Topic vs. Allocutive in the Language into Act Theory. Corpus-based research on spoken Italian

Abstract

The paper presents the corpus-based comparison between the Topic and the Allocutive information units within the Language into Act Theory framework. The Topic is defined as the field of application for the illocutionary force of the Comment and is necessarily performed through a prefix prosodic unit preceding the Comment. The Topic's functional, morpho-syntactic, frequency, prosodic characteristics, and semantic restrictions are detailed. Then, vocatives are introduced, highlighting their broad use that can extend from directive illocutionary types (calling) to forms of dialogic support (Allocutive). Allocutive can be defined as a device of social/empathic cohesion and attention reactivation, which is clearly distinguished because of flat and defocused proso+dy preferentially occurring after the Comment. The Allocutive’s detailed functional, frequency, lexical, and prosodic description follows. Allocutive’s semantic constraints are usually limited to bare nouns and proper names, but corpus observation shows that deictic expressions and, more generally, any referential descriptions are not attested in corpus and are competence rejected. Based on this observation, a comparison is made between Topic and Allocutive. The paper argues that no interpretation ambiguity can occur between an information structure composed of a Topic-Comment or an Allocutive-Comment pattern, even if an identical sequence of words fills them. It depends on the respective prosodic performances and their semantic values. While the Topic is characterized by an identifiable reference, needed for an adequate field of application for the illocutionary force, the Allocutive makes its nominal fillings lose a referential interpretation in favor of a designatory reading required by its cohesive function.