Contextualizing clauses

Abstract

The paper uses Hungarian data to explore the phenomenon of interclausal contextualizing relations, analysing clauses which provide access to a prominent referential scene via the speaker’s mental opera-tions. Seriality (closely related to the directing of attention) is treated as a point of departure, and it is argued that grammatical schemas for construing clause complexes offer patterns for serial construal as well. At the same time, linear realization is fundamentally affected by what opportunities are available for directing attention in the current discourse space, in the ongoing organization of discourse. These two factors collectively shape clause order within clause complexes. Clauses are regarded as intona-tion units integrated into clause complexes whose structure is defined by the build-up of attentional frames mutually elaborating each other as successive strata. The system thus outlined serves as a basis for exploring contextualizing clauses in Hungarian. Special attention is devoted to clauses (participatingin subordinating interclausal relations) which foreground the speaker’s mental operations and effect a grounding predication.