De-syntacticizing the theories of reference maintenance from the viewpoint of poetic function of language and gesture: A case of Japanese discourse.

摘要

This dissertation argues for communicational unity of spoken language and gesture in monologic Japanese discourse. In particular, focusing on processes of referring to persons and things, it tests several hypotheses that textual structure, in addition to grammar, is the plane on which language and gesture together reveal communicational intent. A referent is, it is often argued, (1) introduced by the nominative marker ga, (2) established as a topic by the topic marker wa, and (3) maintained as a topic by ellipsis chain. Zero topic change, a phenomenon in which topic change occurs within a chain of ellipses, however, poses fundamental questions to this explanation. The current study hypothesizes (1) that linguistic and non-linguistic devices are jointly regimented to achieve zero topic change, and (2) that the nature of the content being conveyed has an impact on how references are maintained. Study 1 describes analyses of some, if not all, of the major linguistic devices relevant to the issue of reference maintenance. In Study 2, two cartoon stories were used for videotaped data collection in which one subject learned the material and then retell it to the other person. Analyses of verbal and gestural transcripts focuses on how topic markers, various deictic expressions, constructions and speech-accompanying hand gestures are used individually and jointly.