Yael Maschler

University of Haifa | haifa · Department of Hebrew Language

This chapter reviews three influential perspectives in research on discourse markers: Schiffrin's discourse perspective, Fraser's pragmatic approach, and Maschler's functional interactional linguistics perspective. These three approaches are compared with respect to the ways they account for the sources of discourse markers, metalanguage, prosody,...

This volume explores how emergent patterns of complex syntax – that is, syntactic structures beyond a simple clause – relate to the local contingencies of action formation in social interaction. It examines both the on-line emergence of clause-combining patterns as they are ‘patched together’ on the fly, as well as their routinization and sedimenta...

In this study, we set out to shed light on cross-linguistic consistencies in the grammaticization of projecting constructions and on the interface of embodied conduct and complex syntax. We present a multimodal interactional linguistic analysis of Hebrew clauses opening with ma she-'what that' and French clauses opening with ce que 'it that' in wha...

This study explores the Hebrew 'ATA LO MEVIN (‘you don’t understand’) construction in a corpus of casual conversation. Employing the methodology of Interactional Linguistics and Multimodal Conversation Analysis, we show that deployment of this construction is fixed and formulaic and only rarely denotes the recipient’s lack of understanding. Based o...

Exploring the grammar-body interface, the present study examines employment of Hebrew causal clauses prefaced by the conjunction ki 'because' in responsive disaffiliative moves. We show that in such environments, ki-clauses tend to convey information that appeals to the participants' shared knowledge and to be accompanied by the Palm Up Open Hand g...

In this introduction to the special issue "Pseudo-Clefts from a Comparative Pragmatic Typological Perspective", we first discuss the current state of research on the use of pseudo-cleft-like structures in talk-in-interaction. We then compare their use in the six languages investigated in this special issue: French, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Mandar...

In this study, we set out to shed light on cross-linguistic consistencies in the grammaticization of projecting constructions and on the interface of embodied conduct and complex syntax. We present a multimodal interactional linguistic analysis of Hebrew clauses opening with ma she- ‘what that’ and French clauses opening with ce que ‘it that’ in wh...

We explore multimodal assemblies involved in employment of Hebrew causal clauses prefaced by the conjunction ki ‘because.’ We focus on ki-clauses that emerge in sequential environments involving responsive disaffiliative moves, and show that, in such environments, ki-clauses tend to convey information that appeals to the participants’ shared knowle...

This study explores all Hebrew clauses opening with ma she- ‘what that’ in what traditionally have been considered pseudo-clefts in an 11-hour audio-recorded corpus of ordinary spoken discourse. Employing interactional linguistic methodology we argue that, rather than being viewed as the initial part of a bi-clausal complex-syntax structure, the ma...

We explore two stance-taking patterns in casual Hebrew conversation involving ya′ani / ya′anu , a discourse marker originating in colloquial Arabic. In the first, ya ′ani / ya ′anu , the same as Arabic yaʕni (lit. ‘it means’), frames reformulations of prior discourse serving to enhance interpersonal involvement and mutuality regarding the interlocu...

This study examines the on-line emergence of insubordinate clauses in Hebrew conversation as constrained by local interactional contingencies, questioning traditional notions of grammatical ‘subordination’ and contributing to conceptions of grammar as a locally sensitive, temporally unfolding resource for social interaction. The clauses examined ar...

We explore employment of the Hebrew construction ('ani) lo yode'a / lo yoda'at (lit. ‘(I) not M/F-SG.know’), roughly equivalent to English ‘I don’t know’, by callers and hosts in 80 interactions on Israeli political radio phone-in programs, as compared with its functions in casual conversation. Five uses were attested in the corpus of radio-phone-i...

Employing interactional linguistic methodology (Selting and Couper-Kuhlen 2001) and relying on synchronic as well as on some diachronic evidence, I trace two grammaticization paths (Hopper 1987) from a matrix clause to a prototypical discourse marker (Maschler 2009) for the Hebrew construction ('ani) lo yode'a/yoda'at ‘(I) don’t know MASC/FEM’. Bas...

In this study we explore patterns of same-turn self-repair within the word, across ten typologically and areally diverse languages. We find universal processes emerging through language-specific resources, namely: recycling is used to delay a next item due, while replacement is used to replace an inappropriate item. For example, most of our languag...

In this introduction to the special issue on ‘Grammar and negative epistemics in talk-in-interaction’ we discuss the current state of research on the use of negative mental verb constructions such as I don’t know, I don’t understand, I don’t remember in social interaction. We scrutinize, in a cross-linguistic perspective, the grammatical and intera...

This study focuses on the Hebrew negative subject + predicate construction ˈani lo mevin/a (lit. ‘I not understand.sg.m/f’, ‘I don’t understand’) in a corpus of over 11 hours of casual conversation. Taking an interactional linguistics approach, we show that employment of this construction is highly fixed and formulaic and does not necessarily refer...

Based on a synchronic analysis of all naxon ('right/true') tokens found throughout a corpus of casual spoken Hebrew discourse, we outline two continua of synchronic usage suggesting two functional itineraries for naxon. We show that naxon employed in non-appeal (Du Bois et al., 1992) intonation contours first evolved from a verb to an adjective and...

This study explores the temporal dynamics of subject-predicate word order in the verbal clauses of spoken narrative Hebrew discourse. Contrary to previous claims (Glinert 1989), word order is shown to be rather fixed, with only 57 tokens of the VN s construction in a 6.5 hour corpus. They are employed to introduce a protagonist/referent, to index a...

This study investigates the interaction between linear and dialogic syntax in Hebrew conversation. Analyzing resonance in divergently aligned contexts, we examine a particular dialogic modification of complex syntactic constructions: the embedding of one construction within the scope of another. Specifically, we examine a family of constructions wh...

This article explores the properties of formulations in a corpus of Hebrew radio phone-ins by juxtaposing two theoretical frameworks: conversation analysis (CA) and dialogic syntax. This combination of frameworks is applied towards explaining an anomalous interaction in the collection - a caller's marked, unexpected rejection of a formulation of gi...

The present analysis is grounded in a view of grammar emerging in interaction and coming into being through mundane language use. By analyzing Hebrew interactional data, I outline the continua of synchronic usage from literal constructions involving the verb yada (‘know’) to three projecting constructions of the discourse marker variety. The study...

Previous studies of Hebrew nu investigate this discourse marker in casual conversation. The current study explores nu on Israeli political phone-in radio programs and broadens our knowledge both about the functions and grammaticization processes of discourse markers and about some particularities of Israeli political talk radio. The comparison to c...

This paper presents the results of a quantitative analysis of recycle and replacement self-repairs in English, Hebrew and German. The analysis revealed patterns of similarities and differences across the languages. Beginning with patterns of difference, we found first that English and Hebrew speakers engage in simple recycling about two-thirds of t...

This paper presents the results of a quantitative and qualitative analysis of Re-cycle, Replacement and Recycle & Replacement self-repairs in English, Hebrew and German. The analysis revealed patterns of similarities and differences across the languages. Beginning with patterns of difference, we found first that English and Hebrew speakers engage i...

Using language – “languaging” (Becker 1988) – is possible at two levels of discourse. Generally, when we use language, we look through it at a world we believe to exist beyond language. However, we can also use language for metalanguaging , i.e., in order to look through it at the process of using language itself (→ Linguistics; Conversation Analys...

In this article, we investigate the functional itinerary followed by Hebrew be'emet (`really, actually, indeed', lit. `in truth'), through a close exploration of its synchronic uses in the contemporary spoken language. Since this utterance, derived from the noun 'emet (`truth'), is so profoundly tied in with the speaker's beliefs and attitudes towa...

This study investigates the nonlexical item nu, borrowed into Hebrew from European languages, particularly Yiddish and Russian. The corpus examined consists of audio-recordings of thirty casual conversations between friends and family members. Nu was found to be the second-most prevalent interpersonal discourse marker (Maschler 1994a) in this datab...

This study investigates the employment in modern Hebrew of an element having a lexical source involving comparison (k(e)-, ‘like’) that has proliferated over the past decade or so in Israel; ke[prime prime or minute]ilu ‘like’, lit. ‘as if’. The data come from audio recordings of casual conversations of college-educated Israelis with their fr...

This study investigates the use of discourse markers in the "layering of voices "(Bakhtin,1981)in Israeli Hebrew talk in interaction. Previous studies employed a definition of discourse markers having both a semantic and a structural component. The components of this definition coincided in 94%of the cases found in the database. The remaining 6%sat...

This study investigates employment of two elements having a lexical source involving comparison (k(e)-, `like') which have greatly proliferated over the last decade or so in Israel, Hebrew Kaze (`like', lit.`like this') and ke'ilu (`like', lit. `as if'). Here I focus particularly on kaze and compare it to ke'ilu, which was investigated at length in...

Provides an overview of the topic of this special issue of the journal--discourse markers in bilingual conversation. Introduces the studies included in the issue, which investigate discourse markers in bilingual conversation from a variety of perspectives. As a whole the articles document the phenomenon of language alternation at discourse markers...

Thisstudy is a detailed voyage into the bilingualism of two Israeli HebrewEnglish bilinguals. I compare their patterns of discourse marker employment at two points in their lifetime, twelve years apart. The study thus adds a diachronic dimension to previous accounts of their bilingual linguistic behavior. Maschler (1997b) describes two patterns con...

This study explores the process by which a new, bilingual grammar emerges in interaction in a corpus of over 20 hours of audiotaped Hebrew-English bilingual conversation. In this bilingual grammar, new grammaticizations (Hopper, 1987, 1988) are formed based on the principle of contrast between the two languages, so that juxtapositions of forms from...

Ben-RafaelElizaer, Language, identity, and social division: The case of Israel. (Oxford studies in language contact.) Oxford: Clarendon, 1994. Pp. xi, 289. - Volume 25 Issue 3 - Yael Maschler

A Classical Latin text, Ovid's metamorphosis about Echo, is analyzed using Givón's notion of topic continuity. The analysis reveals iconicity on the paradigmatic level of discourse. A problem encountered in applying Givón's iconicity principle is raised, and this leads to an alternative approach to iconicity in discourse, following Becker. This app...

This study examines the functions of the bilingual discourse strategy of language alternation in the process of marking boundaries of continuous discourse. The focus is on switched discourse markers – employed, it is argued, to metalanguage the frame of the discourse. The corpus is comprised of audio recordings of over 20 hours of Hebrew-English bi...

This study describes how two bilinguals in Israel, speaking urelated languages, English and Hebrew, draw on the strategy of language alternation to negotiate their disagreement. The study furthers our understanding of functions of bilingual discourse strategies by investigating the iconic strategy of mirroring various types of discourse contrast th...

Working in the tradition of discourse analysis pioneered by Gumperz, this study extends the approach to bilingual conversation. Following other scholars in the field (e.g. Reddy, 1979; Harris, 1981; Becker, 1984c), I am calling into question the code metaphor that underlies much modern linguistics. I extend this criticism to work in ‘code-switching...

This study describes how speakers who use two languages employ discourse strategies in conversation in order to construct meaning in language games involving two unrelated languages. The analysis is based on a close reading of an audio-recording of a naturally occurring 40 minute Hebrew-English bilingual conversation and on 20 hours of audio-taped...