Abstract
AbstractA topic-wa-phrase is analyzed here in written recipes and the corresponding spoken instructional cooking discourse. Despite the possible assumption that the topic phrase is not used in recipes, the analysis shows that ingredients of a recipe are selectively topicalized. Those topicalized are the primary ingredients which are given with substantial procedural descriptions, when these procedures represent a parallel relationship to each other. The topicalization connects the parallel segments so that they constitute coherent discourse and properly represent the intended structure of the recipe. Also, in the spoken discourse, a topic-wa-phrase is used in a side-sequence (a digression) to connect with the main segment. These functions of representing important information and connecting parallel elements are consistent with observations in other genres of discourse. On the other hand, the analysis also suggests discourse type-based variations. In the instructional discourse, the “digressions” are connected as part of the coherent discourse. This contrasts with (non-instructional) casual spoken discourse, in which digressions are not topicalized and are detached from the main segment. These variations imply speakers’ different pragmatic intentions based on different types of discourse, which are reflected on their choice of referential forms.
Highlights
A discourse topic which continues in a given stretch of discourse or information which the given discourse is about may take different forms, reflecting the speaker’s intentions in how the information is conveyed and the discourse is organized
This study presented an analysis of a topic-wa-phrase in written recipes and the corresponding spoken instructional discourse
In both the written recipes and the spoken discourse, those topicalized are ingredients which are contained in parallel procedures and given substantial procedural descriptions; they are important ingredients for the purpose of the procedural discourse
Summary
A discourse topic which continues in a given stretch of discourse or information which the given discourse is about may take different forms, reflecting the speaker’s intentions in how the information is conveyed and the discourse is organized. In Japanese, a discourse topic may be given by either zero anaphora or a topicalized, case-marked, or bare phrase. This study analyzes the use of topicalization with wa using written recipes (NHK’s Kyoo no ryoori ‘Today’s Cooking’) and corresponding spoken instructional cooking discourse (television broadcast) as its main database, and explores how the use of topicalization correlates with the way the discourse is organized. The linguistic analysis of recipes is not new, and there have been such studies in a broad range of areas such as lexicons, structures, content, and style (see Strauss 2018 and references cited therein). The structures of Japanese recipes have been analyzed, including particular sentence structures such as clause linkage (Ono 1988), and stylistic choice and discourse organization such as speech style shifts (Jung 2015) and recipe content and structure (Strauss et al 2018). The present study is an attempt to probe yet another structural
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