The functions of rhetorical structure

A study of Central Alaskan Yupik Eskimo discourse

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2886149
AutoresAnthony C Woodbury (The University of Texas at Austin, autor de correspondencia)
Año1985
Volumen14
Número2
Páginas153-190
Fecha de publicación1985-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLanguage in Society (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0047-4045 • E-ISSN: 1469-8013
EditorialCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047404500011118
OpenAlexW2169678864
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas37
Referencias citadas38

Discourse structure in Central Alaskan Yupik Eskimo (CAY) narrative and conversation is examined, and a general notion ofrhetorical structureis proposed, growing out of recent work in the poetics of Native American oral literature. Rhetorical structure in a given language would consist of prosodically and intonationally signaled phonological phrasing along with whatever other significant formal features consistently pattern or interact with it (minimally surface syntactic constituency, typically also the system of sentence adverbs and conjunctions, further intonational features, and patterns of parallelism and repetition). Findings for CAY as well as other works in the literature indicate at least four important communicative functions for rhetorical structure in addition to its role in verbal art: organization of information, expression of affective meaning, indexing of genre, and regulation of dialogic interaction. (Discourse, syntax-phonology-discourse interaction, ethnopoetics; Native America, Alaska, Yupik Eskimo

Dialogic · Expression (computer science) · Linguistics · Meaning (existential) · Narrative · Phonology · Poetics · Poetry · Rhetorical question · Sentence · Sociology · Syntax · Computer Science · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Philosophy · Psychology