Recursive embedding of viewpoints, irregularity, and the role for a flexible framework

Abstract

This paper discusses several conventional perspective operators at the lexical, grammatical, and narrative levels. When combined with each other and with particular contexts, these operators can amount to unexpected viewpoints arrangements. Traditional conceptualisations in terms of viewpoint embedding and the regular shifting from one viewpoint to the other are argued to be insufficient for describing these arrangements in all their nuances and details. We present an analysis of three cases in which viewpoints of speaker, addressee, and third parties are mutually coordinated: (i) global and local perspective structure in Nabokov’s novel Lolita, (ii) postposed reporting constructions in Dutch, and (iii) the Russian apprehensive construction, which has a seemingly redundant negation marker in the subordinate clause. For each of these three cases, we discuss how traditional conceptualisations fall short. We discuss an alternative model of viewpoint construction which allows for the conceptual juxtaposition and mixing of different and simultaneously activated viewpoints.

Editorial: Perspective taking in language

“…In their framework of narrative perspective taking, they propose that both written and oral narratives revolve around the dynamic alignment of different viewpoints: those of the speaker/narrator, of the hearer/reader, and of the narrative characters. A similar model is put forward by Van Duijn and Verhagen (2019), who propose that perspective taking can take place along several axes: speakers/narrators coordinate with their addressees about some shared object of conceptualization, and together narrator and addressee may also be coordinating with a third party, not included in their communicative situation. This third party itself can also have a stance toward the object of conceptualization and further parties, thus allowing for a recursive series of perspective taking.…”

“…Linguistic multiperspectivization has been shown, for example, for phenomena of communicative interaction like irony (Köder and Falkum) and speech and thought representation (Dancygier; Spronck and Casartelli), but also for grammatical elements like egophoric pronouns and modal particles (Bergqvist). The interaction between multiple viewpoints in discourse has been modeled in terms of viewpoint networks by a.o., Dancygier and Vandelanotte, 2016;Van Duijn and Verhagen, 2019;Dancygier. (ii) Person-boundedness.…”

Narrating and focalizing visually and visual-verbally in comics and graphic novels

“…In situations of meta-representation a listener or reader needs to critically assess whether embedded narration has been correctly reported. In fiction, a higher-level narrator (whether an external or a characterbound one) may "colour" the report of the embedded character's narration (or thinking) by blending into the report its/his/her/+'s own attitude toward or emotions about the embedded narration, and such meta-representation can take several levels of embedding (discussed in terms of "'multiple-order intentionality' (MOI)" by Van Duijn et al 2015: 148; see also Van Duijn et al 2019).…”

Parameters of Narrative Perspectivization: The Narrator

“…Furthermore, these different viewpoints require a global perspective from which the different perspectives are organized. Based on these considerations, it has been proposed to investigate the relations between viewpoints in terms of mental space theory as "network constellations" (Dancygier and Vandelanotte, 2016) or "thoughtscapes" (van Duijn and Verhagen, 2019). In these accounts, viewpoints are seen as hierarchically ordered mental spaces and can be linked to embedded, parallel, alternative or independent spaces.…”