THE SYNTAX OF OF DISCOU OURSE: WH WHAT AN AN ANISHINAABEMO - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

THE SYNTAX OF OF DISCOU OURSE: WH WHAT AN AN ANISHINAABEMO MOWIN OR ORAL TEXT TEACHES US

Sonja Frazier*, Monique Dufresne*, Rose-Marie Déchaine# *Queen’s University, #University of British Columbia CLA/ACL, May/mai 2020

Whe here we’re he headed …

1. The language, speaker, (re)sources & (con)text 2. Tools for analyzing discourse markers 3. The syntax of discourse markers 4. The prosody of discourse markers 5. In lieu of conclusion The research presented here is supported by the Queen’s University Research Leaders Fund.

Rainy River area, Ontario

1 THE LANGUAGE, SPEAKER, (RE)SOURCES & (CON)TEXT

The language & the speaker

Anishinaabemowin (central Algonquian) Ogimawigwanebiik (Nancy Jones)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anishinaabewaki.jpg (from Nigigoonsiminikaaning (Red Gut), Ontario)

The (re)sources

The source Resources

■ Ojibwe Discourse Markers (Douglas Fairbanks, 2016) ■ Nishnaabemwin Reference Grammar (J. Randolph Valentine, 2001) ■ Ojibwe People’s Dictionary (online, hosted by Univ. of Montana) https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu

The (con)text

An Anishinaab aabe philosophical al pri rinciples (L (Lig ightnin ing 1 1992, M , MacKay 2 2014) Pr Principle 1: attention is mi mindful

• speaker’s responsibility
• stance: “compassionate mind”
• manner of engagement: gentle talking
• addressee’s responsibility
• stance: “mutual mind”
• manner of engagement: active listening

Pr Principle 2: knowledge is re relat ational al

• engagement with environment via …
• ex

experience, (re-)action

• pe

percept ption

• n, thought, (re)-cognition

Ga Gakina Di Dibaajimowinan Gw Gwayakwaawan ‘A ‘All T Teachin ings a are C Correct’ Structure of Nancy Jones’ Counselling speech Part §§ I Lesson: all teachings are valid (“compassionate mind”) 1-4 II Authority of narrator a Authority via ex experience: narrator was taught to put tobacco down to give thanks 5-8 b Authority via ey eyewitness: narrator witnessed how s.o. else put tobacco down to give thanks 9-14 III Lesson: listen carefully (“mutual mind”) 14-18

Ep Episo sode I: The he validity of all teachi hings s (§§ §§1-4) 4)

n=23 =23

§1 1 Ahaw miigwech. OK, thank you. (n=1) 2 Aaniish-inaa awe aya’aaa. So let’s see this thing. (n=2) §2 1 a Asemaa ingii-miinigo ji-naanaagazoondamaan gegoo ji-didibaadandamaan bangii awe, I was given tobacco to talk about something and analyze a few things, (n=0) b minik ge niin gegoo gaapi-izhi-waawiindamaagowaan gii-pi-

• mbigiyaan aaapiji go awe.

the things that I was taught as I was growing up, especially this. (n=3) 2 Nashke ingoji gii-okwabiyan omaa ingoji gakina gakina bebekaan gidayamin dibaajmowinan. So as we gather and sit around somewhere we all have different, our own, teachings. (n=1) 3 Gaawin dash wiin awiya wiikaa indaa-aanwetawaasi aaniish-naa. I would never say I disbelieve anyone. (n=3) §3 1 a Gakina, gakina awiiya gego gii-pi-waawiindamowaa gii-pi-abinoojiiwed Everyone, everyone has something that they were taught as they grew up as a child; (n=0) b mii dash iye gaa-onji-ikidowaan gawiin, gaawiin wiikaa awiiya anishaa ikido indaa-inendanzii. that is why I say this; I would never think to myself that person is not right (n=3) 2 Debwe, debwe iwe gaa-ikidod, gakina awiya debwe. The truth, he speaks the truth; what he says, everyone speaks the truth 3 a Minik gego gaa-izhi-dibaamijot awe, The things that he speaks about, (n=1) b nashke omaa geniin gaa-izhi-gikinoo’amagowaan. such as here that which I was taught (n=3) §4 1 Jibwaa maajitaayan gego owe wii-izhichigeyan, akawe sa gidasemaa gidoodaapinaa. Before you start something that you are going to do, first thing you do is pick up your tobacco. (n=2) 2 Mii-dash awe, ge-wiiji’ik awe weweni gego ji-izhichigeyan aaniin, aaniin iwe gwek waa-izhichigeyan. It is this, this is the one that will help you to do it right, whatever you are doing, anything you want to do. (n=4)

2 TOOLS FOR ANALYZING DISCOURSE MARKERS

Co Comb mbining two appr approac aches

Emonds’ 2004 a-categorical analysis Degand’s 2016 corpus analysis

• Gr

Granular analysis tha hat can track…

• At

Attends to syntax-pr pros

• sod
• dy mappi

pping

• discourse markers (DMs)

XP = syntactic unit; PU = prosodic unit

• clause-typing

XP and PU converge: [XP=PU …]

• prosody

XP contains PUs: [XP [PU…] [PU…] ]

• Es

Eschews rich labelling g (methodological advantage: avoids potentially invalid “pre-labelling”) PU contains XPs: [PU [XP…] [XP…] ] (cf. Selkirk’s 2011 Match Theory)

• a-ca

categorica cal “Disco course Phrase”

• Gr

Granular coding g of corpus data in terms of…

• no dedicated positions for Information Structure
• di

discourse functions e.g. *FocusP, *TopicP, … ideational, rhetorical, sequential, interpersonal

• no dedicated positions for Discourse Roles
• di

discourse contexts e.g. *SpeakerP, *AddresseeP, … conference talk, debate, academic/political address, ho homily, survey, free/radio interview, radio news, reading, fr free n narratio ion, radio creation …these two approaches provide tools that are useful for cross-linguistic investigation of Discourse Markers

Detecting discourse markers (DMs)

Sy Syntactic and Prosodic Constraints on Di Discourse Markers LOCAS-F corpus Anishinaabemowin

• Sy

Syntactic constraints

• DMs are syntactically detachable from a sentence; i.e. never obligatory

(Schriffin 1987) ✓ ✓

• DMs do not enter into construction with other elements of sentence

(Sankoff et al. 2007)

• DMs are “outside the syntactic structure or loosely attached to it”

(Brinton 1996:4) ✓ ✕ (selects CP)

• Pr

Prosodic constraints (cf. Raso 1996)

• DMs attract prosodic prominence (Frazier 2020)

(✕) ✓ (attracts highest pitch)

Distribution of discourse functions

■ id ideatio ional: relations between propositions cause, consequence, concession, contrast, alternative, condition, temporal, exception – Anishinabemowin clause-typing: independent/conjunct mode ■ rh rhetor

• rical: subjective claims, implicatures

– Anishinabemowin DMs Position 2 { go go, ge ge, , sa sa, , -sh sh, , da da, na na, , na naa } ■ seq sequent uential: progression of narrative (= information structure) – Anishinabemowin DM Position 1 { mi mii } ■ in interpersonal: management of speaker-hearer relationship – Anishinabemowin DMs exclamative ho howa, , wa waa, , oh

• hoo
• o,

, oo

• o,

, owa

• waah

Degand 2016, annotation of 500 Discourse Markers from LOCAS-F (Louvain Corpus of Annotated Speech-French)

4% 44% 30% 22%

These functions are prevalent in Anishinanbemowin

Sp

• Sp. Act

Fu Function XP XP X0 fo form gam game-th theoreti tic move

• ASSERTORIC
• IDEATIONAL

✓ iz izhi- (n/a: clause-typing: CP-internal) RR ✓

• n
• nzaam ‘because’ (<very)

causality (F62) P1

• SEQUENCING

(implicates information structure) ✓ (i)na na-sh sh-ke ke ‘look!’ links to upcoming DU (F54) P1 ✓ mi miin-aa aawa ‘also, again’ links to prior DU (F56) P1 ✓ di dibi bishkoo ‘just like’ reformulates prior DU (F65) P1

• RHETORICAL

(implicates discourse role) ✓ aw awenh, in inen enh, ‘nuh uh!’ S rej rejec ects prior p (F98) P1 ✓ aan aanii ii-sh sh ‘well, after all’ S re re-al align gns commitmen ent to p (F99) P1 ✓ mi mii S su super-as asser erts p (F94) P1 ✓ (i)sa sa S pr present nts no novel p (V150) P2 ✓ (i)go go S st strengthens p (V150) P2 ✓ ge ge S in introd

• duce

ces p P2 ✓ na naa S ev evaluate tes p (F140) P2 ✓

• sh

sh, sh sha S pr present nts alterna native p (V150) P2

• INTERROGATIVE
• INTERPERSONAL

✓ na na S req reques ests {p, not-p} (V978) P2 ✓ da da S re re-req reques ests {p, not-p} (F131) P2

• EXCLAMATIVE

✓ ho howa, , wa waa, , ohoo

• hoo,

, oo

• o,

, ow

• waah

S hi highl hlight hts p P1 ✓ ah ahaw S ac acknowled edges ges p P1 Discourse Markers propose updates to discourse units (DUs) or propositional attitudes (Osa Gomez, in prep.)

P1 P1 P2 P2

A A bri rief excursus into the seman antics of An Anishinaab aabemowin DM DM clusters pa pairwise co combi bination of mi mii + + DM2

mii- sa (1)

Howa mi mii-sa sa imaa, …

‘It is here, …’ (J§5.2) mii = S super-asserts p & sa = S presents novel p mii- go (2)

Mi Mii-go go iye nakeya’ii ge-izhi-waawiiji’at

'You will help him the way he does it’ (J§16.7) mii = S super-asserts p & go = S strengthens p mii … naa (3)

Mi Mii maa na naa pii iw baanaaben niw gaa- wabmaawajin.

‘It was apparently a mermaid that they saw’ (AK4.6; V971, (93) mii = S super-asserts p & naa = S evaluates p mii-

• sh

(4a)

Mi Mii-sh sh niwi oosan-sh giiwenh niwi gii- wiindmaagod.

‘So his father told him about them.’ (S04.58, V966, (72) mii = S super-asserts p &

• sh = S presents alternative p

mii da (4b)

[unattested]

mii- da-sh (4c)

…; mi mii dash iye gaa-onji-ikidowaan;

…; that is why I say this; (J§3.1) mii = S super-asserts p &

• sh = S presents alternative p

mii- na (5)

Mi Mii na na wii-boontaayang?

‘It this when we(incl.) stop working?’ (AM39.486, V978, (121) mii = S super-asserts p & na = S requests {p, not-p} mii- gwech (6)

Ahaw mi mii-gw gwech.

‘Thank you’ (J§1) mii = S super-asserts p & gwech = S acknowledges A The combination of DM1 mii- with position DMs (DM2) yields additive and compositional semantic denotations

3 THE SYNTAX OF DISCOURSE MARKERS

The Discourse Phrase Hypothesis

tobacco tobacco 1 1 past-give-inv-X>1 past-give-inv-X>1 ‘lit. Tobacco, someone gave me’ Hy Hypothesis 1: 1: adjunction analysis (n (null hy hypothesis, see Dé Décha haine et et al. submitted) Hy Hypothesis 2: 2: “Discourse Phrase” analysis Di Discourse Phr hrase Hy Hypothesis: There exists an a-categorical (recursive) Discourse Phrase. (Emonds 2004)

Testing the Discourse Phrase Hypothesis

Sensitivity to clause-type

■ Anishinaabemowin DMs are sensitive to clause type – contra orthodoxy in DM lit. – detectible by contrasting “unselective DMs” with “selective DMs”

XP/X0 contrast

■ DMs in position 1 (DM1) = XP (phrase) ■ DMs in position 2 (DM2) = X0 (head)

DM DM1 mi mii- is “unsele lective”

Sp Speech Act Cl Clau ause-ty type as assertori ric indepen- dent mode (1) Mi Mii [sa wi] [ge sa] [ge naa] [mno-yaa].

and __ prn and __ even __ (= Valentine’s glossing of DMs) DM1 DM2 prn & DM2 & well good-be.in.state.vai.3prx.IDP ‘And right away he feels fine’ (SO4:55, V973, (98); translation & glossing adapted

[V973: Occasionally, in narratives, verbs in construction with mii show independent order

inflection.]

con- junct mode (2) Mi Mii giiwenh [enaajmotwaad] wa mdimooyenh niwi w-niijaans-an.

DM1 allegedly IC.see.ta.3prx>3obv.CJ dem.na old.woman.na prn.obv 3-child.na-obv ‘This is what the old ladyPRX told her childrenOBV’ (SO2.20, V964, (65)) [V953: In its function as a discourse sequencing predicative adverb, mii is followed by a clause having a verb marked with conjunct order inflection.]

di directive interro- gative mode (3) Mi Mii na [wii-boon-taa-yang]?

DM1 Q prosp-stop-vai-2&1.CJ ‘Is this when we (incl.) stop working?’ (AM39.485; V978, (121)) [V978: Yes/no questions can be formed with the predicative particle, mii. […] These constructions are mostly used for ratification of a conjecture or logical inference, and expect an affirmative answer.]

co commissive impera- tive mode (4) Mi Mii go maajaan ambe!

DM1 DM2 go.away-2IMVE immediately ‘So go away immediately! (SO3.37, V995, (220) [V995: Imperative forms of verbs can appear with the discourse element mii, especially when the command represents the outcome or result of some previously mentioned situation.]

…but DM2 is selective (we illustrate this with da)

da da on

• nly oc
• ccurs with question
• ns: “clarification
• n pa

particle” S S re re-re requests {p {p, n , not

• t-p}

p} (F131) (1) Wegonen? inter “What?’ (F131, 101a) Wegonen da da? inter DM2 ‘What now?’ (F131, 101b) (2) Aaniin da da ezhinikaazoyan? how DM2 you.are.named ‘What is your name again?’ (F131, 102a)

The XP/X0 contrast

Position 1 Discourse Markers

■ Observations about DM1 – can be CP-initial – need not be followed by another DM – (remarkably!) mii is the only DM that functions as a position 1 DM ■ Implications for analysis of DM1 – DM1 mii has the distribution of XP

■ DM1 mii competes with phrasal XP ■ DM1 mii sometimes attracts highest pitch (only if Discourse Head is null)

Position 2 Discourse Markers

■ Observations about DM2 – must be in 2nd position (V150) – must be preceded by DM1 mii or XP (Déchaine et al. submitted) – drawn from DM paradigm: { sa, go, ge, -sh, na, naa, da } ■ Implications for analysis of DM2 – DM2 has the distribution of a head

■ DM2 realizes H-tone of Discourse Head ■ DM2 always attracts highest pitch

DM1 DM2 (1) # mii, … (2) # mii- dash iweDEM … (3) howaEXCL mii- sa imaaLOC …

Di Disc0 CP DM DM1 mi mii Dis iscP

XP or mii DM2 (1) a. CP i-dash … b. # mii- dash iyeDEM … (2) a. aapijiADVP go

• goweDEM …

b. # mii- go iweDEM … (3) a. CP sa-go imaaLOC … b. …, ahaw mii- sa go-naa-e

Di Disc0 CP XP XP CP AdvP … mi miiDM1 Dis iscP

4 THE PROSODY OF DISCOURSE MARKERS

Prosodic integration of Anishinaabemowin Discourse markers

■ Anishinaabemowin DMs attract the highest pitch (“Max. Pitch”) – Observation 1: DM head of DiscP attracts max. pitch – Observation 2: if DM has no content, then Spec,DiscP attracts max. pitch – Observation 3: in anaphoric contexts, no max. pitch at left edge

Observation 1: highest pitch on DM2

mii-go, highest pitch on go mii-dash, highest pitch dash

• DM2 = head of Discourse Phrase is the pitch target;
• Fairbanks’ (2016) “Position 2” DMs attract highest pitch (= **)

Figure 1 Figure 2 pitch line = blue line

Observation 2 elsewhere, highest pitch on DM1

mii-iwe, highest pitch on mii mii XP, highest pitch on mii

• If DM2 has no content (i.e. it is phonologically null), then XP in Spec,DiscP (here DM1) hosts highest pitch.
• This is the “elsewhere case”; groups together Fairbanks’ (2016) “Position 1” DMs with XPs

pitch line = blue line Figure 1 Figure 4

Mii-dash… Mii-iwe… Mii-go… Mii CP Mii-iwe…

(= Figure 1) (= Figure 2) (= Figure 3) (= Figure 4)

Observation 3: absence of max. pitch in anaphoric contexts

Figure 5 pitch line = blue line Note: here pitch prominence co-incides with stress Speculation: the absence of a max. pitch at the left edge is akin to “anaphoric destressing”.

5 IN LIEU OF CONCLUSION

Where we’ve been…

pr previou

• us pr

propos

• posals
• u
• ur con
• ntribution
• n
• 1. semantics
• Fairbanks 2016

DMs are additive & compositional formalized in terms of:

• sequencing fn.

= Discourse Unit (DU) updates

• rhetorical fn.

= propositional attitude

• 2. syntax
• Fairbanks 2016

DMs divide into two position classes: DM1, DM2

• DM1

= XP (mii)

• DM2

= X0 (sa, go, ge, -sh, na, da, naa)

• Emonds 2004

a-categorical DiscP for info. structurem (e.g. Topic, Focus)

• a-categorical Discourse Phrase analysis of DMs
• 3. prosody
• Degand 2016

predicts [[XP [PU…] [PU…]] can be canonical syntax-prosody mapping Anishinaabemowin: pitch manipulated independently of stress

• DM2 attracts max. pitch H
• if DM2 null, DM1 attracts max. pitch
• in anaphoric context, no max. pitch a left-edge

attracted to verb complex instead

Miigwech! Merci! Thank you!

Speas & Tenny 2003 Heim et al. 2016 Emonds 2004

Richer labelling for discourse marking: conceptually necessary?

Complex sequence of DMs

(6) …, ahaw mii-sa go-naa-e excl DM1-DM2 DM2-DM2-fv ‘OK, that’s it’ (J§19b) mii S sup super er-as asserts p sa S pr presents novel p go S st streng engthens ens p naa S ev evaluates p (7) English counterpart of (6): ‘[Hey], [According to me], [what I just told you] is [really] [true] ahaw naa sa go mii introduce p ev evaluate p pr presents novel p st streng engthens ens p sup super er-as asserts p