The Finnish se että initiated expressions: NPs or not?

Karita Suomalainen*, Anna Vatanen, Ritva Laury

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedingChapterScientificpeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper concerns the grammatical category of Finnish expressions initiated with se että (lit. ‘it that’). In earlier studies based on written data, they have been considered clausal NPs functioning as subjects, objects and complements. In our spoken data, both present-day and older, se että initiated expressions have a wider range of functions. We show that some se että expressions have characteristics of NPs, but others are unlike NPs in certain ways, concluding that the category of NP is not binary, but rather a continuum with fuzzy boundaries. We also show that se että has been grammaticized into a projector phrase which does not initiate complement clauses but rather functions as a sedimented formula in the service of interactional practices.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe ‘Noun Phrase’ across Languages
Subtitle of host publicationAn emergent unit in interaction
EditorsSandra Thompson, Tsuyoshi Ono
PublisherJohn Benjamins
Chapter2
Pages11-42
ISBN (Electronic)9789027261519
ISBN (Print)9789027204998
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020
Externally publishedYes
MoE publication typeA3 Part of a book or another research book

Publication series

NameTypological Studies in Language
Volume128

Keywords

  • grammar
  • noun phrase
  • conversation analysis
  • interactional linguistics
  • everyday conversation
  • Finnish language
  • talk-in-interaction

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