LINGUIST List 11.2549

Sun Nov 26 2000

Qs: Typologies of Frames, Formal Discourse Markers

Editor for this issue: Karen Milligan <karenlinguistlist.org>

Directory

1. Koltsova Natalia, Frame typologies
2. Frederick Newmeyer, formal discourse markers and elements of discourse

Dear colleagues,

I am working on a Cognitive Linguistics research
project and would really appreciate some help in
finding references/information about any existing
typologies of frames (scripts). Has anybody heard of
any books/papers/theories describing or even
mentioning different kinds of frames based on whatever
criteria? Any, even the most remote references/ideas
could be of help.

Thank you in advance. I will post a summary given
enough interest.

Regards,

Koltsova Natalia
Moscow State Linguistic University

A year or so ago, I posted a query about discourse elements that do not
map neatly onto syntactic constituents. This query is the converse of that
one. I would like examples of formal 'discourse' markers and syntactic
'discourse' positions which do not reflect one-to-one mappings onto
elements of discourse.

Here are some examples of what I am looking for. Many languages have
special topic or focus positions in the syntax. But the occupants of these
positions are not always the information structure topic or focus. For
example, Ellen Prince has shown that elements in topic position in English
are only sometimes, but not always, the discourse topic. I'd like other
examples from a variety of languages in which the occupant of 'topic' or
'focus' position is not the discourse topic or focus.

Also, many languages have special topic or focus MARKERS. Are there good
examples of where the elements to which these markers attach are not the
discourse topic or focus? For example, does 'wa' in Japanese always mark
the discourse topic, or only usually? Again, I'd like examples from a
variety of languages in which topic or focus markers do not 100% reliably
mark the discourse topic or focus.

Thanks. I'll summarize.

Fritz Newmeyer
fjnu.washington.edu