The Expressive Function of the ni que Insubordinate Construction in Spanish

Laura Alba-Juez,Elena Martínez Caro

doi:10.3390/languages6040161

Laura Alba-Juez, Elena Martínez Caro

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/languages6040161

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Abstract

Authors such as Tyler Schnoebelen (on page 12 of his study Emotions are Relational: Positioning and the Use of Affective Linguistic Resources), suggest that in some languages (cf. Navajo), certain dependent clauses are frequently used independently to “mark emotional evaluation and background information”. Evans, in his work on insubordination and its uses, makes use of the term insubordination to refer to this phenomenon. Our study focuses on a particular insubordinate construction introduced by the sequence ni que in Spanish, as in the example [¡Una carta cada día!] Ni que yo fuese Umbral. (CORPES Corpus), used as an independent clause with a sociopragmatic meaning, which is different from that of its subordinate counterpart (cf. No escribiría una carta cada día ni que yo fuese Umbral). Our research questions ask about the potential for ni que to be used as a discourse marker fulfilling an expressive function when it introduces this type of construction, and the derived hypothesis is then oriented to test whether Schnoebelen’s observation about insubordinate constructions also applies to this Spanish construction. In order to test this hypothesis, we performed a functional discourse analysis of more than 2000 concordances (and their extended contexts) in Mark Davies’ Corpus del Español and the Real Academia CORPES XXI. Our findings show that the insubordinate construction differs in function and meaning from its subordinate counterpart, the former fulfilling an emotive function, often combined with other discourse–pragmatic functions, such as evaluation or the organization of discourse.

Highlights

In recent decades, linguistics has witnessed an increasing interest in the expressive function of language (as opposed to its referential function; cf. Foolen (2016)) and the related areas of subjectivity and stance (cf., e.g., (Biber et al 1999; Englebretson 2007; Thompson and Alba-Juez 2014))
Even when it is found in written texts, it is always representing the oral use of the construction, which leads to the assumption that the ni que discourse marker in insubordinate constructions is mainly a feature of spoken Spanish
Our main aim when embarking on this study has been to explore the emphatic and expressive potential of the ni que insubordinate construction in Spanish, as contrasted with its subordinate counterpart

Summary

Introduction

Linguistics has witnessed an increasing interest in the expressive function of language (as opposed to its referential function; cf. Foolen (2016)) and the related areas of subjectivity and stance (cf., e.g., (Biber et al 1999; Englebretson 2007; Thompson and Alba-Juez 2014)). 367), or, in more simple terms, “as the independent use of constructions exhibiting prima facie characteristics of subordinate clauses” This study intends to broaden the present discussion of subjectivity and stance by focusing on an understudied type of insubordinate construction in Spanish—that introduced by the sequence ni que—as in the following examples: 1.a. This will be achieved by the selection of a fairly productive yet understudied construction in present-day Spanish, whose specific discourse functions and further behavior allow for its consideration as a conventionalized independent clause.

Background

Meanings and Functions of Insubordinate Constructions

Insubordination and the Expression of Emotion

Research Questions and Hypothesis

Corpus

Analysis and Discussion

Ni que Insubordinate Clauses as Triggers for Counterfactive Presuppositions

Ni que as a Discourse Marker Affecting Textual–Organizational Domains

Findings

Ni que as a Marker of Expressive Illocutionary Acts

Conclusions