Cover not available
Part of
Current Studies in Chinese Language and Discourse: Global context and diverse perspectives
Edited by Yun Xiao and Linda Tsung
[Studies in Chinese Language and Discourse 10] 2019
► pp. 105–136

Chapter 6
Preliminaries to delicate matters

Some functions of “I say to you” sequences in Mandarin Chinese conversations

 | Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
The meta-language unit “I say to you” is frequently heard in Mandarin Chinese conversations, and are most commonly expressed as wo gen ni shuo ‘I say to you’, wo gen ni jiang ‘I talk to you’, or wo gaosu ni ‘I tell you’, collectively termed “I-say-to-you” expressions. Quantitative investigations reveal that they are dedicated interactional resources found only in spoken conversation. By using conversation analytic methodology, further examination of their sequential trajectory shows that a core function of “I-say-to-you” expressions is to preface upcoming “delicate” matters, such as dispreferred next action, disagreement or disaffiliative turn, and other actions that may be resistance-implicative for the recipient. As a preface, “I-say-to-you” expressions can be used by the speaker to secure multi-turns space with which to gradually deliver the “delicate” matter and achieve other interactional goals.
Keywords: conversation analysis, Mandarin Chinese, meta-language units, interactional linguistics, preface
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Data and methodology
  • 3.Some preliminary quantitative results
  • 4.Analysis of some ‘I-say-to-you’ sequences
    • 4.1Prefacing delicate matters with ‘I say to you’
    • 4.2‘Preparing the ground’ with ‘I say to you’
  • 5.Achieving interactional goals with ‘I-say-to-you’ sequences
  • 6.Concluding remarks and further discussions
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 15 April 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/scld.10.06lim
References (39)
References
Bolinger, Dwight. 1977. Meaning and form. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Biq, Y.-O. 2001. The grammaticalization of jiushi and jiushishuo in Mandarin Chinese. Concentric: Studies in English Literature and Linguistics 27: 53–74.Google Scholar
2007. Lexicalization of Phrases Involving the DIstal Demonstrative na in Spoken Mandarin. The Eighteen North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics, 24–41.Google Scholar
Biber, Douglas & Barbieri, Federica. 2007. Lexical bundles in university spoken and written registers. English for specific purposes 26: 263–286. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Biber, Douglas. 2009. A corpus-driven approach to formulaic language in English: Multi-word patterns in speech and writing. International journal of corpus linguistics 14: 275–311. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, Penelope & Levinson, Stephen C. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Canavan, Alexandra & Zipperlen, George. 1996. CALLFRIEND Mandarin Chinese-Mainland Dialect LDC96S55. Web Download. Philadelphia: Linguistic Data Consortium.Google Scholar
Conrad, Susan & Biber, Douglas. 2004. “The frequency and use of lexical bundles in conversation and academic prose.” Lexicographica 20: 56–71.Google Scholar
Craven, Alexandra & Potter, Jonathan. 2010. “Directives: Entitlement and contingency in action.” Discourse Studies 12: 419–442. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Curl, Traci S. & Drew, Paul. 2008. “Contingency and action: A comparison of two forms of requesting.” Research on Language and Social Interaction 41: 129–153. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Feng, G. 2008. Pragmatic markers in Chinese. Journal of Pragmatics 40: 1687–1718. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, Adele E. 1995. Constructions: A construction grammar approach to argument structure. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Haiman, John. 1983. “Iconic and economic motivation.” Language: 781–819. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Heritage, John. 2013a. “Turn-initial position and some of its occupants.” Journal of Pragmatics 57: 331–337.. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2013b. Language and social institutions: The conversation analytic view. Journal of Foreign Languages 36: 2–27.Google Scholar
Jefferson, Gail, Sacks, Harvey & Schegloff, Emmanuel A. 1977. “Preliminary notes on the sequential organization of laughter.” Pragmatics Microfiche. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Department of Linguistics.Google Scholar
Kern, Friederike & Selting, Margret. 2013. Conversation Analysis and Interactional Linguistics, in Carol A. Chapelle (ed.) The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics: 1012–1016. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Li, Charles N. & Thompson, Sandra A. 1989. Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Li, Xiaoting. 2016. Some discourse-interactional uses of yinwei ‘because’ and its multimodal production in Mandarin conversation. Language Sciences 58: 51–78. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lim, Ni-Eng. 2009. “Stance-taking with Wo Juede in conversational Chinese.” 21st North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-21) 2: 323–340.Google Scholar
. 2011. “From Subjectivity to Intersubjectivity: Epistemic Marker Wo Juede in Chinese.” In Current Issues in Chinese Linguistics, ed. by Yun Xiao, Liang Tao, and Hooi-Ling Soh, 265–300. New Castle: Cambridge Scholars Press.Google Scholar
McEnery, Anthony & Xiao, Richard. 2004. “The Lancaster Corpus of Mandarin Chinese: A corpus for monolingual and contrastive language study.” Religion 17: 3–4.Google Scholar
O’Keeffe, Anne, McCarthy, Michael & Carter, Ronald. 2007. From corpus to classroom: Language use and language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Raymond, Geoffrey. 2003. “Grammar and Social Organization: Yes/No interrogatives and the structure of responding.” American Sociological Review 68: 939–967. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sacks, Harvey. 1987. “On the Preferences for Agreement and Contiguity.” In Talk and Social Organization, ed. by Graham Button and John R. E. Lee, 54–69. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
. 1992. “Lecture 1: Second Stories; “Mm hm;” Story prefaces; ‘Local news;’ Tellability.” In Lectures on Conversation, ed. by Gail Jefferson and Emmanuel A. Schegloff, 3–31. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Schegloff, Emmanuel A. 1980. “Preliminaries to preliminaries:‘Can I ask you a question?’.” Sociological Inquiry 50: 104–152. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1987. Analyzing single episodes of interaction: An exercise in conversation analysis. Social Psychology Quarterly, 50(2): 101–114. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1996. “Some practices for referring to persons in talk-in-interaction: A partial sketch of a systematics.” In Studies in Anaphora, ed. by Barbara Fox, 437–486. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2007. Sequence Organization in Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Scott, Mike. 2016. WordSmith Tools version 7. Stroud: Lexical Analysis Software.Google Scholar
Sidnell, Jack. 2017. “Action in interaction is conduct under a description.” Language in Society 46: 313–337. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tao, Hongyin. 2011. “Core Vocabulary in Spoken Mandarin and the Integration of Corpus-Based Findings into Language Pedagogy.” In Issues in Chinese Linguistics, ed. by Yun Xiao, Liang Tao, and Hooi-Ling Soh, 13–27. New Castle: Cambridge Scholars Press.Google Scholar
Thompson, Sandra A. & Mulac, Anthony. 1991. “The discourse conditions for the use of the complementizer that in conversational English.” Journal of pragmatics 15: 237–251.. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thompson, Sandra A. 2002. “‘Object complements’ and conversation: Towards a realistic account.” Studies in language 26: 125–164. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tsai, I-Ni. 2008. “Projecting the Unanticipatory: The Mandarin Particle Ei and its Projectability in Daily Conversation.” Twentieth North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-20) 2: 1023–1040.Google Scholar
Wang, Y.-F., Tsai, P.-H. & Yang, Y.-T. 2010. Objectivity, subjectivity and intersubjectivity: Evidence from qishi (’actually’) and shishishang (’in fact’) in spoken Chinese. Journal of Pragmatics 42: 705–727. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wray, Alison. 2005. Formulaic Language and the Lexicon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wu, R.-J. R. 2014. Managing turn entry: The design of EI-prefaced turns in Mandarin conversation. Journal of Pragmatics 66: 139–161. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Jin, Ying
2024. Sequential organization and interactional functions of patient loyalty in routine chronic encounters. Social Science & Medicine 353 ► pp. 117047 ff. DOI logo
Yu, Guodong, Yaxin Wu, Paul Drew & Chase Wesley Raymond
2024. The DIG Mandarin Conversations (DMC) Corpus. Chinese Language and Discourse. An International and Interdisciplinary Journal 15:1 ► pp. 105 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 23 september 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.