Thaler2016

Thaler2016
BibType	ARTICLE
Key	Thaler2016
Author(s)	Verena Thaler
Title	Italian mica and its use in discourse: An interactional account
Editor(s)
Tag(s)	Particle, Mica, Interactional linguistics, Discourse function, Contextualization, Metapragmatic instruction
Publisher
Year	2016
Language
City
Month
Journal	Journal of Pragmatics
Volume	103
Number
Pages	49-69
URL
DOI	http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2016.07.011
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

Download BibTex

Abstract

The paper is concerned with the Italian negation particle mica and its use in spoken interaction. In particular, it aims to specify the types of contexts and sequential environments in which mica typically occurs and to define its functions in discourse. In previous studies, the latter have mostly been linked to emphasis or to specific presuppositions including counter-expectations on the part of the hearer and/or the speaker. More recent accounts have referred to a specific information-structural status of the negated proposition and to the expression of intersubjectivity. I will argue that all of these approaches provide important elements for a detailed analysis of the use of mica, but that none of them are sufficient. Contrary to previous studies, the analysis proposed in this paper includes the larger sequential environment of the utterances under examination and is based on naturally occurring conversation data. The study shows that mica typically occurs in disaffiliative contexts and in contexts where the speaker signals some kind of emotive involvement. In such contexts the basic functions of mica can be defined as relating the current utterance to a particular aspect of context and expressing a kind of metapragmatic instruction directing the hearer to update common ground.

Notes