Grammar and Inference in Conversation: Identifying Clause Structure in Spoken JavaneseThis study analyzes how morphosyntactic structures and information flow characteristics are used by interlocutors in producing and understanding clauses in conversational Javanese, focusing on the Cirebon variety of the language. While some clauses display grammatical mechanisms used to code their structure explicitly and redundantly, many other clauses include few if any of these grammatical resources. These extremes mark a cline between the morphosyntactic and paratactic expression of clauses. The situation is thrown into relief by the frequency of unexpressed referents and conversationalists' heavy reliance on shared experience and cultural knowledge. In all cases, pragmatic inference grounded in the interactional context is essential for establishing not only the discourse functions, but indeed also the very structure of clauses in conversational Javanese. This study contributes to our understanding of transitivity, emergent constituency, prosodic organization and the co-construction of meaning and structure by conversational interlocutors. |
Contents
The morphology of predicates | 15 |
CHAPTER 3 | 63 |
Information flow | 119 |
Constituents and constituent order | 157 |
CHAPTER 6 | 223 |
CHAPTER 7 | 247 |
Appendix | 267 |
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A-trigger clauses aken anaphora Animacy argument structure associated Bebasan beli Central Java Chapter Cirebon Javanese conversation clause structure clauses in Cirebon configuration constituent order context cues database demonstrative pronouns discourse elements epenthetic evoked example explicit explicitly expressed forms frequent function Given Identifiable grammatical Gunungjati headless relative clauses hearer identifiability pathway identifiable referents illustrated indicate Indonesian inferencing information flow characteristics information flow properties integrational unit interaction interlocutors intonation unit intransitive verbs isun IU-final Javanese language kang kita language lexical noun phrases linguistic macro-roles marked means mentioned morphology morphosyntactic motorcycle multi-IU nang Nani nasal prefix nominal expressions non-identifiable non-referential non-tracking occur P-trigger verb personal pronouns pitch contour pragmatic prosodic cluster reduplication referentiality relationship represent role sample second person semantic single-IU A-trigger clauses single-IU P-trigger clauses Standard Central Javanese stative story suffix Sundanese syntactic that.DIS that.MED third person tion transitive clauses trigger unexpressed participants unprefixed verbal vocatives wong