26.1401, Review: Discourse Analysis; Syntax; Typology: van Gijn, Hammond, Matić, van Putten (2014)

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Subject: 26.1401, Review: Discourse Analysis; Syntax; Typology: van Gijn, Hammond, Matić, van Putten (2014)

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Date: Fri, 13 Mar 2015 14:07:42
From: Amy Cruickshanks [a.cruickshanks at student.unimelb.edu.au]
Subject: Information Structure and Reference Tracking in Complex Sentences

 
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/25/25-2071.html

EDITOR: Rik   van Gijn
EDITOR: Jeremy  Hammond
EDITOR: Dejan  Matić
EDITOR: Saskia  van Putten
TITLE: Information Structure and Reference Tracking in Complex Sentences
SERIES TITLE: Typological Studies in Language 105
PUBLISHER: John Benjamins
YEAR: 2014

REVIEWER: Amy Cruickshanks, University of Melbourne

Review's Editor: Helen Aristar-Dry

SUMMARY

This edited volume, “Information Structure and Reference Tracking in Complex
Sentences”, stems from the 2011 Workshop on Information Structure and
Subordination: South America and Beyond  (Nijmegen) which was organised
jointly by The Traces of Contact Project (Radboud University Nijmegen) and the
Syntax, Typology and Information Structure Group (Max Planck Institute for
Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen).   Comprising thirteen individual contributions
discussing aspects of information structure and reference tracking in a
variety of unrelated languages, the book is divided into two parts, each
containing six chapters: 1) Information structure in complex sentences, and 2)
Reference tracking in complex sentences.  Preceding part one is an
introductory overview of the topic area.

The introductory chapter, “Information structure and reference tracking in
complex sentences” (pp.1-41), written by Dejan Matić, Rik van Gijn and Robert
D. Van Valin, Jr. provides an overview of the concepts the works in this
volume are concerned with.  “Information structure” (IS) is defined as “common
ground management” (p.2) and the authors use this notion as a springboard in
describing traditional IS concepts:  “topic” highlights the part of common
ground which will be added to by a new proposition, and “focus” shows the
section of a proposition not yet part of common ground.  “Reference tracking”
(RT) is described as “the capability of the interlocutors to unequivocally
determine the referent(s) of a linguistic expression” (p.2).    In relation to
complex sentences and the relationship between their (clausal) units, a
distinction is made between coordinate and subordinate structures. 
Subordination is further categorised into i) daughter-subordination, where the
subordinate clause functions as a core argument of the verb in the main
clause, and ii) ad-subordination, where the subordinate clause is not directly
embedded in the main clause and functions as an adjunct modifier.  

The interaction between IS and complex sentences is investigated.  The authors
distinguish between two types of IS interactions: i) ‘external IS’ in which an
entire clause in the complex sentence functions as topic or focus, and ii)
‘internal IS’ in which a single constituent within one of the clauses in the
complex sentence has an IS role.  Each of these interactions is examined and
the likelihood of their occurrence with daughter-subordinate and
ad-subordinate clauses discussed.  In relation to RT, the authors propose a
typology based on four parameters: i) the way a referent is marked, ii) the
discourse scope of referential understanding of an RT element, iii) the
location of the RT marker, and iv) the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic
characteristics of controllers and pivots.  The authors briefly discuss the
effects of IS on RT, claiming that IS often plays a role in switch reference
systems.

In the first chapter in part one, “Subordinate clauses and exclusive focus in
Makhuwa” (pp.45-69), Jenneke van del Wal discusses the two alternate verb
forms in Makhuwa (Bantu) known as conjoint and disjoint, showing that the
conjoint form is employed when a noun or simple (i.e. non-clausal) adverb
following the verb has “exclusive focus” (p.46).  Van del Wal demonstrates
this pattern holds regardless of whether the element is an argument of the
verb or an adjunct.  She then provides evidence that this exclusive focus
interpretation also extends to instances where the element following the
conjoint form is an adverbial clause rather than a simple phrase or word.  No
such exclusive focus interpretation exists for complement clauses, however,
which can follow conjoint and disjoint forms with no apparent difference in
meaning.  The author proposes that this difference between the two types of
subordinate clauses is due to adverbial clauses not having an internal IS
whilst complement clauses do have internal IS.  This means that they, unlike
adverbial clauses, cannot function as a single informational unit in the main
clause. 

Saskia van Putten, in “Left dislocation and subordination in Avatime (Kwa)”
(71-98), discusses the phenomenon of elements found in a non-canonical clause
initial position in Avatime (Kwa, Niger-Congo).  There are two functions of
left-dislocation in this language: i) to indicate set-membership and ii) to
introduce a new referent into the discourse.   Left dislocation appears to
occur in both main and subordinate clauses; corpus data as well as elicitation
reveals that in subordinate clauses, it is most frequently found in complement
clauses, however it also occurs in adverbial clauses, specifically in purpose
clauses, reason clauses, temporal clauses and conditional clauses.  Although
there is some question as to whether all these clauses are truly subordinate
in Avatime, the author states that in some instances it is clear they are. 
The claim that left dislocation is not possible within presupposed clauses is
discussed and van Putten demonstrates that in Avatime this also appears to be
the case – left dislocation only occurs in clauses which are asserted.

In the next chapter entitled “Chechen extraposition as an information ordering
strategy” (pp.99-126), Erwin R. Komen investigates the relationship between
extraposed relative clauses and narrow focus. The author claims that in
Chechen extraposed relative clauses can either be ‘non-restrictive/appositive’
(i.e. the head of the relative clause is identifiable as it stands) or
‘restrictive’ (i.e. the head of the relative clause is unidentifiable as it
stands), and that both clause types can occur with either argument or adjunct
heads.  He shows that whilst heads of non-restrictive extraposed relative
clauses can appear in any position in the clause and can carry a topic or
focus status, heads of restrictive extraposed relative clauses only ever occur
in the narrow focus position immediately preceding the verb, and that this
focus is often overtly contrasted in the discourse.   

The fourth chapter in part one, “Questions and syntactic islands in Tundra
Yukaghir” (pp.127-161) by Dejan Matić, discusses the relevance of information
structure for ‘questioned islands’ - syntactic islands with question words. 
Focusing on relative clause and adjunct clause questioned islands, Matić
argues that no element in these clauses can carry focus-marking; focus-marking
is a feature that appears at the level of the matrix clause only.  While
relative and adjunct clauses are often thought to be unfocusable (p.150) and
unavailable for inquiry (p. 151), the author demonstrates that in Tundra
Yukaghir, questioned islands as a whole can act as focus, with the entire
syntactic island behaving like a question word in simple questions.  There are
no apparent restrictions in terms of what grammatical function the questioned
island has in the matrix clause, nor are there any restrictions on the
grammatical role of the question word within the island. The reason why these
questioned islands can be focused, Matić proposes, is due to the size of the
question focus.  He states that in question islands it is not purely the
identity of the question word being questioned, but the identity of the entire
island (p. 156). 

In the next contribution, “Constituent order and information structure in
Karitiana” (pp. 163-191), Luciana R. Storto discusses characteristics of focus
in Karitiana, demonstrating that this language has a focus position at the
left-edge of a clause.  Subject noun phrases (NPs), object NPs  and
prepositional phrases (PPs) can all be focussed; where the focussed
constituent is an object NP, the verb additionally carries a focus marker. 
The form of this marker is determined by the type of clause the verb heads:
‘a-’ if the clause is declarative, and ‘ti-’ elsewhere.  Storto goes into some
detail as to the origins of these two morphemes claiming that ‘a-’ derived
from the language’s passive prefix while ‘ti-’ potentially began as an “object
subordinate clause nominalizer” (p. 188).  In a short excerpt comprising four
explanatory sentences and a five-sentence excerpt from a narrative, the author
shows objects in subordinate clauses can have the role of focus.  She also
proposes the language encodes when the subject is a new (shifted) topic by
repeating the subject constituent at the end of a sentence.  

The final chapter in part one is Patxi Laskurain Ibarluzea’s “Mood selection
in the complement of negation matrices in Spanish” (pp. 193-227).  The author
presents a novel analysis of doubt and negation complements, proposing that
the driving factor behind their having subjunctive mood is information
structure rather than the complement’s presupposition or nonassertion.
Ibarluzea asserts that it is “the relation between negation and active
referents” (p.203) which determines the use of the subjunctive in these
complement clauses, and that the subjunctive mood indicates both the speaker
and hearer have the complement’s proposition in mind (p.204).  He claims this
is on par with the use of the subjunctive in comment complements.  Ibarluzea
further addresses the issue of both subjunctive and indicative moods being
used with complements of negative doubt predicates such as ‘no dudar’ (meaning
‘not to doubt’) claiming the subjunctive is used when the speaker believes the
listener has in mind the complement’s propositional content whilst the
indicative is used when this is not believed to be the case. 

In the first chapter in part two, “Topic management and clause combination in
the Papuan language Usan” (pp. 231-261), Ger Reesink discusses how topical
referents are tracked in Usan discourse. Usan is a language that has a switch
reference system and contains clause chaining structures, i.e. groups of verbs
in which all but the final verb is devoid of tense-aspect-mood markers. 
Reesink states that a topic is introduced into the discourse with a
“presentational construction” (p. 234), and with the topical noun accompanied
by ‘ger’ ‘indefinite article’. In all additional appearances, the topical noun
is marked by ‘eng’ (translated as ‘that’), however once a topic has been
firmly established in the mind of the listener, it is often expressed through
the switch-reference verbal morphology alone.  The author argues that the
clauses in the clause chains are coordinated and that subjecthood and
topichood plays a part in which switch-reference marker is selected,
demonstrating that speakers can orient their switch-reference choices around a
particular referent when there are multiple topics in the discourse (p. 242). 
Reesink also discusses subordination in Usan, proposing that subordinate
clauses are nominalisations.  He points out that both overt topical nouns and
subordinate clauses are accompanied by the determiner ‘eng’, which signifies
givenness.

Jeremy Hammond, in “Switch-reference antecedence and subordination in
Whitesands” (pp. 263-290), describes the switch reference system in this
language, showing that it differs from canonical switch-reference systems in
that it is the initial clause in a chain which hosts the main predicate with
all subsequent linked predicates indicating co- or disjoint-reference.  The
main predicate is always fully inflected for person and it acts as the
controller of tense and illocutionary force across the chain.  Co-reference is
indicated by the echo reference (ER) prefix, ‘m-’, occupying the person/tense
slot on the verb, whereas disjoint reference is indicated by a fully inflected
verb.  Hammond claims that unlike in Usan (Reesink pp. 231-261),
switch-reference in Whitesands is not controlled by the most salient
participant in the discourse, but rather it is used to show the continuation
of a particular referent across clauses; the ER always indicates the subject
of the clause is co-referential with the preceding clause’s subject.  The
author also demonstrates that the ER system does not carry across to relative
clauses or complement clauses.

In the next chapter, “Repeated dependent clauses in Yurakaré” (pp. 291-308),
Rik van Gijn discusses two constructions in Yurakaré: ‘tail head linkage’
(THL) and ‘repeated citation constructions’ (RCC).  Van Gijn claims there are
four THL types in Yurakaré ranging from verbatim repetition of the final
clause in one chain as the initial clause in the subsequent chain to what he
calls ‘association’, where the initial clause in a chain shows no repetition
of an earlier predicate but builds on the events in the preceding clause. 
Within clause chains, a switch reference system is at play with switch
reference markers differentiating a) the co- or disjoint referentiality of
subjects, and b) (where the subjects are co-referential), whether the clausal
proposition is what the author classes as “realis” or “irrealis”.  In RCCs,
van Gijn shows that a cited predicate is repeated with the second
instantiation of the verb carrying one of the two subject switch-reference
markers, depending on the mood of the main clause.  He claims that THL and RCC
constructions are similar not only in structure, but also in that they both
work in asserting an event within the discourse whilst simultaneously
backgrounding it.
   
The next contribution, “Clause chaining, switch reference and nominalisations
in Aguaruna (Jivaroan)” (pp. 309-340), by Simon E. Overall investigates
reference tracking in this Amazonian language.  Similar to the others
languages discussed in the second part of the book thus far, Aguaruna displays
clause chaining structures and a switch reference system that Overall argues
marks syntactic information and also contributes to discourse structuring by
encoding clauses as either backgrounded or foregrounded (p. 331).  The author
demonstrates this language also contains THL structures, though the head verb
of the second chain is never a verbatim repetition of the tail predicate but
rather a pro-verb such as ‘nunit’ and ‘dutikat’ translated as ‘do thus’ (p.
331).  Non-restrictive relative clauses are reanalysed as being an extension
of the clause-chaining system, with their nominaliser markers being likened to
a switch reference indicator.    

In “The multiple coreference systems in the Ese Ejja subordinate clauses”(pp.
341-371), Marine Vuillermet investigates the switch reference system in Ese
Ejja (Takanan). Rather than having a canonical SS/DS switch reference system,
this language has two ‘tripartite’ switch-reference systems.  Vuillermet
states the first system is found in reason, conditional and ‘before’ clauses. 
It is driven by the coreferentiality of a participant with the subject in the
matrix clause (MC), but also takes into account the semantic role of the MC
subject.  The second system is found only in temporal clauses and is argued to
be dependent clause (DC) driven.  In this system, the grammatical function of
the argument in the DC which is coreferential with the MC subject determines
the switch reference form used.

The final chapter in this book is Ana Vilacy Galucio’s “Argument marking and
reference tracking in Mekens” (pp. 373-396).  Galucio shows that in simple
clauses, argument agreement on the verb follows an absolutive pattern, however
in constructions with multiple clauses one finds nominative alignment in the
language’s two RT systems.  The first system is found with transitive verbs. 
The author argues that when the subjects of clauses are coreferential, the
subject in one of the clauses is omitted, whereas when the subjects of the two
clauses are not-coreferential, both are overtly marked. The second RT system
is found with intransitive and auxiliary verbs; it tracks referents through
subject (non)agreement markers on the verb.  Galucio claims the reference
tracking systems in Mekens show characteristics associated with neither a
switch reference system nor a logophoric system.

EVALUATION

“Information Structure and Reference Tracking in Complex Sentences” is both an
informative and interesting book.  On the whole, the chapters are detailed and
coherent, providing insight into some of the similarities and differences in
IS and RT strategies and the ways in which information management processes
and complex sentences interact. The contributions complement each other and
their cohesion is increased by the introductory overview chapter, which neatly
shows how the findings in each chapter fit into the overall typologies given. 

The fact that the majority of works in this volume are on lesser studied
languages adds to its value.  Some of the investigations highlight areas in
which we still have much to learn.  In particular, the discussions in the
second part of the book show that reference tracking strategies don’t always
fit well into the categories of switch-reference and logophoric systems;
whilst languages may display some characteristics associated with one or both
of these systems, they may differ significantly in other ways.  

Although the interaction between IS and RT is touched on briefly in a few
chapters (e.g. in the introductory chapter as well as in Hammond’s and
Reesink’s individual contributions), more discussion and focus on this topic
would have added an extra depth to the subject area overall. As this volume is
the first major work dealing specifically with IS and RT in complex sentences,
it is understandable that not all topics could be covered; however more work
looking specifically at the effects of IS on RT in complex sentences would be
a welcome addition to the field.      

The book has been edited well, though a very few typographical errors and
inconsistencies were noted, two in language data examples: on page 324, in
example (16) b. DS should be SS, and on pages 376 and 378, examples (4) and
(7) are identical, except in the former the subject pronoun is written as a
clitic and in the latter as a free pronoun.  Additionally, there are some
inconsistencies related to terminology throughout the book. Very notable is
that in the introductory chapter, there is a detailed discussion about
subordination, IS and RT with new terms presented and defined. Yet these terms
and definitions are not used or referred to in any other contribution.  For
example, in the first chapter, we are introduced to the terms “ad-subordinate”
and “daughter subordinate”, but throughout the remaining chapters, the
traditional terms “adverbial clause” and “complement clause” are typically
used.  Having said that, the terms used in each chapter are transparent and
well explained where necessary, and each contribution can easily be read (and
fully understood) as a “stand-alone” paper.

Aimed at those with some understanding of syntactic theory, “Information
Structure and Reference Tracking in Complex Sentences” is ideal for linguists
and (young) research scholars interested in information structure, reference
tracking and discourse analysis.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Amy Cruickshanks is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne. She is
currently researching argument realisation in Pawnee (Caddoan). Her interests
include language description and the documentation and preservation of
indigenous languages.





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