In:Information Structure and Reference Tracking in Complex Sentences
Edited by Rik van Gijn, Jeremy Hammond, Dejan Matić, Saskia van Putten and Ana Vilacy Galucio
[Typological Studies in Language 105] 2014
► pp. 263–290
Switch-reference antecedence and subordination in Whitesands (Oceanic)
Published online: 5 March 2014
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.105.09ham
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.105.09ham
Whitesands is an Oceanic language of the southern Vanuatu subgroup. Like the related languages of southern Vanuatu, Whitesands has developed a clause-linkage system which monitors referent continuity on new clauses – typically contrasting with the previous clause. In this chapter I address how the construction interacts with topic continuity in discourse. I outline the morphosyntactic form of this anaphoric co-reference device. From a functionalist perspective, I show how the system is used in natural discourse and discuss its restrictions with respect to relative and complement clauses. I conclude with a discussion on its interactions with theoretical notions of information structure – in particular the nature of presupposed versus asserted clauses, information back- and foregrounding and how these affect the use of the switch-reference system. Keywords: Anaphora; clause-chaining; Oceanic; subordination
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Cited by (3)
Cited by three other publications
Roberts, John R.
Matić, Dejan
2016. Ėven converbs and the syntax of switch-reference. In Switch Reference 2.0 [Typological Studies in Language, 114], ► pp. 335 ff.
van Gijn, Rik
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