Introducing the first topic slot in Plautine dialogues
Introducing the first topic slot in Plautine dialogues

Summary/Abstract: The Plautine dialogues seem to be structured according to the conventions of naturally occurring conversation. This paper examines the transition devices from the (ritualistic) opening phase to the goal-oriented part, where the reason-for-the-talk is disclosed. Firstly, the difference between the phatic preliminary remarks (small talk) and the actual first topic is briefly discussed. Further on, the analysis of the Plautine corpus reveals various ways of making the transition to the medial phase: from multi-turn sequences to single-turn conversational moves. It is stated that the most complex negotiations over the first topic slot placement are a feature of symmetric interactions among high characters with friendly relations. Accordingly, more direct linguistic devices of introducing the reason-for-the-talk appear typically in slave-master dialogues or in aggressive or farcical exchanges between low characters. Some cases, moreover, show that also the wider context of interaction or the dramaturgical factors (depiction of a stock character, progression of the plot etc.) affects the election of the transition style. Finally, throughout the paper some tentative comments are made as well on the politeness issues strictly related to the selection of the linguistic tokens of introducing the first topic slot.

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