J Blythe
Biographic Data
| ID | 28076 |
|---|---|
| NAME | J Blythe |
| GIVEN NAMES | J |
| FAMILY NAME | Blythe |
| SIGNATURE | BLYTHE J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Macquarie University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1281-9681 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 113 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2010 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Requesting information using gender and number
This study adopts an interactional approach to grammatical gender and number by examining information requests produced by speakers of Gija, an endangered Australian Aboriginal language. Morphological agreement is a crucial ‘referential mechanism’ ( Heath, 1984 , p. 604) in Gija, and it stems from the largely canonical gender system of this language ( de Dear, 2024 ). Selecting an inflected question-word when requesting information narrows the in…
Competitive points in Mandarin-speaking multiparty interaction: Speakership and epistemics
This study explores the use of hand points in competitive epistemic and speakership environments in Mandarin-speaking conversation. It examines incoming speakers' points at a current speaker. This study employs multimodal conversation-analytic methods to analyse 334 min of triadic interaction. 40 points directed at a current speaker by an incoming speaker are the focus of analysis. This study finds that these points indicate an upcoming bid for t…
Tactile engagement of prospective next speakers in Indonesian multiparty conversations
This article investigates the use of touch as a tool for engaging prospective next speakers within Indonesian multiparty conversation. We examine the lamination of touch onto questions directed towards specifically targeted recipients. First, we find that questions with touch are deployed when the physical environment complicates the attainment of mutual orientation. Second, when previously targeted recipients have failed to respond to a question…
Discourse and social interaction
In this chapter we survey what we know about the ways in which speakers of Australian languages structure discourse. We show how advances in recording and data management technologies at the end of the 20th century and into the 21st century have enabled the focus of research on Australian language discourse to move from the analysis of transcribed text collections to the in situ analysis of language use in authentic social interactions. Our surve…
Towards an interactional grammar of interjections: Expressing compassion in four Australian languages
Words classified as 'interjections' tend to be treated in descriptive grammars as outside of morphosyntax, too contextually bound to warrant a systematic description of their syntagmatic relations. We use a comparative corpus of conversations in four typologically distinct Australian Aboriginal languages (Garrwa, Gija, Jaru and Murrinhpatha) to illustrate how such an analysis may be developed. We focus on forms which have been described as 'compa…
Reference frames in language and cognition: Cross-population mismatches
Numerous studies have found evidence of a speech community’s referential practices in discourse being predictive of its members’ behavior in nonverbal tasks. In this article, we discuss a series of exceptions to this alignment pattern, drawing on data from eleven populations of Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North and Central America, and Oceania. These exceptions have not been discussed in conjunction with one another and the striking commonalit…
Calibrating recipiency through pronominal reference
Participants in conversation have a range of options for referring to co-conversationalists – lexical, grammatical, embodied – regardless of their language. Personal pronouns have been described as the most unmarked way of achieving reference, where little else is accomplished other than the action of referring. We demonstrate that speakers in a multi-party conversation whose language distinguishes between second and third-person pronouns, or bet…
On the road again: Displaying knowledge of place in multiparty conversations in the remote Australian outback
In this article we examine displays of epistemic status and stance among long-term Anglo-Australian residents of remote communities through a case study of a 2-h interaction by four men who have demonstrated sophisticated knowledge of locations in their region. We show how equal access to knowledge of places is oriented to, as well as how differences in rights to authoritatively claim knowledge emerge in disputes over details of locations which a…
Questions with address terms in Indonesian conversation: Managing next-speaker selection and action formation
The epistemics of social relations in Murrinhpatha, Garrwa and Jaru conversations
Locational pointing in Murrinhpatha, Gija, and English conversations
It has been suggested that the gestural accuracy used by speakers of Australian Aboriginal languages like Guugu Yimidhirr and Arrernte to indicate directions and represent topographic features is a consequence of absolute frame of reference being dominant in these languages; and that the lackadaisical points produced by North American English speakers is an outcome of relative frame being dominant in English. We test this claim by comparing locat…
Acquiring the lexicon and grammar of universal kinship: Supplementary material
Acquiring the lexicon and grammar of universal kinship
This article investigates how children learn an infinitely expanding ‘universal’ system of classificatory kinship terms. We report on a series of experiments designed to elicit acquisitional data on (i) nominal kinterms and (ii) sibling-inflected polysynthetic morphology in the Australian language Murrinhpatha. Photographs of the participants' own relatives are used as stimuli to assess knowledge of kinterms, kin-based grammatical contrasts, and …
Tools of Engagement: Selecting a Next Speaker in Australian Aboriginal Multiparty Conversations
Building on earlier Conversation Analytic work on turn-taking and response mobilization, we use video-recorded multiparty conversations to consider in detail how Australian Aboriginal participants in conversation select a next speaker in turns that are grammatically designed as questions. We focus in particular on the role of a range of embodied behaviors, such as gaze direction, body orientation, and pointing, to select—or avoid selecting—a next…
Pointing Out Directions in Murrinhpatha
Rather than using abstract directionals, speakers of the Australian Aboriginal language Murrinhpatha make reference to locations of interest using named landmarks, demonstratives and pointing. Building on a culturally prescribed avoidance for certain placenames, this study reports on the use of demonstratives, pointing and landmarks for direction giving. Whether or not pointing will be used, and which demonstratives will be selected is determined…
Universal Principles in the Repair of Communication Problems
There would be little adaptive value in a complex communication system like human language if there were no ways to detect and correct problems. A systematic comparison of conversation in a broad sample of the world's languages reveals a universal system for the real-time resolution of frequent breakdowns in communication. In a sample of 12 languages of 8 language families of varied typological profiles we find a system of 'other-initiated repair…
Other-initiated repair in Murrinh-Patha
The range of linguistic structures and interactional practices associated with other-initiated repair (OIR) is surveyed for the Northern Australian language Murrinh-Patha. By drawing on a video corpus of informal Murrinh- Patha conversation, the OIR formats are compared in terms of their utility and versatility. Certain “restricted” formats have semantic properties that point to prior trouble source items. While these make the restricted repair i…
Formats for other-initiation of repair across languages: An exercise in pragmatic typology
In conversation, people have to deal with problems of speaking, hearing, and understanding. We report on a cross-linguistic investigation of the conversational structure of other-initiated repair (also known as collaborative repair, feedback, requests for clarification, or grounding sequences). We take stock of formats for initiating repair across languages (comparable to English huh?, who?, y’mean X? , etc.) and find that different languages mak…
Preference organization driving structuration: Evidence from Australian Aboriginal interaction for pragmatically motivated grammaticalization
Kin-enriched morphosyntax has emerged many times in distantly related Australian languages. An examination of language use in conversation reveals that this emergence can be explained in terms of convergent evolutionary pressures. All Australian Aboriginal societies have classificatory kinship, and all have taboos limiting the use of personal names. A conversational preference for avoiding restricted names (Levinson 2007) and preferences for achi…
From passing-gesture to 'true' romance: Kin-based teasing in Murriny Patha conversation
Self-Association in Murriny Patha Talk-in-Interaction
When referring to persons in talk-in-interaction, interlocutors recruit the particular referential expressions that best satisfy both cultural and interactional contingencies, as well as the speaker's own personal objectives. Regular referring practices reveal cultural preferences for choosing particular classes of reference forms for engaging in particular types of activities. When speakers of the northern Australian language Murriny Patha refer…
From passing-gesture to 'true' romance: Kin-based teasing in Murriny Patha conversation
Pointing Out Directions in Murrinhpatha
Rather than using abstract directionals, speakers of the Australian Aboriginal language Murrinhpatha make reference to locations of interest using named landmarks, demonstratives and pointing. Building on a culturally prescribed avoidance for certain placenames, this study reports on the use of demonstratives, pointing and landmarks for direction giving. Whether or not pointing will be used, and which demonstratives will be selected is determined…
The epistemics of social relations in Murrinhpatha, Garrwa and Jaru conversations
Preference organization driving structuration: Evidence from Australian Aboriginal interaction for pragmatically motivated grammaticalization
Kin-enriched morphosyntax has emerged many times in distantly related Australian languages. An examination of language use in conversation reveals that this emergence can be explained in terms of convergent evolutionary pressures. All Australian Aboriginal societies have classificatory kinship, and all have taboos limiting the use of personal names. A conversational preference for avoiding restricted names (Levinson 2007) and preferences for achi…
Tools of Engagement: Selecting a Next Speaker in Australian Aboriginal Multiparty Conversations
Building on earlier Conversation Analytic work on turn-taking and response mobilization, we use video-recorded multiparty conversations to consider in detail how Australian Aboriginal participants in conversation select a next speaker in turns that are grammatically designed as questions. We focus in particular on the role of a range of embodied behaviors, such as gaze direction, body orientation, and pointing, to select—or avoid selecting—a next…
Self-Association in Murriny Patha Talk-in-Interaction
When referring to persons in talk-in-interaction, interlocutors recruit the particular referential expressions that best satisfy both cultural and interactional contingencies, as well as the speaker's own personal objectives. Regular referring practices reveal cultural preferences for choosing particular classes of reference forms for engaging in particular types of activities. When speakers of the northern Australian language Murriny Patha refer…
On the road again: Displaying knowledge of place in multiparty conversations in the remote Australian outback
In this article we examine displays of epistemic status and stance among long-term Anglo-Australian residents of remote communities through a case study of a 2-h interaction by four men who have demonstrated sophisticated knowledge of locations in their region. We show how equal access to knowledge of places is oriented to, as well as how differences in rights to authoritatively claim knowledge emerge in disputes over details of locations which a…
Towards an interactional grammar of interjections: Expressing compassion in four Australian languages
Words classified as 'interjections' tend to be treated in descriptive grammars as outside of morphosyntax, too contextually bound to warrant a systematic description of their syntagmatic relations. We use a comparative corpus of conversations in four typologically distinct Australian Aboriginal languages (Garrwa, Gija, Jaru and Murrinhpatha) to illustrate how such an analysis may be developed. We focus on forms which have been described as 'compa…
Tactile engagement of prospective next speakers in Indonesian multiparty conversations
This article investigates the use of touch as a tool for engaging prospective next speakers within Indonesian multiparty conversation. We examine the lamination of touch onto questions directed towards specifically targeted recipients. First, we find that questions with touch are deployed when the physical environment complicates the attainment of mutual orientation. Second, when previously targeted recipients have failed to respond to a question…
Calibrating recipiency through pronominal reference
Participants in conversation have a range of options for referring to co-conversationalists – lexical, grammatical, embodied – regardless of their language. Personal pronouns have been described as the most unmarked way of achieving reference, where little else is accomplished other than the action of referring. We demonstrate that speakers in a multi-party conversation whose language distinguishes between second and third-person pronouns, or bet…
Questions with address terms in Indonesian conversation: Managing next-speaker selection and action formation
Locational pointing in Murrinhpatha, Gija, and English conversations
It has been suggested that the gestural accuracy used by speakers of Australian Aboriginal languages like Guugu Yimidhirr and Arrernte to indicate directions and represent topographic features is a consequence of absolute frame of reference being dominant in these languages; and that the lackadaisical points produced by North American English speakers is an outcome of relative frame being dominant in English. We test this claim by comparing locat…
Acquiring the lexicon and grammar of universal kinship
This article investigates how children learn an infinitely expanding ‘universal’ system of classificatory kinship terms. We report on a series of experiments designed to elicit acquisitional data on (i) nominal kinterms and (ii) sibling-inflected polysynthetic morphology in the Australian language Murrinhpatha. Photographs of the participants' own relatives are used as stimuli to assess knowledge of kinterms, kin-based grammatical contrasts, and …
Self-Association in Murriny Patha Talk-in-Interaction
When referring to persons in talk-in-interaction, interlocutors recruit the particular referential expressions that best satisfy both cultural and interactional contingencies, as well as the speaker's own personal objectives. Regular referring practices reveal cultural preferences for choosing particular classes of reference forms for engaging in particular types of activities. When speakers of the northern Australian language Murriny Patha refer…
From passing-gesture to 'true' romance: Kin-based teasing in Murriny Patha conversation
Preference organization driving structuration: Evidence from Australian Aboriginal interaction for pragmatically motivated grammaticalization
Kin-enriched morphosyntax has emerged many times in distantly related Australian languages. An examination of language use in conversation reveals that this emergence can be explained in terms of convergent evolutionary pressures. All Australian Aboriginal societies have classificatory kinship, and all have taboos limiting the use of personal names. A conversational preference for avoiding restricted names (Levinson 2007) and preferences for achi…
Formats for other-initiation of repair across languages: An exercise in pragmatic typology
In conversation, people have to deal with problems of speaking, hearing, and understanding. We report on a cross-linguistic investigation of the conversational structure of other-initiated repair (also known as collaborative repair, feedback, requests for clarification, or grounding sequences). We take stock of formats for initiating repair across languages (comparable to English huh?, who?, y’mean X? , etc.) and find that different languages mak…
Universal Principles in the Repair of Communication Problems
There would be little adaptive value in a complex communication system like human language if there were no ways to detect and correct problems. A systematic comparison of conversation in a broad sample of the world's languages reveals a universal system for the real-time resolution of frequent breakdowns in communication. In a sample of 12 languages of 8 language families of varied typological profiles we find a system of 'other-initiated repair…
Other-initiated repair in Murrinh-Patha
The range of linguistic structures and interactional practices associated with other-initiated repair (OIR) is surveyed for the Northern Australian language Murrinh-Patha. By drawing on a video corpus of informal Murrinh- Patha conversation, the OIR formats are compared in terms of their utility and versatility. Certain “restricted” formats have semantic properties that point to prior trouble source items. While these make the restricted repair i…
Pointing Out Directions in Murrinhpatha
Rather than using abstract directionals, speakers of the Australian Aboriginal language Murrinhpatha make reference to locations of interest using named landmarks, demonstratives and pointing. Building on a culturally prescribed avoidance for certain placenames, this study reports on the use of demonstratives, pointing and landmarks for direction giving. Whether or not pointing will be used, and which demonstratives will be selected is determined…
Tools of Engagement: Selecting a Next Speaker in Australian Aboriginal Multiparty Conversations
Building on earlier Conversation Analytic work on turn-taking and response mobilization, we use video-recorded multiparty conversations to consider in detail how Australian Aboriginal participants in conversation select a next speaker in turns that are grammatically designed as questions. We focus in particular on the role of a range of embodied behaviors, such as gaze direction, body orientation, and pointing, to select—or avoid selecting—a next…
Acquiring the lexicon and grammar of universal kinship: Supplementary material
Acquiring the lexicon and grammar of universal kinship
This article investigates how children learn an infinitely expanding ‘universal’ system of classificatory kinship terms. We report on a series of experiments designed to elicit acquisitional data on (i) nominal kinterms and (ii) sibling-inflected polysynthetic morphology in the Australian language Murrinhpatha. Photographs of the participants' own relatives are used as stimuli to assess knowledge of kinterms, kin-based grammatical contrasts, and …
Locational pointing in Murrinhpatha, Gija, and English conversations
It has been suggested that the gestural accuracy used by speakers of Australian Aboriginal languages like Guugu Yimidhirr and Arrernte to indicate directions and represent topographic features is a consequence of absolute frame of reference being dominant in these languages; and that the lackadaisical points produced by North American English speakers is an outcome of relative frame being dominant in English. We test this claim by comparing locat…
Reference frames in language and cognition: Cross-population mismatches
Numerous studies have found evidence of a speech community’s referential practices in discourse being predictive of its members’ behavior in nonverbal tasks. In this article, we discuss a series of exceptions to this alignment pattern, drawing on data from eleven populations of Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North and Central America, and Oceania. These exceptions have not been discussed in conjunction with one another and the striking commonalit…
Calibrating recipiency through pronominal reference
Participants in conversation have a range of options for referring to co-conversationalists – lexical, grammatical, embodied – regardless of their language. Personal pronouns have been described as the most unmarked way of achieving reference, where little else is accomplished other than the action of referring. We demonstrate that speakers in a multi-party conversation whose language distinguishes between second and third-person pronouns, or bet…
On the road again: Displaying knowledge of place in multiparty conversations in the remote Australian outback
In this article we examine displays of epistemic status and stance among long-term Anglo-Australian residents of remote communities through a case study of a 2-h interaction by four men who have demonstrated sophisticated knowledge of locations in their region. We show how equal access to knowledge of places is oriented to, as well as how differences in rights to authoritatively claim knowledge emerge in disputes over details of locations which a…
Questions with address terms in Indonesian conversation: Managing next-speaker selection and action formation
The epistemics of social relations in Murrinhpatha, Garrwa and Jaru conversations
Discourse and social interaction
In this chapter we survey what we know about the ways in which speakers of Australian languages structure discourse. We show how advances in recording and data management technologies at the end of the 20th century and into the 21st century have enabled the focus of research on Australian language discourse to move from the analysis of transcribed text collections to the in situ analysis of language use in authentic social interactions. Our surve…
Towards an interactional grammar of interjections: Expressing compassion in four Australian languages
Words classified as 'interjections' tend to be treated in descriptive grammars as outside of morphosyntax, too contextually bound to warrant a systematic description of their syntagmatic relations. We use a comparative corpus of conversations in four typologically distinct Australian Aboriginal languages (Garrwa, Gija, Jaru and Murrinhpatha) to illustrate how such an analysis may be developed. We focus on forms which have been described as 'compa…
Competitive points in Mandarin-speaking multiparty interaction: Speakership and epistemics
This study explores the use of hand points in competitive epistemic and speakership environments in Mandarin-speaking conversation. It examines incoming speakers' points at a current speaker. This study employs multimodal conversation-analytic methods to analyse 334 min of triadic interaction. 40 points directed at a current speaker by an incoming speaker are the focus of analysis. This study finds that these points indicate an upcoming bid for t…
Tactile engagement of prospective next speakers in Indonesian multiparty conversations
This article investigates the use of touch as a tool for engaging prospective next speakers within Indonesian multiparty conversation. We examine the lamination of touch onto questions directed towards specifically targeted recipients. First, we find that questions with touch are deployed when the physical environment complicates the attainment of mutual orientation. Second, when previously targeted recipients have failed to respond to a question…
Requesting information using gender and number
This study adopts an interactional approach to grammatical gender and number by examining information requests produced by speakers of Gija, an endangered Australian Aboriginal language. Morphological agreement is a crucial ‘referential mechanism’ ( Heath, 1984 , p. 604) in Gija, and it stems from the largely canonical gender system of this language ( de Dear, 2024 ). Selecting an inflected question-word when requesting information narrows the in…
Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (17 works) · Linguistics (17 works) · Computer Science (14 works) · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition (14 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Conversation (12 works) · Psychology (12 works) · Communication (9 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Communication (6 works)