On the pivot turn construction method in Swedish and Finnish

This paper compares pivot utterances and the grammatical construction of them in two structurally different languages, Swedish and Finnish. The main questions concern the availability of different pivot construction subtypes, common and diverging features in the grammatical practising of pivot utterances and the functional motivations of these in conversation. The analysis shows that language dependent syntactic differences in favoured clausal formats result in differences also in pivot construction. Fully symmetrical (⿿mirror-image⿿) pivot utterances are fairly frequent in Swedish but not in Finnish, where clausal formats are less tied to the presence of the clausal subject. Because of the formats for clausal openings, the subject may appear in a relatively late position in Finnish and is thus a potential ⿿merging point⿿ in a pivot utterance. Swedish clausal openings typically contain the subject which is why verb phrase complements, which follow the subject, are more likely pivot candidates. Similarities between the languages arise from on-line syntactic contingencies; simple projection units often introduce the central pivot constituent in an utterance while the latter part of the utterance, following the pivot, provides a specification or a recalibration of what is being said about the pivot and by the pivot utterance.