Doing things with grammar

Abstract This paper studies the way utterances project properties of the interactional context via the choice of grammatical indexicals. Our analysis is an original combination of existing theoretical developments including notions of grammatical indexicality ( Silverstein 1976 ), of the relational structure of indexical reference ( Hanks 2014 ) and of presupposition accommodation (von Fintel 2008 ; Heim 1982 ; Karttunen 1974 , among others). While Silverstein (1976) suggested that different types of grammatical indexicals can be (relatively) context-creating or (relatively) context-presupposing, we argue that presupposition vs creativity is not a property of specific categories, but rather of tokens in a given context and that in natural interaction, they are subject to negotiation. While all indexicals are presupposing, there are two types of uses of pragmatic presupposition involved forming a scale ( Mazzarella & Domaneschi 2018 ; Sbisà 1999 ): non-informative (when the presupposition is already part of common ground of the interlocutors) and informative (when the presupposition needs to be accommodated by the addressee). The theoretical analysis is grounded in a discussion of data on evidentiality, egophoricity, pronouns of address, demonstrative reference, and tense and is based on literature review, as well as first-hand recordings of conversations in Wutun (mixed Sinitic language, China) and Mano (Mande, Guinea).