Yael Maschler

University of Haifa, Department of Hebrew Language, Faculty Member

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Yael Maschler is Professor of Linguistics at the University of Haifa. Specializing in Interactional Linguistics and in Discourse and Grammar, her research explores the crystallization of grammatical structure from interaction. In her current main project she studies the grammar-body interface in social interaction and is principal investigator of the ISF-funded project “From Emergent Complex Syntax to Discourse Markerhood: The Hebrew Grammar-Body Interface in a Cross-Language Comparison".
Supervisors: Alton L. Becker

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Books by Yael Maschler

Maschler, Yael, Pekarek Doehler, Simona, Lindström, Jan, and Keevallik, Leelo (eds.) (2020). Emergent Syntax for Conversation: Clausal Patterns and the Organization of Action. Studies in Language and Social Interaction series. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

by Yael Maschler, Leelo Keevallik, and Jan Lindström

Auer, Peter and Maschler, Yael (eds.). (2016). NU/NÅ: A Family of Discourse Markers across the Languages of Europe and Beyond. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

by Yael Maschler and Peter Auer

Maschler, Yael. (2009). Metalanguage in Interaction: Hebrew Discourse Markers. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benhamins.

THE GAMES BILINGUALS PLAY: A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF HEBREW-ENGLISH BILINGUAL CONVERSATION

ABSTRACT This study describes how speakers who use two languages employ discourse strategies in c... more ABSTRACT This study describes how speakers who use two languages employ discourse strategies in conversation in order to construct meaning in language games involving two unrelated languages. The analysis is based on a close reading of an audio-recording of a naturally occurring 40 minute Hebrew-English bilingual conversation and on 20 hours of audio-taped follow-up interviews conducted by the analyst with the participants in the conversation. Bilingual discourse strategies are described in terms of constraints from the various contextual realms shaping the discourse. Meaning is perceived not as an abstract entity which can be separated from the word with &#39;encodes&#39; it, but rather as constructed by the speakers as they use the word in various language games (in Wittgenstein&#39;s sense), i.e., as inseparable from the word. The study differs, then, from previous studies of bilingual discourse in that it does not assume a code metaphor of language. Similarly, grammar is viewed not as a static, fixed object, separate from use and prior to discourse, but rather as continually negotiated by participants in the interaction in an on-going process. The notion of language games is tied to the various contextual constraints shaping the discourse, and the description of bilingual discourse strategies is in terms of these games. The study shows that the contrast between the two languages inherent in bilingual discourse is utilized by speakers in order to convey the contrast between the lingual and the metalingual throughout the conversation. Thus, the strategy of language alternation is shown to be employed at various points throughout the discourse in which this distinction is relevant: at language game boundaries, at highly metalingual utterances, and at discourse markers. The strategy of language alternation is described also in relation to marking the distinction between discourse markers and connectives, in relation to the phenomenon of the clustering of discourse markers throughout the discourse, and in relation to phenomena of iconicity and self-reflexive iconicity in the discourse. Strategies of expressing the semantic function of contrast utilizing the contrast between the two languages are also described, and a refinement of some observations of the study of syntactic constraints on code-switching is suggested in this context. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.) CHAIRPERSON: ALTON L. BECKER DISSERTATION (PH.D.)--THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Dissertation Abstracts International,

Papers by Yael Maschler

Ben-Moshe, Yotam M. and Maschler, Yael. (In press). Request for confirmation sequences in Hebrew. Open Linguistics.

by Yotam Ben-Moshe and Yael Maschler

Open Linguistics

This study reports quantitative findings from a study of 205 Hebrew request for confirmation (RfC... more This study reports quantitative findings from a study of 205 Hebrew request for confirmation (RfC) sequences, as part of a comparative Pragmatic Typological project across ten languages. Based on video recordings of casual conversation, this is the first systematic survey of such sequences in Hebrew. We examine linguistic and embodied resources for making a RfC (syntactic and prosodic design; polarity; use of modulation, inference marking, connectives, and tag questions) and for responding to it (response type; use, type, and position of response tokens; (non)minimal responses; repeat strategies; nodding and headshakes). We find that Hebrew RfCs lack interrogative syntax, are overwhelmingly marked by rising final intonation, frequently marked as inferences, rich in types of connectives and modulators, but infrequently feature tag questions. In responses to RfCs, Hebrew presents a comparatively high rate of disconfirmation, which is often also relatively unmitigated, corroborating Linguistic Anthropological descriptions of Hebrew conversational style. Response tokens are used in over half of responses, while full repeats are relatively rare. Occasionally, nods and headshakes are found unaccompanied by speech, as exclusively embodied responses. We expand on two negating response tokens: the dental click (an areal feature) and the forceful ma pit'om 'of course not' (lit. 'what suddenly').

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Hebrew clicks: From the periphery of language to the heart of grammar

Journal of pragmatics, Aug 1, 2024

As in most other languages, clicks in Hebrew are not phonemes but still occur very frequently in ... more As in most other languages, clicks in Hebrew are not phonemes but still occur very frequently in speech. This Interactional Linguistic study, based on a corpus of casual Hebrew conversation, explores clicks at discourse unit junctures-prefacing topics, sequences, and their parts. We argue that the function of such clicks is best understood through Goffman&#39;s notion of &#39;frame shifts,&#39; signalling changes in footing. Some frame-shifting clicks are byproducts of swallowing and breathing; at the same time, we show that click use is regular in certain contexts and interactionally significant, and that such clicks qualify as discourse markers. The tension between being non-linguistic epiphenomena and having a syntactic status is what makes frame-shifting clicks &#39;liminal signs.&#39; Finally, we hypothesize that frameshifting clicks are explainable as the result of a reanalysis in specific bridging contexts, whereby clicks-as-byproducts are conventionalized into discourse markers. This process may explain why non-phonemic clicks are so widespread across the world, and it may serve as a starting point for describing the development of additional interactional functions of clicks.

Inbar, Anna and Maschler, Yael. (2024). Teasing via the [lo, ki 'no, because' + ironic utterance] structure in Hebrew talkin-interaction. Discourse Studies.

by Anna Inbar and Yael Maschler

Discourse Studies

The current study elaborates on one mechanism through which teasing is accomplished in Hebrew int... more The current study elaborates on one mechanism through which teasing is accomplished in Hebrew interaction. Investigating naturally occurring casual conversation from the Haifa Multimodal Corpus of Spoken Hebrew, and employing the methodologies of Interactional Linguistics and Multimodal Interaction Analysis, we explore a recurrent and recognizable practice used by Hebrew speakers-the deployment of lo 'no' followed by a ki 'because'-prefaced ironic utterance. We suggest that the [lo, ki + ironic utterance] structure is a fixed format that encapsulates a practice of providing a teasing comment as a responsive action. We propose that via the use of this structure, speakers convey a negative stance of inappropriacy toward the previous action by appealing to knowledge that the recipient is obliged to know, while simultaneously mocking the recipient responsible for the inappropriacy and indirectly reproaching them for disregarding this knowledge, whether by failing to take it into account, or by a deliberate choice to ignore it.

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Ben-Moshe, Yotam and Maschler, Yael. 2024. Hebrew clicks: From the periphery of language to the heart of grammar. Journal of Pragmatics 229: 19–39.

by Ben Moshe, Yotam M. and Yael Maschler

Journal of Pragmatics, 2024

As in most other languages, clicks in Hebrew are not phonemes but still occur very frequently in ... more As in most other languages, clicks in Hebrew are not phonemes but still occur very frequently in speech. This Interactional Linguistic study, based on a corpus of casual Hebrew conversation, explores clicks at discourse unit junctures-prefacing topics, sequences, and their parts. We argue that the function of such clicks is best understood through Goffman's notion of 'frame shifts,' signalling changes in footing. Some frame-shifting clicks are byproducts of swallowing and breathing; at the same time, we show that click use is regular in certain contexts and interactionally significant, and that such clicks qualify as discourse markers. The tension between being non-linguistic epiphenomena and having a syntactic status is what makes frame-shifting clicks 'liminal signs.' Finally, we hypothesize that frameshifting clicks are explainable as the result of a reanalysis in specific bridging contexts, whereby clicks-as-byproducts are conventionalized into discourse markers. This process may explain why non-phonemic clicks are so widespread across the world, and it may serve as a starting point for describing the development of additional interactional functions of clicks.

From lack of understanding to heightened engagement: A multimodal study of Hebrew ′ATA LO MEVIN ‘You don’t understand’

Intercultural Pragmatics

This study explores the Hebrew ′ATA LO MEVIN (‘you don’t understand’) construction in a corpus of... more This study explores the Hebrew ′ATA LO MEVIN (‘you don’t understand’) construction in a corpus of casual conversation. Employing the methodology of Interactional Linguistics and Multimodal Conversation Analysis, we show that deployment of this construction is fixed and formulaic and only rarely denotes the recipient’s lack of understanding. Based on a mostly synchronic analysis, we suggest a grammaticization path followed by this construction from a negative epistemic subject-predicate construction denoting literal lack of understanding to a discourse marker signaling the opening of a new narrative, while seeking recipient alignment with the speaker’s intensified affective stance. The path described reveals that embodied conduct, as well as prosodic, morphophonological, and syntactic features of the construction correlate with the weakening of its literal meaning. This sheds light on the uses speakers make of the construction, on how heightened engagement may be achieved in discours...

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Shared Knowledge as an Account for Disaffiliative Moves: Hebrew <i>ki</i> ‘Because’-Clauses Accompanied by the Palm-Up Open-Hand Gesture

Research on Language and Social Interaction, Apr 3, 2023

Emergent projecting constructions

Studies in Language, Dec 31, 2012

The present analysis is grounded in a view of grammar emerging in interaction and coming into bei... more The present analysis is grounded in a view of grammar emerging in interaction and coming into being through mundane language use. By analyzing Hebrew interactional data, I outline the continua of synchronic usage from literal constructions involving the verb yada (‘know’) to three projecting constructions of the discourse marker variety. The study furthers our understanding of how projecting constructions are sedimentations of interactional practices. I combine interactional linguistics with grammaticization studies to show phonological, morphological, syntactic, pragmatic, and prosodic evidence in support of different grammaticization paths from matrix clause to discourse marker. Diachronic evidence from Mishnaic and Medieval Hebrew is added as further support for the paths suggested. The previously debated issue of complement-taking predicates is thus situated in another language and in a wider context, showing that different constructions employing the same matrix verb may follow different grammaticization paths. The study continues along an existing path of investigation into the issue of complement-taking constructions viewed as grammatically superordinate vs. as attachments to essentially monoclausal utterances. I argue for a more differentiated analysis recognizing both types of usage.

Chapter 3: The textual realm. The discourse marker bekitsur : Retroactively constructing digressions

Chapter 2: The interpersonal realm. The discourse marker nu : Israeli Hebrew impatience in interaction

Rotsè lishmoa kéta? ‘Wanna hear something weird/funny?’ [lit. ‘asegment’]

Chapter 6: Concluding remarks. Grammaticization from interaction

Pseudo-clefts: An interactional analysis across languages

Lingua, Aug 1, 2023

Polak-Yitzhaki, Hilla and Maschler, Yael. (2023). From lack of understanding to heightened engagement: A multimodal study of Hebrew 'ATA LO MEVIN ‘you don’t understand’. Intercultural Pragmatics 20(5): 521–555.

Intercultural Pragmatics, 2023

This study explores the Hebrew 'ATA LO MEVIN ('you don't understand') construction in a corpus of... more This study explores the Hebrew 'ATA LO MEVIN ('you don't understand') construction in a corpus of casual conversation. Employing the methodology of Interactional Linguistics and Multimodal Conversation Analysis, we show that deployment of this construction is fixed and formulaic and only rarely denotes the recipient's lack of understanding. Based on a mostly synchronic analysis, we suggest a grammaticization path followed by this construction from a negative epistemic subject-predicate construction denoting literal lack of understanding to a discourse marker signaling the opening of a new narrative, while seeking recipient alignment with the speaker's intensified affective stance. The path described reveals that embodied conduct, as well as prosodic, morphophonological, and syntactic features of the construction correlate with the weakening of its literal meaning. This sheds light on the uses speakers make of the construction, on how heightened engagement may be achieved in discourse, and on the dialogic nature of interaction and grammar.

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Maschler, Yael, Lindström, Jan, & De Stefani, Elwys (2023). Pseudo-clefts: An interactional analysis across languages. Introduction to the Special Issue “Pseudo-Clefts from a Comparative Pragmatic Typological Perspective”, Lingua.

LIngua, 2023

In this introduction to the special issue “Pseudo-Clefts from a Comparative Pragmatic Typological... more In this introduction to the special issue “Pseudo-Clefts from a Comparative Pragmatic Typological Perspective”, we first discuss the current state of research on the use of pseudo-cleft-like structures in talk-in-interaction. We then compare their use in the six languages investigated in this special issue: French, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin and Swedish, focusing on both structural features and interactional aspects of pseudo-clefts, as they emerge in social interaction. While there have been some previous interactional linguistic studies of pseudo-clefts in a variety of languages, there has been no study systematically investigating this structure from a comparative and interactional cross-language perspective. Our introduction is thus motivated by the need to fill in this gap. Specifically, we compare the six languages with respect to syntactic and lexico-semantic variation, and with respect to prosodic and embodied features of pseudo-cleft turns. We argue that the findings point to universal interactional motivations for the grammatical properties of this structure, and that the analysis of pseudo-clefts occurring in natural, face-to-face interaction needs to pay close attention to two central dimensions of talk: temporality and embodiment.

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Inbar, Anna & Maschler, Yael. (2023), Shared knowledge as an account for disaffiliative moves: Hebrew ki ‘because’- clauses accompanied by the Palm Up Open Hand gesture. Research on Language and Social Interaction 56(2):141-164.

by Anna Inbar and Yael Maschler

Research on Language and Social Interaction, 2023

Exploring the grammar-body interface, the present study examines employment of Hebrew causal clau... more Exploring the grammar-body interface, the present study examines employment of Hebrew causal clauses prefaced by the conjunction ki 'because' in responsive disaffiliative moves. We show that in such environments, ki-clauses tend to convey information that appeals to the participants' shared knowledge and to be accompanied by the Palm Up Open Hand gesture (PUOH). We argue that the PUOH in such contexts constitutes an embodied epistemic stance marker functioning to present the account prefaced by ki as based on shared knowledge, in pursuit of intersubjectivity and a shared perspective. The reference to shared epistemic access implies an interpretation of the disaffiliative move as reasonable under the circumstances provided by the account, inviting co-participants to display affiliation. The study thus validates that causality is a socially constructed, complex configuration that may include the speaker's epistemic stance towards the actions accomplished in an interaction and suggests an interactional source for their interrelatedness. Data are in Hebrew.

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Pseudo-cleft-like structures in Hebrew and French conversation: The syntax-lexicon-body interface

Lingua

In this study, we set out to shed light on cross-linguistic consistencies in the grammaticization... more In this study, we set out to shed light on cross-linguistic consistencies in the grammaticization of projecting constructions and on the interface of embodied conduct and complex syntax. We present a multimodal interactional linguistic analysis of Hebrew clauses opening with ma she-&#39;what that&#39; and French clauses opening with ce que &#39;it that&#39; in what has been traditionally considered to be part of pseudo-cleft structures. Based on recordings of naturally occurring conversations, and in line with recent research on social interaction, we argue that, rather than being part of a biclausal structure, the Heb. ma she-/ Fr. ce que clause functions as a projecting construction, often occurring in conversation without any syntactic link to subsequent talk. We combine quantitative and qualitative analysis to show that these projecting constructions are characterized by lexico-semantic, syntactic, and prosodic consistencies and have become sedimented for specific interactional purposes in a similar fashion across the two languages: they project further talk by the same speaker and frame it either (1) as reporting an action, event, or paraphrasing prior talk, or (2) as displaying the speaker&#39;s stance. We further document that the embodied conduct of speakers employing these projecting constructions manifests some convergence across the two languages as a function of the particular sequential contexts in which they occur, thereby uncovering cross-linguistic consistencies in how syntax, lexicon, and the body interface in social interaction.

by Yael Maschler, Leelo Keevallik, and Jan Lindström

Auer, Peter and Maschler, Yael (eds.). (2016). NU/NÅ: A Family of Discourse Markers across the Languages of Europe and Beyond. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

by Yael Maschler and Peter Auer

Maschler, Yael. (2009). Metalanguage in Interaction: Hebrew Discourse Markers. Amsterdam / Philadelphia: John Benhamins.

THE GAMES BILINGUALS PLAY: A DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF HEBREW-ENGLISH BILINGUAL CONVERSATION

Ben-Moshe, Yotam M. and Maschler, Yael. (In press). Request for confirmation sequences in Hebrew. Open Linguistics.

by Yotam Ben-Moshe and Yael Maschler

Open Linguistics

Download

Hebrew clicks: From the periphery of language to the heart of grammar

Journal of pragmatics, Aug 1, 2024

Inbar, Anna and Maschler, Yael. (2024). Teasing via the [lo, ki 'no, because' + ironic utterance] structure in Hebrew talkin-interaction. Discourse Studies.

by Anna Inbar and Yael Maschler

Discourse Studies

Download

Ben-Moshe, Yotam and Maschler, Yael. 2024. Hebrew clicks: From the periphery of language to the heart of grammar. Journal of Pragmatics 229: 19–39.

by Ben Moshe, Yotam M. and Yael Maschler

Journal of Pragmatics, 2024

As in most other languages, clicks in Hebrew are not phonemes but still occur very frequently in ... more As in most other languages, clicks in Hebrew are not phonemes but still occur very frequently in speech. This Interactional Linguistic study, based on a corpus of casual Hebrew conversation, explores clicks at discourse unit junctures-prefacing topics, sequences, and their parts. We argue that the function of such clicks is best understood through Goffman's notion of 'frame shifts,' signalling changes in footing. Some frame-shifting clicks are byproducts of swallowing and breathing; at the same time, we show that click use is regular in certain contexts and interactionally significant, and that such clicks qualify as discourse markers. The tension between being non-linguistic epiphenomena and having a syntactic status is what makes frame-shifting clicks 'liminal signs.' Finally, we hypothesize that frameshifting clicks are explainable as the result of a reanalysis in specific bridging contexts, whereby clicks-as-byproducts are conventionalized into discourse markers. This process may explain why non-phonemic clicks are so widespread across the world, and it may serve as a starting point for describing the development of additional interactional functions of clicks.

From lack of understanding to heightened engagement: A multimodal study of Hebrew ′ATA LO MEVIN ‘You don’t understand’

Intercultural Pragmatics

Download

Shared Knowledge as an Account for Disaffiliative Moves: Hebrew <i>ki</i> ‘Because’-Clauses Accompanied by the Palm-Up Open-Hand Gesture

Research on Language and Social Interaction, Apr 3, 2023

Emergent projecting constructions

Studies in Language, Dec 31, 2012

Chapter 3: The textual realm. The discourse marker bekitsur : Retroactively constructing digressions

Chapter 2: The interpersonal realm. The discourse marker nu : Israeli Hebrew impatience in interaction

Rotsè lishmoa kéta? ‘Wanna hear something weird/funny?’ [lit. ‘asegment’]

Chapter 6: Concluding remarks. Grammaticization from interaction

Pseudo-clefts: An interactional analysis across languages

Lingua, Aug 1, 2023

Intercultural Pragmatics, 2023

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LIngua, 2023

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by Anna Inbar and Yael Maschler

Research on Language and Social Interaction, 2023

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Pseudo-cleft-like structures in Hebrew and French conversation: The syntax-lexicon-body interface

Lingua

Discourse Markers

The International Encyclopedia of Communication, 2008

Constructing Disagreement Through Dialogic Resonance on Israeli Political Phone-in Radio Programs

A cross-linguistic perspective on grammar and negative epistemics in talk-in-interaction

Journal of Pragmatics, 2016

In this introduction to the special issue on 'Grammar and negative epistemics in talk-in-interact... more In this introduction to the special issue on 'Grammar and negative epistemics in talk-in-interaction' we discuss the current state of research on the use of negative mental verb constructions such as I don't know, I don't understand, I don't remember in social interaction. We scrutinize, in a cross-linguistic perspective, the grammatical and interactional features that emerge from existing research in the field, and spell out the specific contribution of the studies collected in this issue. We discuss how the cumulative evidence provided by these studies across a set of different languages, several of which are typologically unrelated, contributes to studies of talk-in-interaction and to the newly emerging field of Pragmatic Typology. We argue that the findings point to universal interactional motivations for the grammatical properties and the grammaticization of the constructions studied, and suggest that these motivations arise out of the basic requirements for intersubjectivity in social interaction.

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Maschler, Yael & Pekarek Doehler, Simona. 2022. Pseudo-cleft-like structures in Hebrew and French conversation: The syntax-lexicon-body interface. Lingua.

In this study, we set out to shed light on cross-linguistic consistencies in the grammaticization... more In this study, we set out to shed light on cross-linguistic consistencies in the grammaticization of projecting constructions and on the interface of embodied conduct and complex syntax. We present a multimodal interactional linguistic analysis of Hebrew clauses opening with ma she-'what that' and French clauses opening with ce que 'it that' in what has been traditionally considered to be part of pseudo-cleft structures. Based on recordings of naturally occurring conversations, and in line with recent research on social interaction, we argue that, rather than being part of a bi-clausal structure, the Heb. ma she-/ Fr. ce que clause functions as a projecting construction, often occurring in conversation without any syntactic link to subsequent talk. We combine quantitative and qualitative analysis to show that these projecting constructions are characterized by lexico-semantic, syntactic, and prosodic consistencies and have become sedimented for specific interactional purposes in a similar fashion across the two languages: they project further talk by the same speaker and frame it either (1) as reporting an action, event, or paraphrasing prior talk, or (2) as displaying the speaker's stance. We further document that the embodied conduct of speakers employing these projecting constructions manifests some convergence across the two languages as a function of the particular sequential contexts in which they occur, thereby uncovering cross-linguistic consistencies in how syntax, lexicon, and the body interface in social interaction.

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