Sonja Gipper
Biographic Data
| ID | 1105372 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sonja Gipper |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sonja |
| FAMILY NAME | Gipper |
| SIGNATURE | GIPPER S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Cologne |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0972-1683 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 26 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 14 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Rethinking linguistic feedback
Trajectories of request for reconfirmation sequences in Yurakaré
This paper investigates the role of repeat format in contextualizing degrees of informativity in Yurakaré (isolate, Bolivia) request for reconfirmation sequences. Requests for reconfirmation constitute a subtype of newsmarks, inviting at least a reconfirming response by the interlocutor. Across languages, there are two main competing formats for formulating requests for reconfirmation and other responsive actions in conversation: repeats and conv…
Request for confirmation sequences in Yurakaré
This article describes the resources employed by speakers of Yurakaré (isolate, Bolivia) for formulating and responding to requests for confirmation (RfCs). In Yurakaré, RfC turns are predominantly formatted with positive polarity and falling final intonation. Confirming responses to positive polarity RfCs and disconfirming responses to negative polarity RfCs with truth-conditional negation show a preference for repeat format. Moreover, Yurakaré …
Conversational priming in repetitional responses as a mechanism in language change
In this article, we investigate if conversational priming in repetitional responses could be a factor in language change. In this mechanism, an interlocutor responds to an utterance by the other interactant using a repetitional response. Due to comprehension-to-production priming, the interlocutor producing the repetitional response is more likely to employ the same linguistic variant as the interlocutor producing the original utterance, resultin…
Structurally Similar Formats Are Not Functionally Equivalent across Languages
This study is concerned with a cross-linguistic comparison of requests for reconfirmation (RfRCs) in Yurakaré, German, and Low German mundane spoken conversations. We focus on two different RfRC formats, namely token RfRCs (such as German echt? ‘really’) and RfRCs that repeat (part of) another speaker’s prior turn. We show that these RfRC formats are used to accomplish different social actions in the three languages under study, ranging from regi…
Less than Confirming, and Doing More than That
In this paper, we compare practices of formulating responses to requests for confirmation oriented toward confirmation but doing less or more than that in German and Yurakaré (isolate, Bolivia). The German particle joa is identified as a versatile resource for navigating the functional spectrum of such responses, being deployed for less than confirming in terms of epistemic or propositional downgrading, and for more than confirming in terms of ad…
Assertive content questions in Yurakaré conversations
Beyond committing and presupposing in Yurakaré conversations
This paper outlines a method for studying the sequential distributions of epistemic markers with the purpose of gaining insight into their interactional functions. The method is exemplified with a case study of two epistemic markers of Yurakaré (isolate, Bolivia), =la “commitment” and =se “presupposition”. The investigation reveals that the two markers show different distributions across initial and responsive utterances. Moreover, each marker fu…
Repeating responses as a conversational affordance for linguistic transmission
Given that face-to-face interaction is an important locus for linguistic transmission ( Enfield 2008 : 297), it is argued in this paper that conversational structure must provide affordances ( Gibson 1979 ) for transmitting linguistic items. The paper focuses on repeats where an interactant (partially) repeats their interlocutor’s preceding utterance. Repeats are argued to provide affordances for the transmission of innovative and conservative li…
Sequence organization
Pre-semantic pragmatics encoded
Linguistics and Archaeology in the Americas
Intersubjective evidentials in Yurakaré
This paper argues that evidentials in Yurakaré (Bolivia, isolate) have an intersubjective dimension in that they do not only express the speaker’s information source, but also convey the speaker’s assumptions about the addressee’s perspective on the information. To describe these intersubjective evidentials, an analysis is proposed in terms of a relation between speaker and addressee and two propositions, the expressed proposition and the proposi…
Updating and loss of color terminology in Yurakaré
Updating and loss of color terminology in Yurakaré
Intersubjective evidentials in Yurakaré
This paper argues that evidentials in Yurakaré (Bolivia, isolate) have an intersubjective dimension in that they do not only express the speaker’s information source, but also convey the speaker’s assumptions about the addressee’s perspective on the information. To describe these intersubjective evidentials, an analysis is proposed in terms of a relation between speaker and addressee and two propositions, the expressed proposition and the proposi…
Linguistics and Archaeology in the Americas
Pre-semantic pragmatics encoded
Beyond committing and presupposing in Yurakaré conversations
This paper outlines a method for studying the sequential distributions of epistemic markers with the purpose of gaining insight into their interactional functions. The method is exemplified with a case study of two epistemic markers of Yurakaré (isolate, Bolivia), =la “commitment” and =se “presupposition”. The investigation reveals that the two markers show different distributions across initial and responsive utterances. Moreover, each marker fu…
Repeating responses as a conversational affordance for linguistic transmission
Given that face-to-face interaction is an important locus for linguistic transmission ( Enfield 2008 : 297), it is argued in this paper that conversational structure must provide affordances ( Gibson 1979 ) for transmitting linguistic items. The paper focuses on repeats where an interactant (partially) repeats their interlocutor’s preceding utterance. Repeats are argued to provide affordances for the transmission of innovative and conservative li…
Sequence organization
Assertive content questions in Yurakaré conversations
Structurally Similar Formats Are Not Functionally Equivalent across Languages
This study is concerned with a cross-linguistic comparison of requests for reconfirmation (RfRCs) in Yurakaré, German, and Low German mundane spoken conversations. We focus on two different RfRC formats, namely token RfRCs (such as German echt? ‘really’) and RfRCs that repeat (part of) another speaker’s prior turn. We show that these RfRC formats are used to accomplish different social actions in the three languages under study, ranging from regi…
Less than Confirming, and Doing More than That
In this paper, we compare practices of formulating responses to requests for confirmation oriented toward confirmation but doing less or more than that in German and Yurakaré (isolate, Bolivia). The German particle joa is identified as a versatile resource for navigating the functional spectrum of such responses, being deployed for less than confirming in terms of epistemic or propositional downgrading, and for more than confirming in terms of ad…
Request for confirmation sequences in Yurakaré
This article describes the resources employed by speakers of Yurakaré (isolate, Bolivia) for formulating and responding to requests for confirmation (RfCs). In Yurakaré, RfC turns are predominantly formatted with positive polarity and falling final intonation. Confirming responses to positive polarity RfCs and disconfirming responses to negative polarity RfCs with truth-conditional negation show a preference for repeat format. Moreover, Yurakaré …
Conversational priming in repetitional responses as a mechanism in language change
In this article, we investigate if conversational priming in repetitional responses could be a factor in language change. In this mechanism, an interlocutor responds to an utterance by the other interactant using a repetitional response. Due to comprehension-to-production priming, the interlocutor producing the repetitional response is more likely to employ the same linguistic variant as the interlocutor producing the original utterance, resultin…
Rethinking linguistic feedback
Trajectories of request for reconfirmation sequences in Yurakaré
This paper investigates the role of repeat format in contextualizing degrees of informativity in Yurakaré (isolate, Bolivia) request for reconfirmation sequences. Requests for reconfirmation constitute a subtype of newsmarks, inviting at least a reconfirming response by the interlocutor. Across languages, there are two main competing formats for formulating requests for reconfirmation and other responsive actions in conversation: repeats and conv…
Linguistics (12 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (11 works) · Philosophy (11 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (9 works) · Psychology (8 works) · Epistemology (7 works) · Artificial Intelligence (4 works) · Biology (4 works) · Communication (4 works)