“ze davar shehu ktsat muzar [That’s a thing which is a bit strange]”:The |ze (copula) NP she‑Relative Clause|—Construction in Spoken Hebrew DiscourseDiscussion

Abstract

In this article I explore a complex syntactic sequence in spoken Hebrew discourse that is composed of a deictic subject pronoun (ze) followed by a predicative phrase consisting of a noun phrase (NP) and a relative clause (RC) which is introduced by the general subordinator she-, schematically |ze (copula) NP she‑RC|. I demonstrate that this sequence is regularly used by speakers to perform the social act of stancetaking and that in these cases the functional content of the RC is evaluative with regard to the preceding NP. My analysis is supported by quantitative evidence from a survey contrasting evaluative with non‑evaluative uses of this sequence, from which I conclude that when it is used as a stancetaking device the sequence |ze (copula) NP she‑RC| shows signs of an emergent construction. My discussion of this phenomenon contributes to the research of RCs in conversational Hebrew and across languages to the extent that it recognises an evaluative use of RCs, which adds to the most frequently employed and widely acknowledged uses of RCs in discourse, i.e. (1) providing new information concerning a referent or (2) facilitating an interlocutor in identifying a previously mentioned referent. Moreover, this article is also a contribution to the study of how grammatical means are used for and shaped by the ubiquitous enactment of stance in naturally occurring discourse.

Keywords

• spoken Hebrew discourse
• relative clauses
• constructions in discourse
• stancetaking
• interactional linguistics
• emergent grammar