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Information structure, (inter)subjectivity and objectification


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Authors

van der Wal, Jenneke 

Abstract

jats:pThis paper discusses how information structure can be seen as a subjective and intersubjective concept in Verhagen's (2005) and Breban's (2010) definitions, though less so in Traugott's (2010) use of the terms. More difficult is the question of whetherjats:scmarkers</jats:sc>of information structure can be characterised as (inter)subjective; this is more easily determined for morphological markers than for prosody or word order. For unambiguous markers of information structure, I suggest that their emergence (e.g. copula > focus marker) is typically accompanied by (inter)subjectification, whereas their further development (e.g. topic marker > subject marker) displays objectification. The paper not only shows that grammatical items can undergo an increase as well as a decrease in (inter)subjectivity – thus denying strict unidirectionality – but also confirms that these processes are independent of grammaticalisation.</jats:p>

Description

Keywords

47 Language, Communication and Culture, 4704 Linguistics

Journal Title

Journal of Linguistics

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0022-2267
1469-7742

Volume Title

51

Publisher

Cambridge University Press (CUP)