5 Bridging constructions in narrative texts in White Hmong (Hmong-Mien) Nerida Jarkey 129 6 The form and function of bridging constructions in Eibela discourse Grant Aiton 157 7 Online and offline bridging constructions in Korowai Lourens de Vries 185 8 Recapitulative linkage in Mavea Valérie Guérin 207 9 Clause repetition as a tying technique in Greek conversation Angeliki Alvanoudi 239 Index 269 Contents Preface Acknowledgments 1 Bridging constructions in typological perspective Valérie Guérin & Grant Aiton 1 Preliminaries 1.1 The constructions 1.2 The clause 1.3 Bridging constructions in discourse 2 Bridging constructions: formal characteristics 2.1 Layout 2.2 Morphosyntactic properties of reference clauses 2.3 Morphosyntactic properties of bridging clauses 3 Types of bridging constructions 3.1 Recapitulative linkage 3.1.1 Modifications 3.1.2 Omissions 3.1.3 Additions 3.1.4 Substitution 3.2 Summary linkage 3.3 Mixed linkage 4 Discourse functions 4.1 Conducive factors 4.2 Adding cohesion 4.3 Structuring discourse 5 Other types of repetition 6 Summary and directions for future research 2 The poetics of recapitulative linkage in Matsigenka and mixed Matsigenka-Spanish myth narrations Nicholas Q. Emlen 1 Introduction 2 Matsigenka, Spanish, and myth narration on the Andean-Amazonian frontier 2.1 Languages and communities 2.2 Myth narration 2.3 Recapitulative linkages in myth narrations 3 Formal characterization 3.1 Basic template 3.2 Reference clause/bridging clause relations 3.3 Relations within the second discourse unit 3.4 Some atypical cases 4 Spanish and mixed Spanish-Matsigenka speech 5 Conclusion 3 Short, finite and one-sided bridges in Logoori Hannah Sarvasy 1 Introduction 2 Logoori recapitulative bridging 2.1 Logoori bridging construction form 2.2 Logoori bridging construction prosody 2.3 Logoori bridging construction semantics 2.4 Marginal bridging constructions 3 Alternatives to bridging clauses: nominal repetition 4 Conclusion 4 Bridging constructions in Tsezic languages Diana Forker & Felix Anker 1 Introduction 2 Formal characteristics 2.1 Syntactic properties of the reference clause 2.2 Syntactic properties of the bridging clause 3 Types of bridging constructions 3.1 Recapitulative linkage 3.1.1 Modifications 3.1.2 Omissions 3.1.3 Additions 3.1.4 Substitutions 3.2 Summary linkage 4 Functions of bridging constructions 4.1 Discourse functions 4.2 Genre 4.3 Bridging constructions, repetition, and predicate doubling 5 Bridging constructions in other Nakh-Daghestanian languages 6 Conclusion 5 Bridging constructions in narrative texts in White Hmong (Hmong-Mien) Nerida Jarkey 1 Introduction 1.1 White Hmong language 1.2 Chapter overview 1.3 Data sources 2 Characteristics of bridging constructions in narrative texts 2.1 Frequency 2.2 Position 2.3 Form 2.4 Types of linkage 2.4.1 Recapitulative linkage 2.4.1.1 Almost exact recapitulation 2.4.1.2 Modification 2.4.1.3 Omission 2.4.1.4 Addition 2.4.1.5 Substitution 2.4.2 Summary linkage 2.4.3 Mixed linkage 3 Functions of bridging constructions in White Hmong narratives 3.1 Change in aspect; change in construal 3.2 Return to the event line after supportive material 4 Conclusion 6 The form and function of bridging constructions in Eibela discourse Grant Aiton 1 Introduction and background 2 Clause linking and topic clauses 2.1 Clause linking 2.2 Topicalization 2.3 Topicalized medial clauses 3 Formal aspects of bridging construction in Eibela 3.1 Overview of bridging constructions 3.2 Recapitulative linkage 3.3 Summary linkage 3.3.1 ɛ `do' 3.3.2 wogu `do thus' 3.3.3 hɛnaː `durative' 4 Discourse functions of bridging constructions 4.1 Discourse organization 4.2 Temporal relations 4.3 Causal relations 4.4 Argument tracking 5 Summary 7 Online and offline bridging constructions in Korowai Lourens de Vries 1 Introduction 2 Recapitulative linkage 2.1 Recapitulative linkage with chained clauses 2.2 Recapitulative linkage with thematic clauses 3 Summary linkage 4 Other ways to link sentences 5 Conclusions 8 Recapitulative linkage in Mavea Valérie Guérin 1 A brief introduction 2 Formal characteristics of recapitulative linkage 2.1 Composition, content, and position 2.2 Grammatical status of the bridging clause 3 Bridging constructions in discourse 3.1 Text genres and token frequency of recapitulative linkage 3.2 Analysis of a procedural text 3.3 Analysis of a narrative 4 Recapitulative linkage versus clausal repetition 5 Conclusions 9 Clause repetition as a tying technique in Greek conversation Angeliki Alvanoudi 1 Introduction 2 The role of repetition in conversation 3 Repetition as a tying technique in conversation 4 Clause repetition in Greek conversation 4.1 Data 4.2 Self-repetition 4.3 Repetition of a prior turn at talk 4.4 Summary 5 From repetition to bridging constructions: Language diversity as a continuum Index Name index Language index Subject index Many descriptive grammars report the use of a linguistic pattern at the interface between discourse and syntax which is known generally as tail-head linkage. This volume takes an unprecedented look at this type of linkage across languages and shows that there exist three distinct variants, all subsumed under the hypernym bridging constructions. The chapters highlight the defining features of these constructions in the grammar and their functional properties in discourse. The volume reveals that: Bridging constructions consist of two clauses: a reference clause and a bridging clause. Across languages, bridging clauses can be subordinated clauses, reduced main clauses, or main clauses with continuation prosody. Bridging constructions have three variants: recapitulative linkage, summary linkage and mixed linkage. They differ in the formal makeup of the bridging clause. In discourse, the functions that bridging constructions fulfil depend on the text genres in which they appear and their position in the text. If a language uses more than one type of bridging construction, then each type has a distinct discourse function. Bridging constructions can be optional and purely stylistic or mandatory and serve a grammatical purpose. Although the difference between bridging constructions and clause repetition can be subtle, they maintain their own distinctive characteristics.

Many descriptive grammars report the use of a linguistic pattern at the interface between discourse and syntax which is known generally as tail-head linkage. This volume takes an unprecedented look at this type of linkage across languages and shows that there exist three distinct variants, all subsumed under the hypernym bridging constructions. The chapters highlight the defining features of these constructions in the grammar and their functional properties in discourse. The volume reveals that: Bridging constructions consist of two clauses: a reference clause and a bridging clause. Across languages, bridging clauses can be subordinated clauses, reduced main clauses, or main clauses with continuation prosody. Bridging constructions have three variants: recapitulative linkage, summary linkage and mixed linkage. They differ in the formal makeup of the bridging clause.