Naja, normal und normal. Zur Syntax, Semantik und Pragmatik der x-und-x-Konstruktion im Deutschen

Abstract

This article deals with the syntax, semantics and pragmatics of the x und x (‘x and x’) construction in German, cf. A: Schade, dass die [Schabracken] so teuer sind! B: Naja, teuer und teuer, wenn die Qualitat stimmt, dann finde ich den Preis okay. (A: ‘What a pity that the horsetrappers are so expensive!’ B: ‘Well, expensive and expensive, if the quality is good, the price is fine with me.’). The specific discourse function of this construction is to negotiate the situational meaning of a previously used lexical item. Typologically, it has been claimed that the pattern is language-specific for Scandinavian. The paper challenges this assumption, providing empirical evidence from a questionnaire study with German students and a corpus of German examples from internet forum and newsgroup dialogues. Theoretically, the aim of the paper is to show that the specific discourse function of the pattern can be accounted for by regular interactions between syntax, semantics and pragmatics. A central assumption is that the x-expressions are pure quotations. The quotation analysis can account for the fact that the construction licenses a range of different syntactic categories as x-expressions. It also accounts for the fact that it is the lexical meaning of the x-expressions which is focused by the construction. The illocutionary force of the construction is derived via an I-implicature.