Constructions of Intersubjectivity Discourse,

Constructions of Intersubjectivity shows that the meaning of grammatical constructions often has more to do with the human cognitive capacity for taking other peoples' points of view than with describing the world. Treating pragmatics, semantics, and syntax in parallel and integrating insightsfrom linguistics, psychology, and animal communication, Arie Verhagen develops a new understanding of linguistic communication. In doing so he shows the continuity between language and animal communication and reveals the nature of human linguistic specialization. Professor Verhagen uses Dutch and English data from a wide variety of sources and considers the contributions of grammar to the coherence of discourse. He argues that important problems in semantics and syntax may be resolved if language is understood as an instrument for exerting influence andcoordinating different perspectives. The grammatical phenomena he discusses include negative expressions, the let alone construction, complementation constructions, and discourse connectives.This powerfully argued and original explanation of the nature and operation of communication will interest a wide range of scholars and advanced students in linguistics, cognitive science, and human evolution.

Arie Verhagen has been the chair of Dutch Linguistics at the University of Leiden since 1998. He received his PhD in 1986 at the Free University in Amsterdam and has taught at the Free University, Utrecht University, and the University of Leiden. His books include Linguistic Theory and the Function of Word Order in Dutch (1986) and Usage-Based Approaches to Dutch (co-edited with Jeroen van de Weijer, 2003). He was editor-in-chief of the journal Cognitive Linguistics from 1996 until 2004. His research focuses on relations between language use and language structure, synchronically and diachronically. Current topics, in addition to those addressed in this book, include causative constructions and other expressions of causation, and the organization of constructions into grammars.

Acknowledgments

ix

Figures

xiii

Tables

xv

1 Intersubjectivity-mutual management of cognitive states

1

(27)

1.1 Small grammatical puzzles

1

(1)

1.2 Big theoretical issues

2

(14)

1.2.1 A human specialization

2

(2)

1.2.2 Common ground and the construal configuration

4

(4)

1.2.3 Human and animal communication, and the theory of argumentativity

8

(8)

Argumentation and information

9

(3)

Connected discourse

12

(4)

1.3 Variation in the balance between objectivity and intersubjectivity

16

(8)

1.3.1 Introduction

16

(3)

1.3.2 An initial illustration: a range of promises

19

(5)

Argumentation and auxiliary syntax

23

(1)

1.4 Prospects

24

(4)

1.4.1 The usage-based approach and empirical data

24

(2)

1.4.2 Preview

26

(2)

2 Negation and virtual argumentation

28

(50)

2.1 Introduction

28

(1)

2.2 Negation and perspectives

29

(6)

2.2.1 Mental spaces

29

(3)

2.2.2 Sentential vs. morphological negation

32

(3)

2.3 Conventional linguistic constraints on intersubjective coordination

35

(35)

2.3.1 The let alone construction: some unsolved problems

35

(6)

Fillmore, Kay, and O'Connor (1988)

35

(3)

Problem: non-semantic negative polarity?

38

(1)

Problem: pragmatic point in first conjunct?

39

(1)

Problem: what did the meaning of let alone develop from?

39

(2)

2.3.2 Barely is not almost, let alone pretty much completely

41

(14)

Argumentative orientation as linguistic meaning

41

(3)

Argumentative direction and argumentative strength

44

(1)

Barely and almost as argumentative operators

45

(5)

Argumentative orientation constraining coreference

50

(5)

2.3.3 The negation system for intersubjective coordination

55

(5)

2.3.4 Let alone and argumentation

60

(21)

Solution: making syntactic and semantic negative polarity coincide

60

(1)

Solution: aligning semantics and pragmatics

61

(5)

Solution: understanding the historical development of let alone

66

(4)

2.4 'Double' negation revisited: why not impossible does not equal possible

70

(6)

2.5 Conclusion

76

(2)

3 Finite complements-putting conceptualizers on stage

78

(78)

3.1 Introduction: two ways of looking at complements

78

(3)

3.2 Problems with clauses as constituents

81

(13)

3.2.1 Introduction

81

(2)

3.2.2 Some issues of grammatical analysis

83

(7)

Direct object or oblique object?

83

(4)

Subject or predicate?

87

(3)

3.2.3 Some issues of discourse analysis and language acquisition

90

(4)

Development

92

(2)

3.3 Use and structure of complementation constructions

94

(60)

3.3.1 The special role of complementation in discourse structure

94

(6)

Recursion

98

(2)

3.3.2 A template and its meaning

100

(4)

Productivity

102

(1)

Type and token frequency

102

(2)

'Exceptions' are regular

104

(1)

3.3.3 Third-person conceptualizers and degrees of directness in intersubjective coordination

104

(9)

Complementation and argumentativity

105

(2)

Performativity

107

(3)

Developing a network of complementation constructions

110

(3)

3.3.4 Manipulating the relation between Ground and onstage conceptualizers

113

(6)

3.3.5 Wh-extraction 'in the wild'

119

(12)

Clausal constituents again

119

(1)

The specific nature of complementation questions in the construal configuration

120

(4)

Type and token frequencies

124

(5)

Frequency and subjectivity

129

(2)

3.3.6 Impersonal intersubjectivity and the irrelevance of syntactic relations

131

(10)

Impersonal complementation constructions-extensions from the prototype

132

(4)

Type and token frequencies, and an extended network

136

(1)

Against syntactic relations in complementation

137

(4)

3.3.7 Perspectival and causal connections

141

(8)

3.3.8 Clauses as discourse segments revisited

149

(13)

Complementation and topic continuity

151

(3)

3.4 Conclusion

154

(2)

4 Discourse connections-managing inferences across perspectives

156

(54)

4.1 Introduction

156

(6)

4.2 Concession

162

(28)

4.2.1 Two paradoxes

162

(5)

Duality

162

(2)

Domain theory

164

(3)

4.2.2 Background assumptions and mental spaces

167

(7)

4.2.3 The double link between epistemic concessives and epistemic causals

174

(10)

Epistemic causality and perspectives: what concessions and arguments have in common

175

(5)

Epistemic inferences in the background

180

(2)

Recursion again

182

(2)

4.2.4 Concessivity and negated causality

184

(6)

Negation of causality and the source of scope-phenomena

184

(3)

Negation of concession produces contradiction

187

(3)

4.3 Arguing, reasoning, and construing causes

190

(18)

4.3.1 Causal connectives imposing constraints on perspectives

190

(7)

Dutch want and omdat (and aangezien)

191

(6)

4.3.2 Causal connectives and the structure of the construal configuration

197

(15)

Inferential and non-inferential causal relations

202

(6)

4.4 Conclusion

208

(2)

5 Concluding Remarks

210

(7)

5.1 Not everything is intersubjectivity (though intersubjectivity is widespread)

210

(2)

5.2 Grammar provides systematic instruments for mutual management-of a special kind

212

(5)

5.2.1 Looking ahead

212

(2)

5.2.2 Looking back

214

(3)

References

217

(10)

Index

227

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Constructions of Intersubjectivity Discourse, Syntax, and Cognition

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials