In Chapter 2, I pointed out that temporal nú and núna have traditionally been viewed as synonymous, and in most cases, interchangeable. Therefore, in the present chapter, I investigate whether this assumption is true. To pin down the function of nú and núna, a sequential analysis was done on 24 conversational excerpts. The analysis shows that there are distinct formal and functional differences between the two temporal markers, including differences regarding syntactic positions, syntactic integration, prosodic realization, temporal relation to the finite verb, meaning, and, finally, function. These differences are summarized in Table 6.6:
Table 6.6: Formal and functional comparison between nú and núna
Núna Nú Syntactic position Tends to occur in the end field Tends to occur in the front field
Syntactic
Non-integrated Integrated with the finite verb (or the verb and the object)
Relation to the
verb The verb (or the focal event) takes place somewhere within the period referred to as núna
Nú functions as an aspectual marker of the verb
Meaning Period of time Non-referential or aspectual Function Presents the focal event or a
situation as relevant in the current context
• Comparison
• Transition
• Affective stance
The differences between the temporal nú and núna are quite striking. In my data, the vast majority of núna occur in the end field, while the temporal nú is mainly used pre-verbally, in the front field. In fact, this tendency is so strong that the only instances of post-verbal nú are instances which occur in conventionalized phrases and in utterances designed as a subordinate or as a question.
This detailed study of the sequential placement of nú and núna shows that the two words do not have the same relation to core syntax. While nú almost exclusively occurs syntactically integrated, that is, with a finite verb, núna does not necessarily occur as part of a syntactic gestalt. There is only one exception to this in my data. This is when nú follows the interrogative hva ‘what,’ and there may be considered a conventionalized phrase. Núna, by contrast, occurs frequently as a turn of its own and with other parts of speech, such as attributes and other adverbials (cf. section 6.2.2).
In addition to the syntactic differences between nú and núna, I show that the two words also differ on the prosodic level. On the one hand, a pitch analysis of the turns (or parts of turns) in which nú and núna occur shows that the pre-verbal nú is often delivered as a prosodically integrated part of the verb. It is often rather difficult therefore to locate nú on the pitch-curve (see Fig. 6.7). Núna, on the other hand, is typically produced after a short pause (see Fig. 6.1). In some cases, however, there is no pause before núna (see Fig. 6.2), but even in these cases it is easy to locate it on the pitch-curve since núna is typically delivered with a distinct contour, either falling or rising-falling. These differences may to some extent be explained by the number of
syllables, but I would also suggest that this prosodic variation reflects other differences, such as the relationship between the temporal marker and the verb.
My analysis of nú and núna shows that the two temporal markers have different relationships to the focal event. In the case of núna, the focal event is presented first (ertu meða opið ‘is it open’), before it is anchored in time (núna). The focal event takes place sometime during the time period which is indexed by núna, either in the past, the present, or the future (see Fig. 6.3). In other words, the period known as núna is only used as a time-frame which is made relevant within the current situation. This period varies greatly in duration, and, thus, it is interpreted and negotiated by the interlocutors in the local context. In other words, núna has an open meaning potential.
In the case of nú, the temporal marker is produced first (nú), before the event or situation is presented (er tölvan mín frosin ‘is my computer frozen’). As I have shown, nú and the verb are typically delivered as one word, and the temporal marker is therefore directly linked to the focal event. In a way, nú is used as an aspectual marker which shows a change of state or a beginning.
The summary above suggests that the two temporal markers nú and núna do not have only formal differences; they also have some clear functional differences.
According to these findings, núna is employed as a purely referential index, one which indexes a period of time. Nú, by contrast, is regarded as mainly a functional word, and its referential function is not as prominent as it is in the case of núna. This loss of referential functionality is manifest in nú’s strong relation to the finite verb and in its prosodic integration. Nú often has the function of focusing on a transition or a comparison between different situations. This focus is generated in order to make a comparison between the present situation and the past or the future, such as described in section 6.3.1. In other cases, it may be used to introduce, or bring attention to, new situations, such as the instances in 6.3.2. This call for attention can then be strengthened to such an extent that the function of nú can be described as being temporal-affective. In these cases, as I described in 6.3.3, nú acquires a new, affective function through the intensity of the temporal reference. It gives the utterance a new tone, suggesting that “it’s now or never.” When nú acquires more affective functionality, the temporal meaning can lessen. In this study, such occurrences are referred to as tone particles, and they will be analyzed in Chapter 7.
7 Nú as a tone particle
In Chapter 1, I discussed the temporal functions of nú and núna. In my analysis, I pointed out that nú occurs almost exclusively in syntactic gestalts, before or after the finite verb. I also showed that, in this position, nú is often used as a tone particle (see Table 6.2), that is, a particle that does not have propositional content but gives the utterance a certain tone (see section 3.4.1). Nú as a temporal marker, (a) and (b), and nú as a tone particle, (c) and (d), are illustrated in the examples below, which are simplified utterances from the conversation data:
(a) Nú er hann nefnilega rosalega flottur ‘NÚ it really looks good’ (see excerpt (6.11)) (b) Sem heitir nú Heaven ‘Which is NÚ called Heaven’ (see excerpts (6.4) and (6.13)) (c) Mar þarf nú að slaka á ‘One needs NÚ to relax sometimes’ (see excerpt (7.11)) (d) Já nú veit ég þa ekki eins vel ‘Well, NÚ I don’t know that as well’ (see excerpt (7.10))
As these examples show, nú as a tone particle is positioned pre-verbally or post-verbally. Pre-verbal nú is uttered in the front field, before the finite verb (see section 4.4.3). These instances are sometimes preceded by syntactically non-integrated items, such as dialogue particles and address terms (see (d) above).
The post-verbal nú typically occurs in the middle field, directly after the finite verb. However, when the direct object is a pronoun, the post-verbal nú is placed after the object. Since the difference between these two post-verbal nús does not seem to have any interactional relevance, I will treat both as a single category of post-verbal nú. The two different types of post-verbal nú are shown in (e) and (f):
(e) Mar þarf nú stundum að slaka á man.IMP need.3 NÚ sometimes to relax.INF VP you need NÚ sometimes to relax (f) Ja Ég veit það nú eiginlega ekki (…)
PRT I know.1 that NÚ actually not (…) well, I actually don’t NÚ know (…)
Since nú as a tone particle is a syntactically integrated part of speech, it is rather difficult to give a detailed and accurate description of its interactional function. In any utterance, it is difficult to identify the work which is done by the particle and the work which is done by other lexical items, intonation, or word order. Thus, in order to describe the function of nú as a tone particle, I collected examples from the data based
on their syntactic and sequential placement. Following this, I divided the instances into pre-verbal and post-verbal nú. In addition to this basic distinction, the collections were based on questions such as:
1. Does nú occur in utterances which are mainly responsive or mainly projective in nature?
2. Does nú occur in one-unit turns or in multi-unit turns?
3. If nú occurs in multi-unit turns, does it occur at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the turn?
4. Does nú occur at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of topics?
5. Is there anything else going on in the conversation which could explain the use of nú?
In the first section in this chapter, I will look at the frequency and the syntactic distribution of the tone particle nú (7.1). Following this, I will look at the pre-verbal nú (7.2), and then discuss the post-verbal nú (7.3).