Titel: The conversation frame: Linguistic forms and communicative
functions in discourse (Vidi project)
Wie: Esther Pascual
Plaats: Rijksuniversiteit Gronigen, Oude Kijk in ‘t Jatstraat 26,
(13)15 0048

Tijd: 28 januari 2010, 3.30-4.30

Starting from the assumption that language is intimately related to
interaction, the main question this project addresses is: how is the
structure of interaction reflected in language structure and language
use? That is, what forms does the basic interactional pattern of
turn-taking take in grammar and discourse? In addition, I will
investigate the communicative functions of interactional structures
embedded in discourse. Finally, I will explore the processing and
communicative effectiveness of such grammatically integrated
interactional patterns.

This project focuses on fictive interaction (Pascual 2002), a
cognitive phenomenon that reflects the interactional structure of
conversation, and is manifested in language structure and use (egs.
“an attitude that says ‘what’s in it for me?’”, “a ‘what’s in it for
me?’ attitude”).

The project addresses the following questions: (i) since factual
interaction is a fundamental aspect of language use, is fictive
interaction also a fundamental linguistic structure in different
discourse genres? And (ii) does the use of fictive interaction provide
processing and communicative advantages to language users?
In order to address the linguistic structure question, a corpus study
will be undertaken, examining fictive interaction in different
discourse genres of written and spoken Dutch. To address the
communicative effectiveness question, the communicative effects of
fictive interaction in Dutch will be explored in relation to: (i) the
argumentative power of fictive interaction (in criminal trials); (ii)
the use of fictive interaction as conversational strategy (by
speech-impaired individuals with Broca’s aphasia); and (iii) the
reception of fictive interaction (processing, memory, comprehension
and emotional affect).

I hypothesise that embedded fictive interaction is essential in
different discourse genres, and can be used for a variety of
communicative functions. I also hypothesise that the use of fictive
interaction can render a discourse communicatively more effective, as compared to its descriptive alternative, partly because it is
processed more efficiently.