Location
SU 218
Start Date
15-11-2019 9:40 AM
Presentation Type
Podium
Department
Linguistics
Session
Session 9
Description
The purpose of my talk is to discuss how conjunctions function in different languages and to show how they contribute to a better understanding of the implicit knowledge we have as speakers of a language. In English, coordinating conjunctions such as ‘and’ can link a diverse range of grammatical categories: noun phrases (NP), verb phrases (VP), adjective and adverb phrases (AP), clauses, etc. Cross-linguistically, however, there are many languages that have category specific coordinating conjunctions, and such languages show that the function of coordinating conjunctions extends beyond organizing discourse. Matras (1996:178), for example, points out that “(…) coordinating conjunctions assume functions which have to do with the categorization of pieces of knowledge in discourse.” I present data from languages such as Turkish, Korean, and Cape Verdean Creole to show that conjunctions will most commonly differentiate between nominal and verbal (or clausal) conjunctions, i.e. between nouns and verbs. Evidence from such languages, shows that speakers discriminate between different types of grammatical categories in their mental grammar without being explicitly taught how to do so. This is reinforced with evidence from non-standardized languages, that lack prescriptive grammars and an orthography. I present data from my own research on Transylvanian Saxon (TrSax), an endangered Germanic language spoken in Romania. TrSax is a minority language that has been transmitted orally over 8 centuries and is used along German and Romanian, both socially dominant languages. The analyzed data come from a corpus of TrSax dialects from 120 localities in Romania, and recordings I conducted with 14 TrSax native speakers from Viscri, Romania (ages 30-78).
Included in
Conjunction Function: How Grammatical Categories are Organized in Language
SU 218
The purpose of my talk is to discuss how conjunctions function in different languages and to show how they contribute to a better understanding of the implicit knowledge we have as speakers of a language. In English, coordinating conjunctions such as ‘and’ can link a diverse range of grammatical categories: noun phrases (NP), verb phrases (VP), adjective and adverb phrases (AP), clauses, etc. Cross-linguistically, however, there are many languages that have category specific coordinating conjunctions, and such languages show that the function of coordinating conjunctions extends beyond organizing discourse. Matras (1996:178), for example, points out that “(…) coordinating conjunctions assume functions which have to do with the categorization of pieces of knowledge in discourse.” I present data from languages such as Turkish, Korean, and Cape Verdean Creole to show that conjunctions will most commonly differentiate between nominal and verbal (or clausal) conjunctions, i.e. between nouns and verbs. Evidence from such languages, shows that speakers discriminate between different types of grammatical categories in their mental grammar without being explicitly taught how to do so. This is reinforced with evidence from non-standardized languages, that lack prescriptive grammars and an orthography. I present data from my own research on Transylvanian Saxon (TrSax), an endangered Germanic language spoken in Romania. TrSax is a minority language that has been transmitted orally over 8 centuries and is used along German and Romanian, both socially dominant languages. The analyzed data come from a corpus of TrSax dialects from 120 localities in Romania, and recordings I conducted with 14 TrSax native speakers from Viscri, Romania (ages 30-78).