1 / 29

Left Dislocations and their Contribution to Information Structure

Left Dislocations and their Contribution to Information Structure. Steven Runge Logos Bible Software. Traditional Explanations. NT Terminology cleft constructions hanging nominatives pendent nominatives casus pendens independent nominatives. Traditional Explanations. NT Terminology

belita
Download Presentation

Left Dislocations and their Contribution to Information Structure

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Left Dislocations and their Contribution to Information Structure Steven Runge Logos Bible Software www.ntdiscourse.org

  2. Traditional Explanations NT Terminology • cleft constructions • hanging nominatives • pendent nominatives • casus pendens • independent nominatives www.ntdiscourse.org

  3. Traditional Explanations NT Terminology • cleft constructions • hanging nominatives • pendent nominatives • casus pendens • independent nominatives Functions associated with left-dislocation • Wallace: either emotion or emphasis • Young: emphasis • Porter: highlighting or topic shifting www.ntdiscourse.org

  4. Linguistic Explanation Chafe’s cross-linguistic claim of “one new concept at a time”. Presentational clauseThere is a guy from the office. He asked me… Topic/Comment clauseI know a guy from the office. He asked me… www.ntdiscourse.org

  5. Linguistic Explanation Streamlined introductions: topic announcing or shifting Left-dislocation“This guy from the office, he asked...” Rhetorical question“Remember the guy from the office? He asked...” www.ntdiscourse.org

  6. Linguistic Explanation Left-dislocations reserved for: • Topic announcing • Topic promotion Pronominal trace expected in the entity’s default position in the clause www.ntdiscourse.org

  7. Unmarked Resumption - Matthew 18:6 www.ntdiscourse.org

  8. Unmarked Resumption - Mark 11:23 www.ntdiscourse.org

  9. Unmarked Resumption - Mark 11:23 Mt 21:21-22: Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith” (ESV). www.ntdiscourse.org

  10. Simon Dik’s Pre-verbal Slots VO languages have two pre-verbal slots • Position 1: Established or accessible information • Traditionally distinguished as “contrastive topic” • Establishes an explicit frame of reference • Represents choice to place info in marked position www.ntdiscourse.org

  11. Simon Dik’s Pre-verbal Slots VO languages have two pre-verbal slots • Position 1: Established or accessible information • Traditionally referred to as “contrastive topic” • Establishes an explicit frame of reference • Represents choice to place info in marked position • Position 2: Newly asserted information (focal) • Traditionally referred to as “emphasis” • Most salient information made more prominent, emphasized • Represents choice to place most salient info in a marked position www.ntdiscourse.org

  12. Default versus Marked Usage • Minority of NT dislocations place pronoun in the expected position • Statistics versus cross-linguistic patterning www.ntdiscourse.org

  13. Default versus Marked Usage • Minority of NT dislocations place pronoun in the expected position • Statistics versus cross-linguistic patterning • How is the high frequency of marked usage explained? • Cognitive aid in processing of complex dislocations www.ntdiscourse.org

  14. Default versus Marked Usage • Minority of NT dislocations place pronoun in the expected position • Statistics versus cross-linguistic patterning • How is the high frequency of marked usage explained? • Cognitive aid in processing of complex dislocations • Rhetorical function of topic promotion www.ntdiscourse.org

  15. Frame of Reference - James 1:25 www.ntdiscourse.org

  16. Frame of Reference - Romans 8:30 www.ntdiscourse.org

  17. Spatial Frame of Reference - Matthew 6:21 www.ntdiscourse.org

  18. Spatial Frame of Reference - Matthew 6:21 Luke 12:34 www.ntdiscourse.org

  19. Temporal Frame of Reference - Matthew 21:1 www.ntdiscourse.org

  20. Matthew 21:1 Mark 11:1 www.ntdiscourse.org

  21. Comparative Frame of Ref. – Matthew 7:12 www.ntdiscourse.org

  22. Comparative Frame of Ref. – Matthew 7:12 Luke 6:31 www.ntdiscourse.org

  23. Emphasis - Matthew 26:23 www.ntdiscourse.org

  24. Matthew 26:23 Mark 14:20 Luke 22:21 www.ntdiscourse.org

  25. Emphasis - Luke 5:35 www.ntdiscourse.org

  26. Luke 5:35 Matthew 9:15 www.ntdiscourse.org

  27. Conclusions • Traditional explanations clarified • Topic shifting, highlighting, and emphasis www.ntdiscourse.org

  28. Conclusions • Traditional explanations clarified • Topic shifting, highlighting, and emphasis • Topic-shifting based upon introduction of entities • Highlighting based upon semantic requirements • Emphasis based upon information structure • Non-topical entities • Described factors the achieved the different effects www.ntdiscourse.org

  29. Lexham Discourse New Testament Resources Informational Meeting AM24-51, Monday 1:00-2:30 p.m. Lincoln Room of the Hilton www.ntdiscourse.org

More Related