Cross-linguistic study of elliptical utterances in task-oriented dialogues with classroom implications
Ellipsis is a phenomenon whereby constituents which are normally obligatory in the grammar are omitted in actual discourse. It is found in all types of discourse, from everyday conversation to poetry. The omitted constituents can range from one word to an entire clause, and recovery of the ellipted item depends sometimes on the linguistic and sometimes on the non-linguistic context. From a practical point of view, the contribution of ellipsis in the context is twofold. First, it is one of several important means of achieving cohesion in a text. Secondly, ellipsis contributes to communicative appropriateness determined by the type of linguistic activity (e.g., narrative, casual conversation), the mode of communication (e.g., written / spoken) and the relationship between participants. The aim of this research is to provide a description of the functions of elliptical utterances â textual and interpersonal â in English and Japanese, based on a cross-linguistic analysis of dialogues in the English and Japanese map task corpora. In order to analyse ellipsis in relation to its two key functions, elliptical clauses in the map task dialogues were examined. I discuss how ellipsis is used to realise cohesion in
Otsuki, Kyoko
ellipsis ; pragmatics ; Japanese grammar ; task-oriented dialogues ; pedagogical description
Cross-linguistic study of elliptical utterances in task-oriented dialogues with classroom implications. Ellipsis is a phenomenon whereby constituents which are normally obligatory in the grammar are omitted in actual discourse. It is found in all types of discourse, from everyday conversation to poetry. The omitted constituents can range from one word to an entire clause, and recovery of the ellipted item depends sometimes on the linguistic and sometimes on the non-linguistic context. From a practical point of view, the contribution of ellipsis in the context is twofold. First, it is one of several important means of achieving cohesion in a text. Secondly, ellipsis contributes to communicative appropriateness determined by the type of linguistic activity (e.g., narrative, casual conversation), the mode of communication (e.g., written / spoken) and the relationship between participants. The aim of this research is to provide a description of the functions of elliptical utterances â textual and interpersonal â in English and Japanese, based on a cross-linguistic analysis of dialogues in the English and Japanese map task corpora. In order to analyse ellipsis in relation to its two key functions, elliptical clauses in the map task dialogues were examined. I discuss how ellipsis is used to realise cohesion in
cross_linguistic study elliptical utterance task_oriented dialogue classroom implication ellipsis phenomenon whereby constituent normally obligatory grammar omit actual discourse find type discourse everyday conversation poetry omit constituent range word entire clause recovery item depend sometimes linguistic sometimes non_linguistic context practical point_view ellipsis context twofold first several_important mean achieve cohesion_text secondly ellipsis contributes communicative appropriateness determine_type linguistic activity narrative casual conversation mode communication write speak relationship participant aim_provide description function elliptical utterance textual interpersonal english_japanese base cross_linguistic analysis dialogue english_japanese map_task corpus order_analyse ellipsis relation two_key function elliptical clause map_task dialogue examine discus ellipsis use realise cohesion