Tentative Reference Acts? ‘Recognitional Demonstratives’ as Means of Suggesting Mutual Knowledge – or Overriding a Lack of It

In an explorative study on German oral corpus data we investigate recognitional use of proximal demonstratives as a means of explicit speaker-hearer interaction shaping the discourse structure. We show that recognitionals mark tentative reference acts in that speakers suggest - or pretend - mutual knowledge of the referent, at the same time appealing to the hearers to accept the reference. Hearers may tacitly or explicitly accept the referential act or deny it asking for clarification, in the latter case making speakers change the intended local discourse topic. On these grounds we argue against a differentiation between recognitional and indefinite demonstratives, subsuming both as kinds of recognitional use under ‘pretended’ cognitive proximity

Tentative reference acts? 'Recognitial demonstratives’ as means of suggesting mutual knowledge - or overriding a lack of it

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"Nahe Referenten": ein integrativer Ansatz zur Funktion demonstrativer Referenz

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Introduction: converging data sources in cognitive linguistics

The aim of the paper is to outline the topic of the present special issue. In the first section, the authors give a concise overview of current discussions on the structure and function of linguistic data and evidence in general. They argue that one of the main insights which the discussions led to is the need to integrate different data sources in linguistic theorising. The second section deals with the specific manifestation of these discussions in cognitive linguistics. The authors raise the questions which the papers in the special issue address with respect to cognitive linguistics: What data sources can be integrated?; How can different data sources be integrated?; How does the integration of different data sources affect the acceptability of hypotheses? Finally, in the last section, the structure of the special issue is summarised

Komplex-Anaphern - Rezeption und textuelle Funktion

Komplex-Anaphern (Schwarz-Friesel/Consten/Marx 2004; Consten 2004; abstract object anaphora, Asher 1993,2000) sind Nominalphrasen, die sich auf satzwertige Antezedenten beziehen und die dort ausgedrückten Sachverhalte zu einem einheitlichen Diskursobjekt zusammenfassen (vgl. Fraurud 1992). Wir beschreiben diesen anaphorischen Komplexbildungsprozess mit Hilfe ontologischer Kategorien und geben damit Ansätze für ein Verstehensmodell, das durch Integration semantischer und konzeptueller Prozesse die Referenzialisierung (und ggf. Desambiguierung) von Komplexanaphern erklärt

Tentative Reference Acts? ‘Recognitional Demonstratives’ as Means of Suggesting Mutual Knowledge – or Overriding a Lack of It

In an explorative study on German oral corpus data we investigate recognitional use of proximal demonstratives as a means of explicit speaker-hearer interaction shaping the discourse structure. We show that recognitionals mark tentative reference acts in that speakers suggest - or pretend - mutual knowledge of the referent, at the same time appealing to the hearers to accept the reference. Hearers may tacitly or explicitly accept the referential act or deny it asking for clarification, in the latter case making speakers change the intended local discourse topic. On these grounds we argue against a differentiation between recognitional and indefinite demonstratives, subsuming both as kinds of recognitional use under ‘pretended’ cognitive proximity