Rethinking the Role of Invited Inferencing in Change from the Perspective of Interactional Texts

• Main Author: Traugott Elizabeth Closs
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: De Gruyter 2018-05-01
• Series: Open Linguistics
• Subjects: discourse structuring markers; interactional discourse; language change; profile shifts; projectors; turn-taking; look expressions
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1515/opli-2018-0002

The hypothesis that “invited inferences” are factors in change and challenges to it are reviewed. In light of recent work on historical construction grammar and interactional discourse analysis, I suggest that at least three types of inferences play a role in interactional contexts: local inferences associated with specific expressions; discourse structuring inferences pertaining to factors like coherence, backgrounding and foregrounding; and turn-taking inferences associated with turn relevant positions. A case study tests this suggestion: the development of discourse structuring uses of a family of Look expressions. Turn-taking has been regarded as a trigger in related changes. However, in this case not turn-taking, but rather a profile shift associated with non-use of complementizers is hypothesized to be a crucial enabling factor.