Clarifying when-constructions: Conversation, morphosyntax, lexicon, and mode and their interactions in language use

Abstract

The present study investigates clarifying when-constructions (e.g., when I say more, I don’t mean that we should consume more, but really it’s about creating a rich life) in a sample of 971 examples from the Corpus of Contemporary American English. In this construction, a phrase or clause from a different or the same turn is repeated in a when-clause to provide clarification through the main clause, often accompanied by a refining clause. The present research centers around identifying configurations of variables that are correlated with whether a speaker repeats a phrase or clause from a different or the same turn in a when-clause. We do so with a predictive modeling approach that uses the following variables: refining clause, main clause verb, main clause polarity, and mode. We also discuss the prototypical configurations associated with each type of repetition. Our findings go beyond traditional research on self-repetition and clarification by showing how their conversational functions interact with other grammatical domains in language use: morphosyntax, lexicon, and mode. This is in line with recent Usage-Based Construction Grammar work that has shown that constructionhood is a complex intersection of internal and external properties.