Ask, and tell as well: Question-Answer Clauses in American Sign Language
Ask, and tell as well: Question-Answer Clauses in American Sign Language
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DOI：
10.1007/s11050-011-9071-0
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发表时间：
2011-12-01
影响因子：
1.1
通讯作者：
Davidson, Kathryn
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Caponigro, Ivano;Davidson, Kathryn
在美国手语中有一种结构，我们称之为“回答-回答从句”。它由两部分组成：第一部分看起来像是表达疑问的疑问句，而第二部分则像是回答疑问的陈述句。同一个签名者必须同时签名，整个结构被解释为真值条件等价于陈述句，并且只有在特定的话语条件下才能说出。这些和其他属性的解释回答子句进行了讨论，并提供了一个详细的句法，语义和语用帐户。答非所问分句被认为是系动词分句，由一个沉默的身份系动词连接在系动词前位置的疑问分句和系动词后位置的陈述分句。从语用上讲，它们实例化了一个主题/评论结构，第一部分表示正在讨论的子问题，第二部分表示该子问题的答案。更广泛的影响的分析讨论的问题下讨论理论的话语结构，分析的pseudoclefts在口语中，并为最近的建议需要回答运营商和穷举运营商的语法和后果的语法/语义/语用接口。
A construction is found in American Sign Language that we call a Question-Answer Clause. It is made of two parts: the first part looks like an interrogative clause conveying a question, while the second part resembles a declarative clause answering that question. The very same signer has to sign both, the entire construction is interpreted as truth-conditionally equivalent to a declarative sentence, and it can be uttered only under certain discourse conditions. These and other properties of Question-Answer Clauses are discussed, and a detailed syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic account is provided. Question-Answer Clauses are argued to be copular clauses consisting of a silent copula of identity connecting an interrogative clause in the precopular position with a declarative clause in the postcopular position. Pragmatically, they instantiate a topic/comment structure, with the first part expressing a sub-question under discussion and the second part expressing the answer to that sub-question. Broader implications of the analysis are discussed for the Question Under Discussion theory of discourse structuring, for the analysis of pseudoclefts in spoken languages, and for recent proposals about the need for answerhood operators and exhaustivity operators in the grammar and the consequences for the syntax/semantics/pragmatics interface.