Analisi Linguistica e Letteraria

Anno 30 N. 3 (2022): Issue 3/2022
Articles

Utterance-Final Pragmatic Markers in Spoken Mandarin: The Case of (Nĭ) Zhīdào Ma/Ba (你)知道吗/吧

PDF (English)
Carmen LEPADAT
Roma Tre University

Pubblicato 12/19/2022

Parole chiave

  • pragmatic markers,
  • discourse markers,
  • ni zhidao,
  • corpus-based

Come citare

LEPADAT, C. (2022). Utterance-Final Pragmatic Markers in Spoken Mandarin: The Case of (Nĭ) Zhīdào Ma/Ba (你)知道吗/吧. Analisi Linguistica E Letteraria, 30(3). Recuperato da https://www.analisilinguisticaeletteraria.eu/index.php/ojs/article/view/513

Copyright (c) 2022 Analisi Linguistica e Letteraria

Creative Commons License

Questo lavoro è fornito con la licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Condividi allo stesso modo 4.0 Internazionale.

Abstract

The current study addresses the pragmatic marker (nĭ) zhīdào ma/ba (你) 知道吧/吗 ‘you know’, aiming to identify the (a)symmetries between (ni) zhidao ma and (ni) zhidao ba used in utterance-final position in oral interactions. The research questions include aspects mostly unaccounted for by previous studies, including the marker’s position in the turn, the S(peaker)’s gender, the H(earer)’s response or reaction to the utterance, and the relationship between S and H. Based on the results of the quantitative and qualitative analyses of 173 occurrences extracted from 12 hours of spontaneous telephone conversations, significant differences set apart the two variants, possibly due to the particles’ original pragmatic meanings and resulting in a tendential division of labour. Most prominently, the ma-variant tends to occur in turn-final position and to trigger more explicit responses, while the ba-variant mostly occurs in turn-medial position to maintain S’s turn and H’s attention.

PDF (English)

Riferimenti bibliografici

  1. Bazzanella, Carla. 2001. “Segnali discorsivi e contesto [Discourse Signals and Context]”. In Modalità e Substandard [Modality and Standard], ed. by Wilma Heinrich, and Christine Heiss, 41–64. Bologna: CLUEB.
  2. Biq, Yung-o. 2001. “The Grammaticalization of Jiushi and Jiushishuo in Mandarin Chinese.” Concentric: Studies in English Literature and Linguistics 27 (2): 53–74.
  3. Breiman, Leo. 2001. “Random Forests.” Machine Learning 45 (1): 5-32.
  4. Bruce, Barbro, Kristina Hansson, and Ulrika Nettelbladt. 2010. “Assertiveness, Responsiveness, and Reciprocity in Verbal Interaction: Dialogues between Children with SLI and Peers with Typical Language Development.” First Language 30 (3-4): 493–507.
  5. Canavan, Alexandra, and George Zipperlen. 1996. “CallFriend Mandarin Chinese-Mainland Dialect.” Philadelphia: Linguistic Data Consortium. 1996. Accessed June 22, 2022. https://doi.org/doi:10.21415/T5R38Z.
  6. Chan, Majorie K. 1997. “Gender Differences in the Chinese Language: A Preliminary Report.” In Proceedings of the Ninth North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-9), ed. by Hua Lin, 35–52. Los Angeles: GSIL Publications.
  7. Chu, Chauncey 屈承熹. 1998. A Discourse Grammar of Mandarin Chinese. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
  8. Fraser, Bruce. 1990. “An Approach to Discourse Markers.” Journal of Pragmatics 14 (3): 383–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(90)90096-V.
  9. Fraser, Bruce. 1996. “Pragmatic Markers.” Pragmatics 6 (2): 167–90. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139057493.011.
  10. Givon, Talmy. 1979. On Understanding Grammar. London: Academic Press.
  11. Hancil, Sylvie, Alexander Haselow, and Margje Post (eds.). 2015. Final Particles. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
  12. Haselow, Alexander. 2012. “Subjectivity, Intersubjectivity and the Negotiation of Common Ground in Spoken Discourse: Final Particles in English.” Language and Communication 32 (3): 182–204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langcom.2012.04.008.
  13. Hothorn, Torsten, Kurt Hornik, and Achim Zeileis. 2006. “Unbiased Recursive Partitioning: A Conditional Inference Framework.” Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics 15 (3): 651–74. https://doi.org/10.1198/106186006X133933.
  14. Hu, Jianfeng 胡建锋. 2015. “Qianjinghua yu “zhidao ma” de gongneng 前景化与“知道吗”的功能 [Foregrounding and the Function of “zhidao ma”].” Yuyan Kexue 语言科学 14 (2): 194-205.
  15. Huang, Jinqun 黄锦群. 2016. “Gaozhilei huayu biaoji “ni zhidao” yanjiu 告知类话语标记“你知道”研究 [Research into notification discourse marker “ni zhidao”].” Xinyu Xueyuan Xuebao 新余学院学报 21 (2): 104-107.
  16. Jay, Timothy, and Kristin Janschewitz. 2008. “The Pragmatics of Swearing.” Journal of Politeness Research 4: 267–89. https://doi.org/10.1515/JPLR.2008.013.
  17. Lakoff, Robin. 1975. Language and Woman’s Place. New York: Harper & Row.
  18. Lee-Wong, Song Mei. 1998. “Face Support – Chinese Particles as Mitigators: A Study of Ba A/Ya and Ne.” Pragmatics 8 (3): 387–404. https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.8.3.01lee.
  19. Lepadat, Carmen. 2017. “The Modal Particle ma 嘛: Theoretical frames, Analysis and Interpretive Perspectives”. Quaderni di Linguistica e Studi Orientali 3: 243-270. https://doi.org/10.13128/QULSO-2421-7220-21347.
  20. Lepadat, Carmen. 2021. Not just Postposed Topics. An Integrated Pragmatic Account of the Sentence-Final Slot in Mandarin Chinese, PhD. Dissertation. Rome: Sapienza University of Rome.
  21. Levshina, Natalia. 2015. How to Do Linguistics with R. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
  22. Li, Charles N., and Sandra A. Thompson. 1981. Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.
  23. Lim, Ni-Eng. 2011. “From Subjectivity to Intersubjectivity: Epistemic Marker Wo Juede in Chinese.” In Current Issues in Chinese Linguistics, ed. by Yun Xiao, Liang Ta, and Hooi Ling Soh, 265–300. New Castle: Cambridge Scholars Press.
  24. Liu, Liyan 刘丽艳. 2006. “Huayu biaoji “nizhidao” 汉语标记 “你知道” [The discourse marker nizhdao].” Zhongguo Yuwen 中国语文 5: 423-432.
  25. Liu, Yuehua 刘月华, Pan Wenyu 潘文娱, and Gu Wei 故伟 (eds.). 2001. Shiyong xiandai hanyu yufa 使用现代汉语语法 [Practical Modern Chinese Grammar]. Beijing: Shangwu Yinshuguan 商务印书馆.
  26. Östman, Ola-Jan. 1981. You Know: A Discourse Functional Approach. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
  27. Paul, Waltraud, and Victor Pan Junnan. 2017. “What You See is What You Get: Chinese Sentence-Final Particles as Head-Final Complementisers.” In Discourse Particles – Formal Approaches to their Syntax and Semantics, ed. By Josef Bayer, and Volker Struckmeier, 49-77. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110497151-003.
  28. Romagnoli, Chiara, and Carmen Lepadat. 2021. “Standard and Variation in the Use of Sentence-Final Particles: A Case Study Based on Speakers of Mandarin and Min Varieties”. Italian Journal of Linguistics 33 (1): 35-67. https://doi.org/10.26346/1120-2726-166.
  29. RStudio Team. 2020. “RStudio.” Accessed June 22, 2022.https://rstudio.
  30. Schiffrin, Deborah. 1987. Discourse Markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  31. Schourup, Lawrence. 1982. “Common Discourse Particles in English Conversation.” In Working Papers in Linguistics 28. The Ohio State University.
  32. Searle, John R. 1979. “A Classification of Illocutionary Acts.” Language in Society 5 (1): 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500006837.
  33. Shan, Yi 单谊. 2014. “Hanyu huayu biaojiyu “ni zhidao” de yuyong fenxi 汉语华语标记语“你知道”的语用分析 [A pragmatic analysis of ni zhidao as a discourse marker in Chinese spontaneous speech].” Zhejiang Waiguoyu Xueyuan Xuebao 浙江外国语学院学报 2: 63-70.
  34. Shan, Yi 单谊. 2015. “Ziran huayu zhong huayu biaojiyu “ni zhidao” de yunlü tezheng 自然话语中话语标记语“你知道”的韵律特征 [The Prosodic Features of the DM Ni Zhidao in Chinese Spontaneous Speech].” Yuyan jiaoxue yu yanjiu 语言教学与研究 3:70-78.
  35. Shi, Fei 石飞. 2019. “Jumo “jiu shi le” de huayu lichang yu huayu gongneng 句末“就是了”的话语立场与话语功能 [Discourse Stance and Discourse Function of “Jiushile”].” Chinese Language Learning 汉语学习 6: 39-46.
  36. Simpson, Andrew. 2014. “Sentence-Final Particles.” In The Handbook of Chinese Linguistics, ed. by C. T. James Huang, Audrey Yen-hui Li, and Andrew Simpson, 156–79. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.
  37. Song, Shaomeng 宋少萌. 2018. “Hanyu kouyu zhong de fuci houzhi xianxiang ji shengcheng dongyin tantao 汉语口语中的副词后置现象及生成动因探讨 [Exploring the Postposition of Adverbs in Spoken Chinese and Its Motivation].” Zhongguo Yuyan Yanjiu 中國語言硏究 74:105–25.
  38. Spencer-Oatey, Helen. 2008. Culturally Speaking: Culture, Communication and Politeness Theory. Cornwall: Continuum.
  39. Tagliamonte, Sali A., and R. Harald Baayen. 2012. “Models, Forests, and Trees of York English: Was/Were Variation as a Case Study for Statistical Practice.” Language Variation and Change 24 (2): 135–78.
  40. Tang, Shuai 唐帅. 2016. “Huayu biaoji “ni zhidao ba” de gongneng tanxi 话语标记“你知道吧”的功能探析 [Analysis of the functions of the discourse marker “ni zhidao ba”].” Journal of Taiyuan Urban Vocational College 太原城市职业技术学院学报 6: 184-185.
  41. Tantucci, Vittorio, Aiqing Wang, and Jonathan Culpeper. “Reciprocity and epistemicity: On the (proto)social and cross-cultural ‘value’ of information transmission.” Journal of Pragmatics 194: 54-70.
  42. Tantucci, Vittorio, and Aiqing Wang. 2018. “Illocutional Concurrences: The Case of Evaluative Speech Acts and Face-Work in Spoken Mandarin and American English.” Journal of Pragmatics 138:60–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2018.09.014.
  43. Tantucci, Vittorio. 2016. “Toward a Typology of Constative Speech Acts: Actions beyond Evidentiality, Epistemic Modality, and Factuality.” Intercultural Pragmatics 13 (2): 181–209.
  44. Tantucci, Vittorio. 2017. “An Evolutionary Approach to Semasiological Change: Overt Influence Attempts through the Development of the Mandarin 吧-Ba Particle.” Journal of Pragmatics 120: 35–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2017.08.006.
  45. Tantucci, Vittorio. 2021. Language and Social Minds: The Semantics and Pragmatics of Intersubjectivity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  46. Tao, Hongyin 陶红印. 2003. “Cong yuyin, yufa he huayu tezheng kan “zhidao” geshi zai tanhua zhong de yanhua 从语音，语法和话语特征看“知道”格式在谈话中的演化 [Phonological, grammatical, and discourse evidence for the emergence of “zhidao” constructions in Mandarin conversation].” Zhongguo Yuwen 中国语文 4: 291–302.
  47. ten Bosch, Louis, Nelleke Oostdijk, and Jan Peter de Ruiter. 2004. “Durational Aspects of Turn-Taking in Spontaneous Face-to-Face and Telephone Dialogues.” In Text, Speech and Dialogue, ed. by Petr Sojka, Ivan Kopeček, and Karel Pala, 563-570. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer.
  48. Traugott, Elizabeth C. 1995. “The Role of the Development of Discourse Markers in a Theory of Grammaticalization.” Paper presented at the International Conference of Historical Linguistics XII, Manchester 1995.
  49. Traugott, Elizabeth C. 2009. “Subjectification in Grammaticalisation.” In Subjectivity and Subjectivisation, ed. By Dieter Stein, and Susan Wright, 31–54. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511554469.003.
  50. Traugott, Elizabeth C. 2016. On the Rise of Types of Clause-Final Pragmatic Markers in English. Journal of Historical Pragmatics, 17 (1): 26–54. https://doi.org/10.1075/jhp.17.1.02tra
  51. Wang, Wei. 2018. “Discourse Uses and Prosodic Properties of Ranhou in Spontaneous Mandarin Conversation.” Chinese Language and Discourse 9 (1): 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1075/cld.00006.wan.
  52. Wang, Xiao Jing 王小静. 2012. “Xiandai hanyu fuci houzhi xianxiang chutan 现代汉语副词后置现象初探 [Preliminary Analysis on the Postposition of Adverbs in Modern Chinese].” Journal of Simao Teachers’ College 思茅师范高等专科学校学报 27 (1): 74-77.
  53. Wray, Alison, and Michael R. Perkins. 2000. “The Functions of Formulaic Language: An Integrated Model.” Language & Communication 20 (1): 1–28. doi:10.1016/S0271-5309(99)00015-4.
  54. Wu, Aaron Yao-Ren, and Yung-O Biq. 2011. “ Lexicalization of Intensifiers: Two X- Shi Constructions in Spoken Mandarin .” Chinese Language and Discourse 2 (2): 168–97. https://doi.org/10.1075/cld.2.2.02yao.
  55. Wu, Haiping, and Hongyin Tao. 2018. “Expressing (inter)subjectivity with universal quantification: A pragmatic account of Plural NP + dou expressions in Mandarin Chinese.” Journal of Pragmatics 128: 1-21.
  56. Yang, Zhehua 杨哲华. 2014. “Duiwai Hanyu jiaoxue shijiaoxia de fuci yiwei yanjiu 对外汉语教学视角下的副词易位句研究 [A Study of Postposed Adverbs from the Perspective of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language].” Ma diss., Liaoning Normal University 辽宁师范大学.
  57. Yap, Foong Ha, and Winnie Chor. 2019. “The Grammaticalization of Stance Markers in Chinese.” In The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Discourse Analysis, ed. by Chris Shei, 230-243. London, New York: Routledge.
  58. Yap, Foong Ha, Pik-ling Choi, and Kam Siu Cheung. 2010. “De-Lexicalizing Di3: How a Chinese Locative Noun Has Evolved into an Attitudinal Nominalizer”. In Formal Evidence in Grammaticalization Research, ed. by An Van Linden, Jean-Christophe Verstraete, and Kristin Davidse, 220-240. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
  59. Yap, Foong Ha, Ying Yang, and Tak-Sum Wong. 2014. “On the Development of Sentence Final Particles (and Utterance Tags) in Chinese.” In Discourse Functions at the Left and Right Periphery: Crosslinguistic Investigations of Language Use and Language Change, ed. by Kate Beeching, and Ulrich Detges, 179-220. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004274822.
  60. Zhou, Yu 周玉, and Liying Bao丽颖暴. 2014. “Hanyu biaojiyu “fanzheng” yuyong xinshuo 汉语标记语“反正”语用新说 [Again on the Discourse Marker ‘Fanzheng’].” Jixi Daxue Xuebao 鸡西大学学报 11: 135–38.
  61. Zhu, Dexi 朱德熙. 1982. Yufa Jiangyi 语法讲义 [On Grammar]. Beijing: Shangwu Yinshuguan 商务印书馆.