The role of discourse topic and proximity for demonstratives in German and Russian

Averintseva-Klisch, Maria; Consten, Manfred

doi:10.1075/lic.7.2.08ave

LiC

2007

DOI: 10.1075/lic.7.2.08ave

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The role of discourse topic and proximity for demonstratives in German and Russian

Maria Averintseva-Klisch

Manfred Consten²

Abstract: This article discusses the textual functions of demonstratives in German and Russian in terms of ‘discourse topicality’ and ‘proximity’, thus covering a broad range of referential phenomena within a unified approach. It shows that — in spite of important grammatical differences between German and Russian — anaphoric and deictic uses of demonstratives are ruled by the same principles in both languages.

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Cited by 2 publications

References 12 publications

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Constraints on ontology changing complexation processes: Evidence from event-related brain potentials

Schumacher¹,

Consten

Knees

2010

Language and Cognitive Processes

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This paper investigates complex anaphoric reference (i.e., when an anaphor refers to a propositionally structured referent). Complex anaphors (e.g., this process, this event) differ in their ontological feature setup, and the ontological type assigned to a referent can change due to the lexical meaning of the complex anaphor. Previous research has proposed that such changes have to comply with an ontological 'abstractness constraint' restricting the direction of ontological change. We present an event-related potential study that provides evidence that violations of the abstractness constraint result in processing costs. The data reveal that violating this constraint by shifting the referent towards a less abstract ontological type elicits an enhanced N400, while reduction of ontological features towards a more abstract type exerts no extra processing demands. The data indicate that the abstractness constraint affects real-time sentence comprehension and that different ontological types are implicationally related.

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Constraints on ontology changing complexation processes: Evidence from event-related brain potentials

Schumacher¹,

Consten

Knees

2010

Language and Cognitive Processes

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Tentative Reference Acts? ‘Recognitional Demonstratives’ as Means of Suggesting Mutual Knowledge – or Overriding a Lack of It

Consten¹,

Averintseva-Klisch²

2012

RiL

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Abstract In an explorative study on German oral corpus data we investigate recognitional use of proximal demonstratives as a means of explicit speaker-hearer interaction shaping the discourse structure. We show that recognitionals mark tentative reference acts in that speakers suggest - or pretend - mutual knowledge of the referent, at the same time appealing to the hearers to accept the reference. Hearers may tacitly or explicitly accept the referential act or deny it asking for clarification, in the latter case making speakers change the intended local discourse topic. On these grounds we argue against a differentiation between recognitional and indefinite demonstratives, subsuming both as kinds of recognitional use under ‘pretended’ cognitive proximity.

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The role of discourse topic and proximity for demonstratives in German and Russian

Cited by 2 publications

References 12 publications

Constraints on ontology changing complexation processes: Evidence from event-related brain potentials

Constraints on ontology changing complexation processes: Evidence from event-related brain potentials

Tentative Reference Acts? ‘Recognitional Demonstratives’ as Means of Suggesting Mutual Knowledge – or Overriding a Lack of It

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