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The present moment as an interactional resource: The case of nú and núna in Icelandic conversation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2010

Helga Hilmisdóttir
Helga Hilmisdóttir*
Affiliation:
Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies, PL (24) Unioninkatu 40, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. [email protected]
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Abstract

In this paper, I will present an empirical study on the use of the temporal adverbs nú and núna ‘now’ in Icelandic talk-in-interaction. The aim is to investigate whether the two words have different functions, and, if so, to describe these differences. As I will show, nú and núna show clear differences in respect to their syntactical distribution. Furthermore, I will argue, that the syntactic distribution also reflects differences on the functional level. While núna occurs in the end field and has a clear referential function, nú tends to occur in the front field and have closer ties to the finite verb. The theoretical and methodological framework for the study is interactional linguistics, and the data comprises my transcription of around fourteen hours of conversation.

Keywords

affective stancedeixisinteractional linguisticsspoken Icelandicsyntaxtemporal comparisontemporal origotransition
Type
Research Article
Information
Nordic Journal of Linguistics , Volume 33 , Issue 3 , December 2010 , pp. 269 - 298
Copyright
Copyright © Nordic Association of Linguistics 2010

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