scholarly journals Adjusting epistemic gradients: The final particle ba in Mandarin Chinese conversation

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-26
Author(s):  
Kobin H. Kendrick
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Epistemic Position ◽  
Final Particle ◽  
Social Actions

In Mandarin Chinese conversation, the final particle ba contributes to the formation of a variety of social actions. Using the methods of conversation analysis, this article examines the use of the ba particle in answers to questions, informings, and assessments. It is argued that the particle serves as a turn-constructional resource for the adjustment of the epistemic gradient invoked in the sequence, downgrading the speaker’s epistemic position. In assessment sequences, the epistemic adjustment made by the particle also serves to solicit a response from the recipient who invariably has knowledge of the matter in question. An analysis of the ba particle in terms of epistemic gradients and their adjustment unifies two accounts of the particle’s function put forward in the literature.

analysis of Mandarin Chinese final particle ba in dispreferred responses

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 239-261
Author(s):  
Jun Xu
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Final Particle ◽  
Negative Valence ◽  
Close Relationship

In Mandarin Chinese conversation, the final particle ba is considered to performvariousfunctions. Using conversation analysis, this article examines the use of thefinal particle ba in dispreferred responses. It is argued that the particle ba is usedto mitigate negative valence with delays, alternative choices, accounts, and pro-formaagreement as well as other linguistic features in disagreements and decliningsuggestions or invitations. Also, the results reveal a close relationship between theparticle ba functioning as a mitigator or displaying a speaker's uncertainty in socialactions as well as sequential positions.

The sequential environments of positive assessments as responsive actions in Mandarin daily interaction

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-321
Author(s):  
Yanhong Zhang ◽  
Guodong Yu
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Social Solidarity ◽  
Chinese Speakers ◽  
Social Actions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Daily Interactions ◽  
Positive Assessment

This article, adopting conversation analysis as the research methodology, investigates the sequential environments that normally and sequentially project the occurrence of positive assessments (PAs) in Mandarin daily interactions. Based on the collected data, six different types of sequential environments are identified: they are performing the social actions of self-praise, self-deprecation, troubles-telling, self-PA-implicative conducive yes/no question, offering/granting a request, and informing respectively. When responding to one of these six social actions, interlocutors normally provide a positive assessment as a response. It is demonstrated that these six actions have different degrees of projectability for the occurrence of positive assessments. In addition, their varying degrees of projectability constitute a continuum. Self-praise, self-deprecation, and self-PA-implicative conducive yes/no questions have the highest degrees of projectability, informing has the least, with troubles-telling and offer/granting a request positioning in between. The present study contributes to our understanding of the sequential environments in which Mandarin Chinese speakers make positive assessments to support the social solidarity.

Restrictiveness, exclusivity, adversativity, and mirativity

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Fang Wang ◽  
Mei-Chi Tsai ◽  
Wayne Schams ◽  
Chi-Ming Yang
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Discourse Marker ◽  
Spoken Discourse ◽  
Interactional Linguistics ◽  
English Only ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Turn Taking

Mandarin Chinese zhishi (similar to English ‘only’), comprised of the adverb zhi and the copula shi, can act as an adverb (ADV) or a discourse marker (DM). This study analyzes the role of zhishi in spoken discourse, based on the methodological and theoretical principles of interactional linguistics and conversation analysis. The corpus used in this study consists of three sets of data: 1) naturally-occurring daily conversations; 2) radio/TV interviews; and 3) TV panel discussions on current political affairs. As a whole, this study reveals that the notions of restrictiveness, exclusivity, and adversativity are closely associated with ADV zhishi and DM zhishi. In addition, the present data show that since zhishi is often used to express a ‘less than expected’ feeling, it can be used to indicate mirativity (i.e. language indicating that an utterance conveys the speaker’s surprise). The data also show that the distribution of zhishi as an adverb or discourse marker depends on turn taking systems and speech situations in spoken discourse. Specifically, the ADV zhishi tends to occur in radio/TV interviews and TV panel news discussions, while the DM zhishi occurs more often in casual conversations.

scholarly journals Mirativity in Mandarin: The Sentence-Final Particle Le (了)

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 589-607 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongmei Fang
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Grammatical Category ◽  
Final Particle ◽  
Discourse Grammar ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Interpersonal Level

Abstract Mirativity is a distinct grammatical category. In the literature, no mirative marker has been identified so far in Mandarin Chinese. This paper aims to argue that Mandarin Chinese is a language that has grammatical means of expressing mirativity. The sentence-final particle le (SF le) in Mandarin is a mirative marker in its own right. It encodes the information as newsworthy or surprising and occurs with different time references and Illocutions. Based on the data from SF le, this paper extends the definition of mirativity given by Hengeveld & Olbertz (2012) by proposing that mirativity can not only be targeted towards either the speaker or the addressee, but also towards both. Lastly, it is argued that mirativity should be accounted for at the layer of Communicated Content at the Interpersonal Level in Functional Discourse Grammar.

Transcription for Conversation Analysis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Galina B. Bolden ◽  
Alexa Hepburn
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Interaction Analysis ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Orthographic Representation ◽  
Transcription System ◽  
Social Actions ◽  
Audio Recordings ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The 1960S

The transcription system for Conversation Analysis (CA) was originally developed by Gail Jefferson, one of the founders of CA, in the 1960s. Jefferson’s transcription conventions aim to represent on paper what had been captured in field audio recordings in ways that would preserve and bring to light the interactionally relevant elements of the recorded talk. Conversation analytic research has demonstrated that various features of the delivery of talk and other bodily conduct are basic to how interlocutors carry out social actions in interaction with others. Without the CA transcription system it is impossible to identify these features, as it represents talk and other conduct in ways that capture the rich subtlety of their delivery. Jefferson’s system of conventions evolved side by side with, and was informed by the results of, interaction analysis, which has shown there are many significant aspects of talk that interactants treat as relevant but that are entirely missed in simple orthographic representation. Conversation analysts’ insistence on capturing not only what is said but also details of how something is said, including interactants’ visible behaviors, is based on the assumption that “no order of detail in interaction can be dismissed a priori as disorderly, accidental, or irrelevant” (according to John Heritage in 1984). Conversation analytic transcripts need to be detailed enough to facilitate the analyst’s quest to discover and describe orderly practices of social action in interaction.

A study of repeat-formatted repair initiations in Mandarin Chinese conversation

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-186
Author(s):  
Lihong Quan ◽  
Jinlong Ma
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Epistemic Stance ◽  
Research Findings

Abstract Using the methodology of Conversation Analysis (or CA), this study examines three types of other-initiated repair initiators (henceforth OIs) that repeats some element in the trouble-source (henceforth repeats) in Chinese conversation: repeats suffixed with question particles ma (吗), repeats suffixed with question particles a (啊), and question-intonated repeats. It attempts to explore the differences between these typical formats, in terms of their forms/functions and the epistemic stance of the speaker who initiates repair. The main research findings indicate that question-intonated repeat implements an understanding check while repeat suffixed with question particles (ma or a) tends to serve different functions, in that, ma-suffixed repeat is inquiry-implicated while a-suffixed repeat contributes to constructing surprise, (dis)agreement or (dis)belief.

Doing conversation analysis in Mandarin Chinese

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruey-Jiuan Regina Wu
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Analytic Process ◽  
Chinese Scholars

This article aims to introduce Conversation Analytic (CA) methods to the community of Chinese scholars, and especially to linguists who work with Mandarin Chinese and are just beginning to adopt CA methods in their work. I believe doing CA requires not only an understanding of its terminology but also a working knowledge of CA methods. To this end, rather than simply explaining CA methods abstractly, I offer the reader a glimpse of the research process in action by presenting data and findings of my own research and then taking the reader step-by-step through the analytic process — from initial observations of a candidate phenomenon, through the process of making a collection of cases, and finally explaining criteria for establishing an empirically-grounded finding. Special focus is placed on the importance of detecting “participants’ orientations to action” and the more difficult process of finding evidence for the phenomenon from nonconforming specimens.

‘What should a woman do and imagine to have bulimia?’: Co-constructing patient expertise in psychotherapy with bulimia patients

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-149
Author(s):  
Joanna Pawelczyk ◽  
Małgorzata Talarczyk
Keyword(s):  
Eating Disorder ◽  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Therapy Session ◽  
Epistemic Position ◽  
General Observation ◽  
Therapeutic Goals ◽  
Emotional Challenge ◽  
Psychotherapeutic Approach ◽  
Patient Expertise

One of the goals of psychotherapy with bulimia patients is identification of the functions of the eating disorder in their lives. Thus, as in any psychotherapeutic approach, the therapist should facilitate the patient’s disclosure of his or her experience of living with bulimia. Talking about one’s dysphoric experiences and, particularly in the case of bulimia, symptoms and experiences that commonly deprive people with bulimia of dignity, constitutes an emotional challenge for the patient and an equally challenging interactional task for the therapist. Using the example of one therapy session with a female bulimia patient, we examine how the therapist and the patient interactionally engage in co-constructing the patient’s expertise – involving epistemics of experience as well as epistemics of expertise – concerning the illness in the interactional here-and-now. Applying tools and insights from discourse and conversation analysis, we examine the sequences in which the patient shifts the topical focus from a general observation concerning bulimia to her personal experience, to be further pursued interactionally by the therapist. We also discuss how the therapist downgrades her epistemic position and (concurrently) foregrounds and bolsters the patient’s voice as expert to accomplish the session’s therapeutic goals.

scholarly journals Linguistic and temporal resources of pre-stored utterances in everyday conversations

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 195-214
Author(s):  
Irina Savolainen ◽  
Anu Klippi ◽  
Tuula Tykkyläinen ◽  
Kaisa Launonen
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Speech And Language ◽  
Social Actions ◽  
The Social

Aided communicators often have an opportunity to express themselves with speech-generating devices (SGDs) that produce symbol by symbol (SBS) and/or pre-stored (PS) utterances. Studies on the usage of PS utterances report that these utterances affect conversations positively, but it appears that aided communicators and professionals may have divergent views on their benefits. The aim of this study is to analyse how school-aged aided communicators, their mothers, peers, and speech and language therapists (SLTs) co-construct the social actions of PS utterances during their everyday interactions. The theoretical framework of this study is conversation analysis. This approach to analysing the data enhances our understanding of the linguistic and temporal resources of PS utterances and how they are used to reinforce various rich social actions that promote the progress of aided conversations to resemble natural spoken conversations. The results of this study will help SLTs and teachers in their planning content for SGDs as well as in teaching, and guiding aided communicators and their partners to utilize PS utterances in combination with SBS utterances during their conversations.

The sequential organization of text and speech in multimodal synchronous computer-mediated communication

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanh thi Nguyen
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Computer Mediated Communication ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Time Lags ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Social Actions ◽  
Sequential Organization ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Teaching Episode ◽  
Slow Speech

AbstractThis study uses conversation analysis to describe the sequential and functional relationship between text and speech turns in an English conversational lesson conducted in multimodal synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) involving text and speech modes. Focusing on repair sequences, I examine the relative timing of turns in each mode, the interactional practices that participants employed to handle timing discrepancy, and how both modes were utilized to maintain the pedagogical and interpersonal purposes of the encounter. The analysis shows that synchronous timing between text and speech turns was rare. In time lags between text and speech turns, if the repair was a self-initiated other-repair initiated by the tutee, speech turns did not seem to orient to the time lag. In other types of repair, the tutor utilized a range of practices to accommodate for the time lags, such as extreme slow speech tempo, pivot turns, and topic pursuits. The tutor also used the silent and visual features of text to insert and project an upcoming teaching episode in the midst of unfolding topical talk. The findings suggest that multimodal SCMC is a holistic process in which the affordances of modes can be employed dynamically and integratively to achieve social actions.

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