Relations that are seldom or never signaled

[Dagmar Barth]

on unsignalled Concession:

Manfred we have talked about this at Konstanz already, but since the need for 'living' examples came up, here are some for all list members (hello) from our research on the expression of concession in English spoken data (spontaneously produced in conversation, radio and TV programmes (British and American)) (for credits: I am working in a project located at the English department of the University of Konstanz, Germany, and headed by Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen and Susanne Günthner, one of our collaborators is Sandra Thompson; my collegue Christine Gohl is looking at causal relations in German; all errors are mine).

(Another preliminary remark: One has to keep in mind that there are different definitions for Concession around, we are using one that is based on the RST notion (markings, such as X, X' and Y, stem from this model), but it is certainly influenced by other definitions - if you come across an example that you as RST-followers feel is NOT RST-Concession, I'd be grateful for comments - which I'd be in any case.)

Here we go:
Concession signalled by 'and'
There are, of course, some with additional markers:

1) 23.01 Dr O'Dell DAT: 24.50 (24.53)
(AE radio phone-in on teenage pregnancy and sexual diseases. S, the caller, advertizes sexual abstinency, which was, as she claims, practised by her generation when they were young, as a solution. O'Dell opposes this.)

			D:	mhm
	X		S:	it was like the norm
				it's was the-
				it was the (???)
				it was-
				everybody knew that that was really a
				a sacred thing to a certain extent
	X'		D:	right
	Y X'			---> and nobody did it (though)
			S:	we upheld it
			D:	what do you mean 'we'
				where are you from

But, there are other examples where 'and' is the only (syntactic) marker:

2) 20.02 Presidential debate DAT: 1.06.07
(Presidential debate between Bush, Clinton and Perot, L is the moderator. C just accused B of still coddling Saddam Hussein when he was already getting too big (=X))

	L:	Mr. President you have a moment/ a minute - I'm sorry
	B:	Well it's awful easy when you're dealing with 1990 hindsight - 		
X'		we did try to bring Saddam Hussein into the family of nations - 
		he did have the fourth largest army - 
		all our Arab allies out there thought we ought to do just 
		exactly that - 
Y	--->	and when one crossed the line - 
		I stood up and looked into the camera and I said 
		this aggression will not stand - 
		and we formed a historic coalition 
		and we brought him down 

3) 08.02 Don Vogel: getting ready (DAT: 15:00+)
(AE radio show broadcasted from the Minnesota state fair. DV, the presenter, is not too well prepared for the show. He has just teased CB, a collegue and guest at the show, who reacts slightly annoyed.)
	
  	CB:	let's talk about your failure to be prepared for this radio show
		shall we
   	DV:	let's talk about you
X  	CB:	for how long have you been in this business
   	DV:	let's talk about you
X'	CB:	17 years
Y		---> and you (can't get ready for a show don)
   	DV:	hey you were not even here 
		when i was outside with the people

4) 08.02 Don Vogel (DAT: 48:24+)
(same show as 3). DV was joined by a co-presenter TM. XX, a caller, comments on siamese twins, who have to be separated. Since their father is a drug and alcohol addict, the family has no money to pay for the operation themselves. Therefore, the state, i.e. all other patients, will have to pay for it due to a system called 'cost shifting'.)

	XX:	listen just a quick comment about this couple with the siameese
		twins
	DV:	uh hm
	XX:	it ain't (2 syll) to injury that the bills are being covered
		simply by what's called cost shifting
		which means this couple has no interests and no money
		it's simply gonna be passed on to other patients
	DV:	ha ha ha ha
	TM:	oh so you may go there
X		you may go there and just need seven stitches
Y ---> 		and get a bill for about 10 grand
		just because of cost shifting	
	XX:	it's those 50 dollar bandaids
	DV:	i didn't know that one

Concession unsignalled

5) 20.01 DAT: 35:27
(Presidential debate between Bush, Clinton and Perot. Perot has just interrupted Clinton on the issue of free trade. Whereas L, the moderator, usually stops those talking without his permission, Perot was allowed to continue.)

	P: 	Now that we've talked all around the problem about free trade 
		let's go again to the center of the bull's eye () The ba/
X   	L:	/Wait a minute I was gonna ask/ Uh/ 
		I thought you wanted to respond to what we were talking about/
	P:						No I mea/
X'  	 	I do - I do 
	L:		all right     
Y  ---> P:	I just wanta make su/ as foreign lobbyists this whole thing () 		
		Our contry has sold out to foreign lobbyists -

6) 28.01 Wally + friends: trouble DAT: 22.29
(BE dinner conversation between two elderly couples, MA and WA, BE and DA. BE is going to Australia shortly and wonders where to buy Silk Cut (cigarette brand). MA and WA, who've been to Australia already several times, answer.)

	MA:	erm(1.3): take your dutyfree / 
		buy your (,) limit to be dutyfree of course
	BE:	can you get (0,9) [clatter of dishes] silk cut on the 	& plane
X	MA:								& yes 		
		most duty free 	& shops have Silk Cut
X'	WA:			& :er (0,9): you certainly can get it in England 
Y  ---> 	we had trouble in Australia
		coming back from Australia we got them in Bahrain wasn't & it
Y'	MA:								 & yes 
		we got them in Bahrain eventually
	WA:	Singapore you'll be able to get them

7) 28.01 Wally + friends: eat and drink DAT: 27.36
(same BE dinner conversation. BE wonders how much money she should keep to be able to buy something to eat and drink during their stop at Singapore.)

	BE:	on me way back yeah (,) 
		but I me- I mean the point is that :erm(0,5)::er(0,9):
X		y/ I mean if we're there for three hours 
		we'll probably want something to
		eat and & drink or 	& something (,) so -
	WA:		& oh yeah +	&
	MA:				& yeah but the plane 	& feeds you and
	WA:							& well -
		drinks you r- right up to the eyebrows
	BE:	& really 
X' 	WA:	& you might want a drink 
Y		---> you won't want any food (1,1) 
		in twenty five hours 
	BE:				yes 	 
	WA:	we had two dinners two breakfasts [laughing] and & two lunches
	BE:		no 

To quote Manfred: any thoughts on these?

Apart from that:
Claudia, is the specific set-up and results for the experiment you mentioned, published somewhere? From what I found in my data so far, I have the feeling that the results of such experiments are very sensitive to the set-up, i.e. are the texts produced spontaneously or are they somehow prepared, even if only by having produced the story once before. What was produced first, the spoken or the written version? What other kind of markers did you find (cf., for instance, 'just' in ex.5)?

Waiting for comments on my first-time-participating,
Dagmar.

*********please note: change of address*************************************
Dagmar Barth
Germanistisches Institut
Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg
Luisenstr. 2
06099 Halle/Sa.
Tel +49-345-552 36 02
Fax +49-345-552 71 07
e-mail: dagmar.barth at uni-konstanz.de (still valid)
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