Defining the indefinable? Interjections

Interjections are usually defined as an anomalous grammatical class in most levels of analysis. This paper presents an alternative account of interjections within the frameworks of prototype theory, on the one hand, and grammaticalization, on the other hand. Adopting a prototype approach to grammatical categorization, interjections are better seen as peripheral instances of sentences, since they behave as maximal units of syntax but do not exhibit a subject plus predicate structure. On the other hand. grammaticalization theory accounts for the distinction between primary and secondary interjections and allows to establish the limits between interjections and phrases

Els matisadors: connectors oracionals i textuals

This paper is a contribution to the analysis of a group of connective items which caracteristically go with main connectives such as and, but, or... These connective expressions that we call MATISADORS have been included in the category of adverbials as conjunctive adverbs. We study their functioning in the sentence level and also in the text level

La Missió de la Universitat

La Missió de la Universita

Interjections and Pragmatic Errors in Dubbing

This paper consists of an analysis of the expressive secondary interjections found in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral and their equivalents in the Spanish and Catalan dubbed versions. The contrastive analysis of the interjections in the original English version compared with the Spanish and the Catalan dubbed versions shows that the strategies followed by the translators are different: literal translation is far more frequent in Spanish than in Catalan. Literal translation often implies an error that is pragmatic in nature since it derives from the misunderstanding of the pragmatic meaning that the interjection conveys.Dans cet article nous étudions les interjections secondaires expressives qui sont utilisées dans le film Four Weddings and a Funeral et leurs équivalents dans les versions espagnole et catalane. L’analyse contrastive des interjections dans la version originale anglaise et dans les versions doublées catalane et espagnole montre que les traducteurs ont employé des stratégies différentes : la traduction littérale est beaucoup plus fréquente dans la version espagnole que dans la version catalane. La traduction littérale comporte souvent une erreur pragmatique, et c’est là une conséquence d’une interprétation incorrecte du signifié pragmatique que l’interjection transmet

Díctics espacials i gramàtica en narracions orals

La dixi és un dels fenòmens primordials del llenguatge i la comunicació, però no ha estat suficientment estudiada a partir de corpus reals, els quals mostren una varietat d'usos molt interessant. En aquest article, analitzem els díctics espacials en un corpus de narracions orals procedent del Corpus Audiovisual Plurilingüe i diferenciem set tipus de dixi espacial: la dixi situacional, que assenyala l'espai de l'enunciació; la dixi textual, on el díctic assenyala el text com a espai i té un antecedent en el text; la dixi am Phantasma i la presentacional, on el díctic espacial no assenyala l'enunciació ni el text anterior o posterior, sinó que ens situa en l'espai de la memòria i el coneixement compartit; i tres usos, indefinit, expletiu i gramaticalitzat, en què el díctic no assenyala cap element lingüístic o extralingüístic, sinó que ocupa l'espai d'una expressió que no es troba o deixa sense concreció algun espai sintàctic o discursiu. L'anàlisi mostra que els díctics espacials constitueixen un mecanisme molt freqüent i variat en la construcció de la narració i permet observar tipus de dixi característics de la gramàtica de l'oral.Deixis is a key phenomenon in language and communication. However, it has not been adequately described since it must be analysed by using real examples from corpora, which show a very interesting variety of uses. In this paper, space deictics are identified and classified in a corpus of oral narratives from the Corpus Audiovisual Plurilingüe (Multilingual Audiovisual Corpus). The analysis highlights seven uses: situational deixis, which refers to the space of communication,; text deixis, in which the deictic refers to the text as the location and is anaphorically related to a linguistic antecedent; deixis am Phantasma and presentational deixis, in which the space deictic does not refer to the utterance or the preceding or following text, but situates a concept within memory or shared knowledge. Three other uses can be distinguished, namely indefinite, expletive and grammaticalised. In these non-deictic uses the marker has no linguistic or extra-linguistic reference, but it simply occupies the slot of an unspecified expression or indicates a failure to specify any syntactic or discourse slot. The analysis shows that space deictics constitute a common and varied device in the construction of narratives and reveals the types of deictics characteristic of the grammar of spoken language

El Receptor en el text : el vocatiu

En aquest treball, ens ocupem d'una de les marques més explícites de la presència del receptor en el text: el vocatiu. Els vocatius, paraules perifèriques i «prescindibles» gramaticalment, aporten una gran quantitat d'informació contextual, relacionada sobretot amb els rols discursius que adopten emissor i receptor, i amb les relacions de proximitat o de llunyania que s'hi estableixen. Per al nostre estudi, partim de l'anàlisi dels vocatius apareguts en un corpus de textos de no-ficció classificats segons el tipus d'intercanvi (esfera individual, social i institucional). Estudiem els vocatius separadament segons que siguin noms propis, noms comuns o fórmules de tractament. Seguidament, els analitzem des del punt de vista sintàctic (posició i combinació) i des del punt de vista pragmàtic, vinculant-los a la cortesia i a l'estructura textual.In this paper I analyse one of the most explicit markers for the presence of the reader in the text, namely the vocative. Vocatives, which are peripheral and unnecessary words from a grammatical point of view, contribute to the contextual information, particularly regarding the discourse roles of the speaker and hearer and the proximal or distal relation-ship between them. To describe the behaviour of these words, I have analysed the vocatives that appear in a corpus of non-fiction texts classified according to the type of exchange (individual, social and institutional spheres). The vocatives are described considering whether they are proper nouns, common nouns or forms of address. They are analysed syntactically (position and combination) and pragmatically, relating them to politeness and to the text structure

Defective connective constructions: Some cases in Catalan and Spanish

Connectives typically relate two content units. However, corpus analysis shows several variants of the general connective construction (i.e., 'S1 Cn S2'), in which one of either segment 1 (S1) or segment 2 (S2) is optional or missing. The aim of this paper is to shed some light on the description of some variants of the connective construction where the connective is not followed by any explicit S2 or S2 is optional. These constructions are complete utterances but they can be considered defective constructions, since one of the slots of the prototypical construction does not include any linguistic material. The analysis focuses on corpus examples including a refutation marker where S2 is implicit, a case that is especially productive and varied in Catalan and in Spanish. Three defective constructions are identified, namely, (i) truncated constructions, (ii) embedded uses of a connective and (ii) reactive constructions. The data show that these defective connective constructions differ as for syntax, prosody, semantics and pragmatics. In monologic contexts, when the second segment is missing in the syntactic and prosodic unit considered, the connective is syntactically and prosodically related to S1. The connective can be located at the right-periphery of S1 (truncated construction) or at S1 middle field (embedded use of a connective). In dialogic contexts, the connective can act as a response to a previous turn and S2 can be either present or absent (reactive constructions). The different configurations match different intonation contours and pause patterns. In all cases, the connective weakens its connective function and adds a modal load, related to (inter)subjectification and intensification. This can be represented as a cline from discourse marking to modal marking