Halonen2008a
| Halonen2008a | |
|---|---|
| BibType | ARTICLE |
| Key | Halonen2008a |
| Author(s) | Mia Halonen, Marja-Leena Sorjonen |
| Title | Using niin-interrogative to treat the prior speaker's action as an exaggeration |
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| Tag(s) | EMCA, Interrogative, Exaggeration, Finnish, Disaffiliation, Intensifier |
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| Year | 2008 |
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| Journal | Discourse Studies |
| Volume | 10 |
| Number | 1 |
| Pages | 37–53 |
| URL | Link |
| DOI | 10.1177/1461445607085584 |
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Abstract
This article examines an interrogative construction with which recipients in Finnish interactions treat the co-participant's prior action as having exhibited a stance that was overstated. A key element in the interrogative is the intensifier niin which foregrounds the scalar character of its head word (e.g. niin hirmune `so/that/as terrible') and suggests that the place it points to is too high on the scale. We will show that the niin-interrogative can target something the co-participant explicitly mentioned or only implied, and it can have in its scope either the prior turn or a longer stretch of talk. Niin-interrogatives form one means for indicating that the co-participant's claim departed from some normal way of perceiving social life, and they orient to a moral norm of walking the golden mean. As compared to other ways of dealing with exaggeration, a niin-interrogative allows the recipient to express her disagreeing stance in a fashion that avoids an open conflict.
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