Nú in communicative projects

The post verbal nú is often used within sequences during which interlocutors are carrying out communicative projects (cf. Linell 1998: 207–213). As Linell (1998: 218) points out, one of the most important features of communicative projects is that they evolve around speakers’ intentions and goals. These goals, however, can only be reached collectively. Through interaction, interlocutors establish communicative facts, and, thus, they plan some of their actions ahead to some degree.In such projects, the post-verbal nú is often used to establish important background information. In the following excerpt, drawn from the everyday conversation Reunion, six women are sitting around the dinner table eating Chinese food. Magga has been talking for a while about her newly acquired skills in eating with chopsticks and her experience with Korean cuisine. When the excerpt begins, Magga begins a short story on the same topic (line 1):

(7.18) EATING WITH CHOPSTICKS: Reunion (←4.3)

18 G [*e he he he he .hh*]

19 B *ehe*

Magga initiates a new story by making a short assessment: (svo) pínlegt ‘so embarrassing’ (line 2). The assessment is directly followed by an orientation to the story in which she explains that she was recently invited to a Korean dinner. Magga’s turn has level-final contour which signals that there is more to come. After short pauses (lines 3 and 5) and a continuer from Brynhildur (line 4), Magga makes the claim that she had strong intentions not to give up using chopsticks during the dinner.

In this statement, Magga uses nú directly after the finite verb, and the particle is followed by the intensifier aldeilis ‘totally’ (line 6) which also contributes to the decisive tone. Following this assertion, Magga explains the reason for her determination which she utters in a more quiet voice than the surrounding talk (line 6).

After a brief pause and continuers from Brynhildur, Lína and Erna (lines 8, 10, and 12), Magga uses the word pínlegt ‘embarrassing’ again, hinting to the co-participants that the point of the story is coming up (line 13). Finally, Magga reveals the source of her embarrassement: a great deal of food was found under her chair after the meal (lines 13–14).

In (7.18), the utterance containing nú establishes the fact that Magga did not want to give up using chopsticks. In this environment, nú functions to highlight one important factor in the story, and, therefore, it provides the co-participants with information which is necessary to understand the point she will be making in the subsequent talk. In this case, it is the fact that Magga was being proud and stubborn which led to the embarassing moment when bits of food were found on the floor around her chair.

The instance in (7.18) was a part of a story. However, the tone particle nú is also used to foreground important background in other types of projects, such as in multi-unit questions. The following excerpt is drawn from the radio interview with one of the presidential candidates, Bergsveinn. The excerpt starts just after an introduction and a greeting sequence:

(7.19) AGAINST NUCLEAR WEAPONS: Soul 10.06.96

(B = Bergsveinn, a presidential candidate; V = Védís, a caller)

1 V .mt .hhhhhhh Já heyrðu mér langaði nú að bera fram hérna .mt .hhhhhhh PRT PRT I.DAT want.3.PT NÚ to bring.INF forward here

.mt .hhhhhhh yes, well, I wanted NÚ to ask you

2 eina spurningu? it’s regarding (0.6) we are NÚ all against nuclear weapons

6 (0.6) [.hhhhh en sambandi við aðstaðan þí- #e::::# #eða:::# (0.6)

At the beginning of (7.19), Védís prepares her question by producing a preliminary to a preliminary, that is, she states that she wants to pose a question (lines 1–2). As Schegloff (1980) has pointed out, however, such pre-pres are usually not followed by the announced act. Thus, instead of posing a question in the subsequent turn, Védís

starts giving some background information. Védís continues by producing an introductory phrase: Það er í sambandi við→ ‘it’s regarding’ (line 5). The TCU ends with level intonation, which signals that the turn is still in progress. At this point, however, Védís takes a 0.6 second pause, after which she makes a repair and starts a new TCU. This time, Védís makes the assertion that Við erum nú öll á móti kjarnorkuvopnum? ‘we are NÚ all against nuclear weapons,’ which contains nú as a tone particle. The turn has a rising final contour which again signals that it is still in progress (line 5). In the rest of the excerpt, Védís continues her communicative project, which is to pose a question to Bergsveinn (lines 8, 10–11, and 14–15).

In the statement containing nú, Védís makes a claim about Bergsveinn’s and other people’s opinion on nuclear weapons. She presents this opinion as a commonly known fact, and, thus, she is establishing a common ground or the premises for the subsequent argument. As several excerpts have illustrated, the abolishment of nuclear weapons is one of the main political issues for Bergsveinn, and nuclear weapons have already been mentioned several times in this particular episode of The soul of the nation. Bergsveinn has already discussed his strong views against them. When Védís asserts that “we are all against nuclear weapons,” she signals to Bersveinn that she does not want to hear more about his opinion regarding that issue. The utterance contains a post-verbal nú which firmly establishes this important background and therefore sets constraints on the potential responses to Védís’ upcoming question.

In some communicative projects, there is more than one instance of nú as a tone particle. Such is the case in (7.20) in which Óli introduces a new topic, the president of Iceland:

(7.20) BORN IN ANOTHER COUNTRY: Soul 05.06.96

(M = Moderator; Ó = Óli, a caller)

1 Ó en’ e:::: >Ég: vildi koma einu öðru¿

but eh I want.1.SUBJ come.INF one more but eh I would like to mention one more thing 2 (0.2)

3 M J↑á:

PRT yes

→ Ó Að ég var að skoða veraldarvefinn¿(0.2) og var nú that I be.1.PT to examine.INF world wide web.DEF (0.2) and be.1.PT NÚ that I was checking out the world wide web (0.2) and I was NÚ

5 að skoða inná forsetaframboðið¿

to examine.INF in on presidential candidacy.DEF checking out the presidential elections

6 (0.2) 7 M j↑á:

PRT yes

8 Ó Og þá hérna:: var ég nú að spá í stolt þjóðarinnar¿

and then PRT be.1.PT I NÚ to think.INF VP pride nation.GEN.DEF and then eh I was NÚ thinking about our nation’s pride

9 Forsetann okkar¿ .hhhh a:ð Hvort a:ð hann /þyrftekki president.ACC.DEF our .hhhh that whether that he need.3.SUBJ+not Our president .hhhh whether he doesn’t have

10 að vera /fæddur á /Íslandi, to be.INF born in Iceland.DAT to be born in Iceland

Óli announces that he is going to bring up another topic and receives a go-ahead marker from the moderator (lines 1 and 3). He then continues his turn by providing the relevant background about his surfing the internet. After a 0.2 second pause, Óli continues by specifying what he was reading (lines 4–5). This utterance contains a post-verbal nú. Óli’s utterance is delivered with a half-rising terminal contour, which signals that the turn is not yet complete. Following a backchannel from the moderator (line 7), Óli mentions his actual topic: “our nation’s pride, the president of Iceland.”

This utterance contains a post-verbal nú. After an in-breath, Óli finally gets to his main point, which is to call for a discussion on whether the Icelandic president should be born in Iceland (lines 8–10). This part of the turn does not contain nú.

In (7.20), Óli prepares his question rather carefully by explaining its context. By foregrounding the fact that he was visiting a website, Óli signals that he wants to talk about something he found on that page. Notice also how he describes the president as

“our nation’s pride,” which also prepares his question and promotes the argument that the president should be born in Iceland. Therefore, nú references forward. It occurs in utterances which establish important facts before a question is posed (cf. Wide 1998:

253).

In this section, I showed how the tone particle nú is employed in communicative projects. The function of these instances is to establish important background information in story-telling and in multi-unit questions. The instance in (7.18) is an example of the former. In this excerpt, Magga foregrounds the fact that she was certainly going to do her best using the chopsticks. However, as we find out at the end

of her story, she was not as good at using them as she thought she would be. In (7.19), the speaker foregrounds the fact that everybody is against nuclear weapons, and, thus, the speaker signals that she does not want Bergsveinn to discuss his opinion on nuclear weapons in his answer. In (7.20), the speaker foregrounds the fact that he was surfing the internet. This information proves to be important for the upcoming question, since it was through the internet that the speaker discovered that one of the presidential candidates was born in another country. Although the excerpts discussed in section 7.3.2 occur in different conversational acts, that is, in multi-unit questions and in a story, it is plausible to say that nú has the same communicative function in the excerpt: to foreground background information.

In the following section, I will look at nú in the slightly different environment of meta-comments.