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Programme: accepted abstracts

Abstract ID: 667

Part of Session 149: Interactional Dialectology (Other abstracts in this session)

The use of demonstrative pronouns as pragmatic markers in Finland-Swedish varieties

Authors: Wide, Camilla
Submitted by: Wide, Camilla (University of Turku, Finland)

As shown by Hayashi & Yoon (2006), demonstrative pronouns in many languages can be used non-referentially as pragmatic markers “to monitor the flow of the production of utterances”. One of the languages where demonstratives are used in this way is Finnish. Also in Finland Swedish, demonstratives are used to monitor the discourse in the sense discussed by Hayashi & Yoon. An example of this is shown in (1) below.

(2) FS: #jå:# dedäran   (1.1)  va      sku          vi    nu    börja me   (.)
             PRT  DEDÄRAN         what shall-PST we PRT start   with
             ‘okay, DEDÄRAN, what should we start with’
   
             va       sku           ni         säja  om     att diskutera (.) fördomar
             what  shall-PST you.PL say   about to  discuss        prejudice-PL
             ‘what would you say about discussing prejudices’

Whereas only the proximal pronoun tämä ‘this’ is used for monitoring the discourse in Finnish, both the proximal pronoun den här ‘this’ and the distal pronoun den där ‘that’ are used as pragmatic markers in Finland Swedish.

In Sweden Swedish demonstrative pronouns are not used as pragmatic markers for monitoring the discourse. The use of den här and den där as pragmatic markers can hence be seen as an outcome of language contact. Earlier studies of the use of the two pronouns as pragmatic markers in Finland Swedish have focused mainly on Helsinki Swedish and other varieties that are closely related to (Finland-Swedish) standard language (Saari 1994, Londen 2000). However, as shown by Wide (2011), demonstrative pronouns are used as pragmatic markers throughout the Swedish-speaking area in Finland. The same functions as in Helsinki Swedish (and Finnish) can be found also in more rural or regional varieties of Finland Swedish. In some areas, the pronouns, however, seem to have a wider range of functions than in others. In my paper I will look closer at the geographical distribution of the different functions of the pronouns as pragmatic markers.

The theoretical-methodological point of departure of the paper is Conversation Analysis (CA) and Interactional Linguistics. In CA studies of pragmatic particles the focus has generally been on standard language or varieties closely related to standard language. As I will show, studying geographically more diversified data provides a fuller understanding of how pragmatic particles are used and become pragmaticalized in languages.

References:

Hayashi, Makoto & Kyung-eun Yoon, 2006. A cross-linguistic exploration of demonstratives in interaction. With particular reference to the context of word-formulation trouble. Studies in Language 30:484– 540.

Londen, Anne-Marie, 2000. å dedär(an) å. Att leta efter ord på finlandssvenska. In Keski-Raasakka, K. & Söderholm, P. (eds.), Svenskan i Finland 5, 150–163. University of Joensuu.

Saari, Mirja, 1994, Diskurspartiklar i sociokulturell belysning. In Språkbruk, grammatik och språkförändring. En festskrift till Ulf Teleman 13.1.1994, 65–74. Lund.

Wide, Camilla, 2011. Pronomenen den här och den där som planeringspartiklar i finlandssvenska dialekter. In G. Bockgård & J. Nilsson (eds.), Interaktionell dialektologi, 251-306. Uppsala: Institutet för språk och folkminnen.