Article published In:
Functions of Language: Online-First ArticlesSemi-embedded clauses in Aisi
Assertion, disengagement, and insubordination
This paper examines a construction in Aisi (Trans New Guinea) which consists of a formally subordinate clause that
expresses asserted meaning. This construction is called ‘semi-embedding’. The construction is more restricted than subordinate
clauses, and serves a specific discourse function: it presents the information in the matrix clause as a surprising climax. The
paper argues that semi-embedding arose when the backgrounding function of subordinate clauses was extended to allow assertions to
serve as backgrounds for certain highlighted events. As this happened, the relationship between the semi-embedded clause and its
matrix became more coordinate, which allowed longer strings of semi-embedded clauses to occur in what is called disengagement
(Cristofaro 2016). Fully insubordinate clauses can then occur when the main clause
no longer has to be uttered. At this point, the foregrounded meaning that originally centered on the main clause attached,
instead, to the newly insubordinate one.
Keywords: subordination, insubordination, backgrounding, presupposition, Papuan languages, Trans New Guinea languages
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Insubordination and domain-creating constructions
- 3.Aisi and its demonstratives
- 4.Clause nominalization
- 5.Semi-embedded clauses
- 6.Discussion
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Abbreviations
-
References
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