A Question of Embeddedness: On Clausal and Phrasal Responses to Specifying WH-Questions in Danish Talk-in-Interaction

Abstract

ABSTRACT Some WH-questions (e.g. “Where do you live?”) specify a particular piece of information that would count as an answer. This article is about the differences, in Danish talk-in-interaction, between two kinds of ways of providing that information: in a phrase (e.g. “In Copenhagen”) or in a clause (e.g. “I live in Copenhagen”). I show that phrasal responses align with questions in expansion sequences, orienting to them as part of an ongoing sequence and trajectory, whereas clausal responses align with questions in base sequences, treating them as independent of prior talk and asked with no prior knowledge. The differences between the response formats can be used as resources to claim and manage discrepancies in speakers’ knowledge, or in the trajectory of their talk. The analyses contribute to growing evidence for treating grammar as positionally sensitive, as well as to studies of degrees of minimality and grammatical parasitism. Data are in Danish.