German modal particles as multimodal constructions of intersubjectivity.

Core of this project is a multimodal description of three clusters of German modal particles (MPs) which are defined onomasiologically: 1° particles which link a question to its context (typically denn</> and eigentlich</>), 2° particles which indicate that the content of the utterance should already be known by the hearer (typically ja</> and doch</>), and3° particles which mark the content of the utterance as obvious (typically eben</>, einfach</>, and halt</>). At the multimodal level, particular attention is paid to the co-occurrence of these MPs with gestures, the focus being on gestures which themselves convey MP meanings. Starting from a number of case studies, a detailed analysis of these co-occurrence patterns is offered, including a discussion of the factors which may influence their distribution. Finally, the question is raised whether these co-occurrence patterns can be analyzed as multimodal constructions inthe sense of Construction Grammar. Although this cannot be taken for granted, it is shown in the dissertation that a number of potential objections cannot be considered as true counterarguments, and that therefore, an analysis in terms of Construction Grammar is justified.</>

Keywords:Construction Grammar, Intersubjectivity, German model particles, Multimodality, Stance taking

Disciplines:Linguistics, Theory and methodology of linguistics, Other languages and literary studies, Language studies, Literary studies

Project type:PhD project