Turn continuations : towards a cross-linguistic classification

Abstract

The preliminary cross-linguistic classification proposed in this paper has emerged from an examination of English and Japanese talk-in-interaction data, as well as from published German data. I have focused on turn continuations that are not new TCUs but are syntactically and semantically related expansions of the prior TCU, i.e. TCU continuations. Such TCU continuations are produced with or without a prosodic break between prior talk and its continuation (add-ons and non-add-ons, respectively). TCU continuations showing such a prosodic break, i.e. add-ons, can either replace some part of the host (replacements) or simply add on further material to the host (increments). The addition of further material can be achieved in a grammatically symbiotic or fitted fashion (glue-ons) or in a grammatically unrelated fashion (free constituents). Between these two extremes there are other types of increments, among them insertables, elements that if they are to be integrated with the host must be inserted into it. Free constituents do not fulfil the criterion of being syntactically related to prior talk, although they bear a strong semantic relation to it and cannot be interpreted independently. However, this category does not fit smoothly under the cover term TCU continuation, because as free constituents they are not grammatically related to the prior turn and therefore do not fulfil the criterion of being a syntactically related expansion of it. So the category of free constituents shares features with TCU continuations, i.e. a strong semantic relation to prior talk, as well as with new TCUs, in that there is no grammatical relation to prior talk. In the graphical synopsis of my preliminary cross-linguistic categorisation of turn continuations (given in the appendix), free constituents are therefore connected to both TCU continuations and to new TCUs. The dashed line is intended to indicate a rather loose connection to both categories.