7.1.1 Summary of fourth person usage
In summary then of sections 3–6, there are two main usages of the fourth person in the corpus: 1 fourth person occurs in continuous fourth person participant tracking section 3 or, 2 in the absence of fourth person tracking, fourth person coding of non-agents may occur, mostly in
post-quotatives sections 4 and 5. The comparatively few cases of fourth person coding not covered by the discussion in sections 3–5 may be assigned to categories located at some point on an unspecified-specified scale with impersonal at one end section 6.
‘Continuous’ fourth person tracking is distinguished from ‘frequently occurring’ fourth person coding of a participant, section 3. When fourth person tracking is continuous, one participant is tracked by pronominals which are fourth person and never third whatever the grammatical
function of the pronominal, whether subject, object, or possessor, across any changes in participant orientation. In the case of 2 fourth person coding of non-agents in the absence of fourth person tracking, there is always an interaction between two
participants. The point of view between the two participants may be alternating section 4 or non-alternating section 5 between successive same-non-agent units.
When the point of view alternates between the two participants, then all the verb forms are yi-Ø-V or they are all bi-Ø-V throughout the interaction, apart from any post-quotative and non-quotative go-Ø-V. When the other participant assumes object function, any object
pronominal—third person yi- or bi- as the case may be and fourth person go-—switches in its reference. There is a degree of sustained confrontation between the two participants. Local topicality does not rest with either participant.
When instead the point of view remains with one of the participants, then in alternate same-non-agent units the verb forms are yi-Ø-V or they are bi-Ø-V depending on whether the agent is the participant whose point of view is taken or not in that same-non-agent unit, apart from
any post-quotative and non-quotative go-Ø-V. If two successive same-non-agent units both contain verb forms go-Ø-V, the fourth person pronominals go- in the one unit will necessarily be
non-coreferential with fourth person pronominals go- in the other, a feature here named ‘fourth person reference-switching’ section 4.2. Actually, this juxtaposition of same-non-agent units giving rise to fourth person reference-switching has only been found when the point of view
is alternating. The jury must be out as to whether this apparent restriction is a real limitation.
7.1.2 Strategies of participant reference
Kategori