Reference construction in interaction: The case of type-indicative “so”

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State: Public
Version: Final published version
License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Serval ID
serval:BIB_5CF6BE9BBB16
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Reference construction in interaction: The case of type-indicative “so”
Journal
Journal of Pragmatics
Author(s)
Balantani Angeliki
ISSN
0378-2166
Publication state
Published
Issued date
08/2021
Volume
181
Pages
241-258
Language
english
Abstract
This study examines an embodied practice in German. The practice investigated is the use of the German particle “so” in conjunction with a noun phrase and accompanied by a pointing gesture (hereafter “so”þNPþPG). Based on the methodological principles of Conversation Analysis, I demonstrate that in the construction “so”þNPþPG the particle features as a type-indicative token. Interlocutors use this practice to point at an object that is a concrete perceivable token that represents a type. Focusing on the interplay between linguistic and multimodal resources in the construction of reference, I show that “so”þNPþPG functions as a resource that interlocutors use in order to point at physically present entities, directing the addressees' attention to an actual object in the participants’ perceptual space. However, they are not making reference to that specific object. Instead, the speaker establishes a communicative focus on a recognisable entity in order to make reference to an absent entity that bears the same features as the pointed-at object. Hence, the absent entity is visualised or “seen” through an actual object in the perceptual surroundings.
Keywords
Multimodality, Conversation analysis, Deixis, Particles, German, Type-indicative token, Linguistics and Language, Language and Linguistics
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Funding(s)
Swiss National Science Foundation / Projects
Create date
06/09/2021 9:42
Last modification date
21/11/2022 9:25
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