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
This section will make reference to those places in this paper where participant reference strategies have been set out earlier. The descriptions have been in terms of canonical forms so that statements made may have occasional exceptions, almost always with respect to the presence,
occasionally the absence, of a subject NP. When fourth person tracking is in operation, the participant reference strategy has been set out in 36 section 3.6.
In the absence of fourth person tracking, the strategy when the point of view of two interacting participants does not alternate that is, the point of view remains with one of the participants the default should be compared with the strategy when it does alternate; the latter occurs
mostly in the context of dialogue. The non-alternating point of view strategy is set out in chart 79 section 5, the forms alternating between the yi-forms or the bi-forms depending on whether the participant whose point of view is taken is speaker or addressee that is, the yi-bi-forms
alternate—not the point of view.
The alternating point of view strategy, when the verb forms are yi-Ø-V or go-Ø-V, never bi-Ø-V, is given in chart 55 section 4.2. As mentioned at the end of section 4.5, the data for when the verb forms are bi-Ø-V or go-Ø-V, never yi-Ø-V, are limited, and chart 55 only covers
the case when pre-quotatives are sNP oNP yi-Ø-V, not sNP bi-Ø-V. It was noted in sections 4.2 and 4.5 that pre-quotatives in the alternating point
of view cases, when either the verb forms yi-Ø-V or the verb forms bi-Ø-V never occur, virtually always contain a subject NP since there is no yi- bi- alternation which would be diagnostic of which participant was speaker and which addressee. The only exceptions occur when there is no
change of subject from the previous clause. Chart 5 section 2.1.2, like chart 79, sets out features of the non-alternating point of view participant reference strategy in the absence
of fourth person tracking but does not cover clauses containing verb forms go-Ø-V occurring in post-quotative and non-quotatives; these are not discussed until sections 4 and 5.
Independently of whether fourth person tracking is in operation or not, the coding of props is third person bi- when the subject is fourth section 3.6 and is third person yi- when the subject is third sections 4.2, 5. In the absence of fourth person tracking, the subject is never fourth
4.2—unless the reference is to an ‘impersonal’ entity, section 6, and so whether the participant point of view is alternating or non-alternating the coding of props is obviative yi-; section 5 points out examples which illustrate this invariability i.e. the coding of props is never proximate bi-
with a third person subject—except in some exceptional clauses, section 2.1.4.2, see 19 026.
7.1.3 Foregrounding devices
Kategori