A Grammar of Speech

Acknowledgements; The author and series editors; Foreword; Transcription notations; Introduction; An exploratory grammar; Starting assumptions; Why do we want a linear grammar?; Discourse analysis; What is a sentence grammar?; Product and process; Why speech?; Who is it for?; 1. The argument and organization of the book; Communicating in time; Immediate constituent grammars; Finite state grammars; Summary of the argument; Development of the description; 2. Used language; Sample of data; Used speech is purposeful; - Going through the motions; - Interaction; - What can be told or asked?; - Communicative need; Participants co-operate; - Dealing with mismatches; - Projecting a need; Existential values; - Meaning and value; - Existential antonyms; Scholarly background; Process and product; - The purposeful increment; 3. Telling and asking exchanges; The telling increment; Minimum requirements for telling: syntactic; Minimum requirements for telling: intonational; 4. The simple chain; Initial, Intermediate, and Target States; - Three-element chains; Four- and five-element chains; A set of sequencing rules; Some implications of the sequencing rules; The simple chain; Sample of data; 5. Non-finite verbal elements; Non-finite forms; Extensions; - Chains representing more than one telling increment; Suspension; Suspension in simple chains; - Characteristics of suspensions; - Suspensive non-finite verbal elements; - Suspensive elements before chain-initial N; Extensions and suspensions compared; Sample of data; 6. The relationship between elements; The relationship among constituents; Post-verbal and post-nominal functions; Indeterminacy and ambiguity; Non-significant differences; Indeterminacy in chains with non-finite verbal elements; Unrestricted reference; A finite-state account; Non-finite verbal elements as suspensions; 7. The timing of events; The two time continua; Event time and moment of utterance; Differentiated and undifferentiated time reference; Perfective and imperfective verbs; Exploitation; Non-finite verbal elements; - Event time with the -ing form; - Event time with the to form; - Event time with the pp form; Linearity; The effect of suspension; Non-finite verbal elements with post-nominal function; 8. Selection and communication; Prominence and selection; Existential values; Tone units with two prominent syllables; The nature of prominence; Selection in two-prominence tone units; Sample of data; 9. More on verbal elements; Analysis of multi-word elements; Selectional possibilities of auxiliary have; - Communicative deficiency; - Auxiliary have followed by non-finite forms; Auxiliary be; - Events and conditions; - Auxiliary be followed by non-finite forms; Longer verbal sequences; 10. Modals and the plain infinitive; Modals; Base form of non-finite elements; Modals in sequence with non-finite forms; Conversational use of modals; Verbal element do; Plain infinitives following other verbal elements; Sample of data; 11. More extensions and suspensions; Reduplication; - The + symbol; Preposition/nominal elements; Indeterminacy resulting from reduplication; Same or different referent?; Reduplicative N as extension or suspension; Finite second predication; Summary; 12. Zero realization; Second mention; The O symbol; Zero realization in finite second predications; Who; Optional elements; Uses of zero realization compared; 13. Open selectors; The pertinence of selection; Open selectors in telling increments; Functional indeterminacy of open selectors; Selection by equation; Prominent and non-prominent W; Selection by predication; Suspensions; Slot-filling who; Sample of data; 14. Nominal elements; Events and things; Characterizing and identifying; Speaker's choice; Post-nominal specification; - Other kinds of post-specifiers; Pre-nominal specification; - Ordering of adjectival elements; - Intonation of pre-specified nominal elements; 15. Talk about talk; What does the discourse count as?; Retrospective labelling; Unlabelled intentions; Essential and incidental items; Secondary purposes of increments; Illocutionary force; Explicit and implicit purposes; What is the discourse about?; Discrete labelling; 16. More talk about talk; Non-discrete labelling; Pre-empting the purpose; Tone choice; Suspensions at the beginning of the chain; Theme; Temporal precedence; 17. Asking exchanges; Who knows what?; Initiating increments; - Finding out or making sure?; Question types; Responses; Extended responses; 18. What can go wrong?; Chains that do not occur; Categories of constraint; Absolute constraints; Probable constraints associated with particular words; Category 3 constraints; On-line amendments; 19. A version of the story analysed; A linear analysis; - Comments; 20. Uses of a linear account of grammar; Principles; The sentence; A user's model?; Psychological reality?; Purposeful language and psycholinguistics; Language acquisition; Language learning and teaching; - Seeing the wood for the trees; - Learning to use a language or learning about it? ; Appendix; Glossary; Bibliography; Index