Cover not available

In:Building Categories in Interaction: Linguistic resources at work
Edited by Caterina Mauri, Ilaria Fiorentini and Eugenio Goria
[Studies in Language Companion Series 220] 2021
► pp. 73–110

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Chapter 4
Category-building lists between grammar and interaction

A constructionist view

 | University of Turin
 | University of Bologna
Published online: 6 December 2021
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.220.04gor
Abstract
Lists are one of the most common devices that are used in interaction to refer to a category. Yet, there are only few studies that analyze the relationship between lists and categorization. Our paper aims at advancing our knowledge of this relationship, and of lists in general. From a theoretical point of view, we discuss the benefits of integrating the Construction Grammar approach to lists adopted in Masini et al. (2018) with some of the basic assumptions of Interactional Linguistics. From an empirical point of view, we offer a qualitative analysis of lists based on data from two corpora of spoken Italian: the LIP corpus (De Mauro et al. 1993) and the KIParla corpus (Mauri et al. 2019a). In particular, we discuss a case study on the use of the Italian discourse marker insomma within list constructions: while it serves as a reformulation marker in most of its uses, insomma also proves to be used (more marginally) as a category introducer within category-building lists. Our findings provide useful insight to ultimately bridge the gap between denotation lists as a reference-oriented phenomenon and other types of mechanisms that are relevant at the discourse level, including conversational repair.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1What is a list?
    • 1.2Lists and categorization
  • 2.Lists between grammar and discourse
    • 2.1Lists as constructions
    • 2.2Lists in interaction
      • 2.2.1Lists and spoken syntax
      • 2.2.2The temporal organization of lists
        • 2.2.2.1Pre-detailing
        • 2.2.2.2Post-detailing
      • 2.2.3Dialogicity in list production
    • 2.3Interim summary: Bridging the gap between grammar and interaction
  • 3.Between categorization and reformulation: The case of insomma
    • 3.1Discourse markers and lists
    • 3.2Insomma and lists: Data
    • 3.3Theoretical discussion
  • 4.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (77)
References
Ariel, Mira & Mauri, Caterina. 2018. Why use “or”? Linguistics 56(5): 939–993. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Auer, Peter. 2000. On-line syntax—Oder: Was es bedeuten könnte die Zeitlichkeit der mündlischen Sprache ernst zu nehmen. Sprache und Literatur 85(31): 43–56. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2009. Projection and minimalistic syntax in interaction. Discourse Processes 46(2–3): 180–205. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Auer, Peter & Pfänder, Stefan. 2007. Multiple retractions in spoken French and spoken German. A contrastive study in oral performance styles. Cahiers de Praxématique 48: 57–84. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barotto, Allessandra. 2018. The role of exemplification in the construction of categories: The case of Japanese. Folia Linguistica 52: 37–68. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barotto, Allessandra & Mauri, Caterina. 2018. Constructing lists to construct categories. Rivista di Linguistica 30: 95–134.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barsalou, Lawrence W. 1983. Ad hoc categories. Memory & Cognition 11(3): 211–227. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Barth-Weingarten, Dagmar & Couper-Kuhlen, Elisabeth. 2011. Action, prosody and emergent constructions: The case of “and.” In Auer & Pfänder (eds), 263–292. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bazzanella, Carla. 1995. I segnali discorsivi. In Grande grammatica italiana di consultazione, Vol. III: Tipi di frase, deissi, formazione delle parole, Lorenzo Renzi, Giampaolo Salvi, & Anna Cardinaletti (eds), 225–257. Bologna: il Mulino.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blanche-Benveniste, Claire. 1990. Un modèle d’analyse syntaxique “en grilles” pour les productions orales. Anuario de Psicología 47: 11–28.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bybee, Joan L. 2006. From usage to grammar: The mind’s response to repetition. Language 82(4): 711–733. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2010. Language, Usage and Cognition. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2013. Usage-based theory and exemplar representation. In The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar, Thomas Hoffmann & Graeme Trousdale (eds), 46–49. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bonvino, Elisabetta, Cortés Velásquez, Diego & Fiorenza, Elisa. 2010. “Sopratavola soprammobile come dite voi”: Lists in L1 and L2. Italian Journal of Linguistics 30(1): 201–230.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Channell, Joanna. 1994. Vague Language. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Conte, Maria-Elisabeth. 1996. “Anaphoric encapsulation”. In Coherence and anaphora (= Belgian Journal of Linguistics, 10) Walter De Mulder & Liliane Tasmowski (eds.), 1–10.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Croft, William. 2001. Radical Construction Grammar: Syntactic Theory in Typological Perspective (Reprinted). Oxford: OUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Mauro, Tullio, Mancini, Federico, Vedovelli, Massimo & Voghera, Miriam. 1993. Lessico di frequenza dell’italiano parlato. Milano: Etaslibri.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Mauro, Tullio. n.d. ‘Insomma’. In Il nuovo De Mauro. <[URL]> (24 March 2021).
Deppermann, Arnulf & Günthner, Susanne (eds). 2015. Temporality in Interaction [Studies in Language and Social Interaction 27]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Diessel, Holger. 2015. Usage-based construction grammar. In Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics, Eva Dąbrowska & Dagmar Divjak (eds), 296–322. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. Usage-based linguistics. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics, Mark Aronoff (ed.). Oxford: OUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Du Bois, Jack. 2014. Towards a dialogic syntax. Cognitive Linguistics 25(3): 359–410. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Du Bois, John W., Chafe, Wallace L., Meyer, Charles, Thompson, Sandra A., Englebretson, Robert & Martey, Nii. 2000–2005. Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken American English, Parts 1–4. Philadelphia PA: Linguistic Data Consortium.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Edwards, Derek. 1991. Categories are for talking. On the cognitive and discursive bases of categorization. Theory and Psychology 1(4): 515–542. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 1997. Discourse and Cognition. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fillmore, Charles J. 1982. Frame semantics. In Linguistics in the Morning Calm, The Linguistic Society of Korea (ed.), 111–137. Seoul: Hanshin.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fillmore, Charles, Kay, Paul & O’ Connor, Mary Catherine. 1988. Regularity and idiomaticity in grammatical constructions: The case of let alone. Language 64(3): 501–538. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fiorentini, Ilaria. 2018a. Eccetera eccetera e così via di seguito. I general extenders dell’italiano contemporaneo. In Club Working Papers in Linguistics, Vol. 2, Francesca Masini & Fabio Tamburini (eds), 20–39. Bologna: Circolo Linguistico dell’Università di Bologna (CLUB).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2018b. ‘E le rimanenti cose’. “Eccetera” tra reticenza e inferenza. In Spazi bianchi. Le espressioni letterarie, linguistiche e visive dell’assenza, Alfonsina Buoniconto, Gerardo Salvati & Raffaele Cesaro (eds), 249–260. Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fox Tree, Jean E. & Schrock, Josef C. 2002. Basic meanings of you know and I mean. Journal of Pragmatics 34(6): 727–747. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ghezzi, Chiara & Andorno, Cecilia. 2014. Vagueness markers as politeness strategies in an Italian radio phone-in show. Beiträge Zur Fremdsprachenvermittlung 20: 15–40.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goldberg, Adele E. 1995. Constructions: A Construction Grammar Approach to Argument Structure. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
2006. Constructions at Work. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goria, Eugenio. 2020. The discursive construction of categories. Categorisation as a dynamic and co-operative process. Language Sciences 81: 101233. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goria, Eugenio, & Mauri, Caterina. 2018. Il corpus KIParla: Una nuova risorsa per lo studio dell’italiano parlato. In Club Working Papers in Linguistics, Vol. 2, Francesca Masini & Fabio Tamburini (eds), 96–116. Bologna: Circolo Linguistico dell’Università di Bologna (CLUB).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gumperz, John J. 1982. Discourse Strategies. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Haspelmath, Martin. 2007. Coordination. In Language Typology and Syntactic Description, Vol. II: Complex Constructions, Timothy Shopen (ed.), 1–51. Cambridge: CUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hilpert, Martin. 2019. Construction Grammar and its Application to English, 2nd edn. Edinburgh: EUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hoffmann, Thomas & Trousdale, Graeme (eds). 2013. The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar. Oxford: OUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hopper, Paul J. 1987. Emergent grammar. In Berkeley Linguistics Society, 13: General Session and Parasession on Grammar and Cognition, Jon Aske, Natasha Berry, Laura A. Michaelis & Hana Filip (eds), 139–157. Berkeley CA: BLS. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Imo, Wolfgang. 2015. Interactional Construction Grammar. Linguistics Vanguard 1: 69–77. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jefferson, Gail. 1990. List-construction as a task and resource. In Interactional Competence, George Psathas (ed.), 63–92. New York NY: Irvington Publishers.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2004. Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In Conversation Analysis. Studies from the First Generation [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 125], Gene H. Lerner (ed.), 13–34. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kahane, Sylvain & Pietrandrea, Paola. 2012. Types d’entassement en français. Actes du 3e Congrès Mondial de Linguistique Française. SHS Web of Conferences 1: 1809–1828.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kilgarriff, Adam, Baisa, Vit, Bušta, Jan, Jakubíček, Miloš, Kovář, Vojtĕch, Michelfeit, Jan, Rychlý, Pavel & Suchomel, Vit. 2014. The Sketch Engine. Ten years on. Lexicography 1(1): 7–36. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lerner, Gene H. 1991. On the syntax of sentences-in-progress. Language in Society 20: 441–458. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Linell, Per. 2005. The Written Language Bias in Linguistics: Its Nature, Origins and Transformations. London: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lo Baido, Maria Cristina. 2018. Mitigation via exemplification in present-day Italian: A corpus-based study. ELUA. Estudios de Lingüística Universidad de Alicante, (ELUA-2018, Anexo 4). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Masaryk University, NLP Centre. 2011. enTenTen, LINDAT/CLARIN digital library at the Institute of Formal and Applied Linguistics (ÚFAL), Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Charles University, <[URL]> (24 March 2021).
Masini, Francesca. 2006. Binomial constructions: Inheritance, specification and subregularities. Lingue e Linguaggio 5(2): 207–232. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Masini, Francesca & Arcodia, Giorgio Francesco. 2018. Listing between lexicon and syntax: Focus on frame-naming lists. Rivista di Linguistica 30: 135–172.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Masini, Francesca, Mauri, Caterina & Pietrandrea, Paola. 2018. List constructions: Towards a unified account. Italian Journal of Linguistics 30(1): 49–94. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Masini, Francesca & Pietrandrea, Paola. 2010. Magari. Cognitive Linguistics 21(1): 75–121. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mauri, Caterina. 2008. Coordination Relations in the Languages of Europe and Beyond. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2017. Building and interpreting ad hoc categories: A linguistic analysis. In Formal Models in the Study of Language, Joanna Blochowiak, Cristina Grisot, Stehanie Durrleman-Tame & Christophe Laenzlinger (eds), 297–326. Berlin: Springer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mauri, Caterina, Ballarè, Silvia, Goria, Eugenio, Cerruti, Massimo & Suriano, Francesco. 2019a. KIParla Corpus: A New Resource for Spoken Italian. In Proceedings of the Sixth Italian Conference on Computational Linguistics. Bari, Italy, November 13–15, 2019, Raffaela Bernardi, Roberto Navigli & Giovanni Semeraro (eds). <[URL]> (24 March 2021).
Mauri, Caterina, Goria, Eugenio & Fiorentini, Ilaria. 2019b. Non-exhaustive lists in spoken language. Constructions and Frames 11(2): 290–316. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mosegaard Hansen, Maj-Britt. 1998b. The semantic status of discourse markers. Lingua 104(3–4): 235–260. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Östman, Jan-Ola. 1999. Coherence through understanding through discourse patterns: Focus on news reports. In Coherence in Spoken and Written Discourse [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 63], Wolf Bublitz, Uta Lenk & Eija Ventola (eds), 77–100. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2005. Construction discourse: A prolegomenon. In Östman & Fried (eds), 121–144. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Östman, Jan-Ola & Fried, Mirjam (eds). 2005. Construction Grammars. Cognitive Grounding and Theoretical Extensions [Constructional Approaches to Language 3]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Overstreet, Maryann. 1999. Whales, Candlelight, and Stuff Like That: General Extenders in English Discourse. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pekarek-Doehler, Simona. 2011. Emergent grammar for all practical purposes: The on-line formatting of left- and right dislocations in French conversation. In Constructions: Emerging and Emergent, Peter Auer & Stefan Pfänder (eds), 45–87. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pfeiffer, Martin. 2017. The syntax of self-repair in German: An explanatory model. Journal of Pragmatics 119: 63–80. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Selting, Margret. 2007. Lists as embedded structures and the prosody of list construction as an interactional resource. Journal of Pragmatics 39(3): 483–526. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Selting, Margret & Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth (eds). 2001. Studies in Interactional Linguistics [Studies in Discourse and Grammar 10]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schegloff, Emanuel A. 1979. The relevance of repair to syntax-for-conversation. In Syntax and Semantics, 12: Discourse and Syntax, Talmy Givón (ed.), 261–286. New York NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Voghera, Miriam. 2013. Tipi di “tipo” nel parlato e nello scritto. In Di linguistica e di sociolinguistica. Studi offerti a Norbert Dittmar, Immacolato Tempesta & Massimo Vedovelli (eds), 185–195. Roma: Bulzoni.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Voghera, Miriam, Iacobini, Claudio, Savy, Renata, Cutugno, Francesco, De Rosa, Aurelio & Alfano, Iolanda. 2014. VoLIP: A searchable Italian spoken corpus. In Complex Visibles Out There, Ludmila Veselovská & Markéta Janebová (eds), 628–640. Olomouc: Palacký University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wälchli, Bernhard. 2005. Co-compounds and Natural Coordination. Oxford: OUP. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Waltereit, Richard. 2006. The rise of discourse markers in Italian: A specific type of language change. In Approaches to Discourse Particles, Kerstin Fischer (ed.), 61–76. Oxford: Elsevier.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wilson, Deirdre & Carston, Robyn. 2007. A unitary approach to lexical pragmatics: Relevance, inference and ad hoc concepts. In Pragmatics, Noel Burton-Roberts (ed.), 230–259. Houndmills: Palgrave. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Masini, Francesca, Claudia Roberta Combei & Roberta Cicchirillo
2025. The prosody of list constructions. In Multimodal Communication from a Construction Grammar Perspective [Constructional Approaches to Language, 38], ► pp. 116 ff. DOI logo
Barotto, Alessandra & Caterina Mauri
2022. Non-exhaustive connectives. STUF - Language Typology and Universals 75:2 ► pp. 317 ff. DOI logo
Masini, Francesca & Simone Mattiola
2022. Wild words. In Extravagant Morphology [Studies in Language Companion Series, 223], ► pp. 233 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 3 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue