Cover not available
Part of
Integrating Chinese Linguistic Research and Language Teaching and Learning
Edited by Hongyin Tao
[Studies in Chinese Language and Discourse 7] 2016
► pp. 145–168

Prosody and discourse functions of ranhou 然后

With implications for teaching Mandarin conjunctions at the discourse level

ORCID logo | University of California, Los Angeles
This paper attempts to integrate linguistic research with language teaching, taking ranhou as a case study. It first explores the discourse functions of ranhou. Three functions have thus been identified, i.e. TCU extension, turn continuation and new topic initiation. Then, it examines the prosodic features associated with each discourse function, including duration, gap, and pitch. Finally, this paper discusses the ways in which the findings can be applied pedagogically and demonstrates the feasibility to teach discourse functions and prosody in the classroom.
Keywords: conjunctions, discourse functions, Mandarin teaching, prosody
Published online: 3 October 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/scld.7.08wan
References (37)
REFERENCES
Boersma, Paul, and David Weenink. 2005. “Praat: Doing Phonetics by Computer.” (Version 4.3.01) [Computer program]. Retrieved from [URL].
Chafe, Wallece. 1979. “The Flow of Thought and the Flow of Language.” In Discourse and Syntax, ed. by T. Givón, 159-181. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
. 1987. “Cognitive Constraints on Information Flow.” Coherence and Grounding in Discourse 11: 21–51. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chao, Yuen Ren. 1968. A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. London and New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Chun, Dorothy M. 1998. “Signal Analysis Software for Teaching Discourse Intonation.” Language Learning and Technology 2: 61–77.Google Scholar
Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth. 1996. “The Prosody of Repetition: On Quoting and Mimicry.” In Prosody in Conversation: Interactional Studies 12: 366-405. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth, and Margret Selting. 1996. Prosody in Conversation: Interactional Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Du Bois, John W. 1985. “Competing Motivations.” Iconicity in Syntax, 343–365. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1987. “The Discourse Basis of Ergativity.” Language, 805–855. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fang, Mei. 2000. “Ziran Kouyu zhong Ruohua Lianci de Huayu Biaoji Gongneng. [Discourse Marking Functions of Semantically Reduced Conjunctions in Natural Spoken Discourse].” Zhongguo Yuwen 5: 459-470.Google Scholar
Ford, Cecilia e., Barbara A. Fox, and Sandra A. Thompson. 2002. The Language of Turn and Sequence. Oxford, UK and New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ford, Cecilia E., and Sandra A. Thompson. 1996. “Interactional Units in Conversation: Syntactic, Intonational, and Pragmatic Resources for the Management of Turns.” Studies in Interactional Sociolinguistics 13: 134–84.Google Scholar
Gumperz, John J. 1982. Discourse Strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Halliday, M.A.K., and R. Hasan. 1976. Cohesion in English. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Hopper, Paul. 1987. “Emergent Grammar.” Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society , 139-157.
Huang, Shuanfan. 2013. Chinese Grammar at Work. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lengeris, Angelos. 2012. “Prosody and Second Language Teaching: Lessons from L2 Speech Perception and Production Research.” In Pragmatics and Prosody in English Language Teaching, ed.by Jesús Romero-Trillo, 25–40. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, New York, and London: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Levis, John, and Lucy Pickering. 2004. “Teaching Intonation in Discourse using Speech Visualization Technology”. System 32 (4): 505–524. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Li, Xiaoting. 2014. Multimodality, Interaction and Turn-Taking in Mandarin Conversation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Liu, Binmei. 2009. “Chinese Discourse Markers in Oral Speech of Mainland Mandarin Speakers.” In Proceedings of the 21st North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL-21) 2: 358–374.
Liu, Xun. 2011. New Practical Chinese Reader. Vol. 1. Beijing: Beijing Language and Culture University Electronic & Audiovisual Press and Multimedia Press of Open University of China.Google Scholar
Liu, Yuehua, and Tao-Chung Yao, et al. 2009. Integrated Chinese (Level 1, Part 1), 3rd ed. Boston: Cheng & Tsui.Google Scholar
Local, John K. 1992. “Continuing and Restarting.” The Contextualization of Language, 273–296. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Local, John k., William HG. Wells, and Mark Sebba. 1985. “Phonology for Conversation: Phonetic Aspects of Turn Delimitation in London Jamaican.” Journal of Pragmatics 9 (2): 309–330. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Luke, Kang Kwong, and Wei Zhang. 2007. “Retrospective Turn Continuations in Mandarin Chinese Conversation.” Pragmatics 17 (4): 605–635. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lü, Shuxiang (ed.). 1980. Xiandai Hanyu Babaici [Modern Chinese 800 words]. Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan [The Commercial Press].Google Scholar
Peng, Xiaochuan, Shouji Li, and Hong Wang. 2004. Duiwai Hanyu Jiaoxue Yufa Shiyi 201 Li 对外汉语教学语法释疑201例 [201 Cases in Teaching Mandarin Grammar]. Beijing: Shangwu yinshuguan [The Commercial Press].Google Scholar
Sacks, Harvey. 1992. Lectures on Conversation. Edited by Gail Jefferson. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar
Sacks, Harvey, Emanuel Schegloff, and Gail Jefferson. 1974. “A Simplest Systematics for the Organization of Turn-taking for Conversation.” Language, 696–735. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schegloff, Emanuel A. 1996. “Turn Organization: One Intersection of Grammar and Interaction.” Studies in Interactional Sociolinguistics 13: 52–133.Google Scholar
. 1998. “Reflections on Studying Prosody in Talk-in-interaction.” Language and Speech 41 (3-4): 235–63.Google Scholar
Su, Lily I-wen. 1998. “Conversational Coherence: The Use of Ranhou in Chinese spokenDiscourse.” In Selected papers from the second international symposium on languages in Taiwan, ed. by Shuanfan Huang, 167-181. Taipei: Crane.Google Scholar
Vorreite, Susanne. 2003. “Turn Continuations: Towards a Cross-Linguistic Classification.” In LiSt - Interaction and Linguistic Structures, No. 39. URL: <[URL]>Google Scholar
Wang, Chueh-chen, and Lillian M. Huang. 2006. “Grammaticalization of Connectives in Mandarin Chinese: A Corpus-based Study.” Language and Linguistics 7 (4): 991–1016.Google Scholar
Wu, Sue-Mei, Yueming Yu, Yanhui Zhang, and Weizhong Tian. 2011. Chinese Link: Beginning Chinese, Simplified Character Version, Level 1 Part 1. New York: Pearson PLD.Google Scholar
Yang, Li-Chiung. 2006. “Integrating Prosodic and Contextual Cues in the Interpretation of Discourse Markers.” Approaches to Discourse Particles, 265–297.Google Scholar
. 2010. “Harmony and Tension in Mandarin Chinese Prosody: Constraints and Opportunities of Lexical Tones in Discourse Markers.” In Speech Prosody 2010-Fifth International Conference .
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Wang, Xiaoyun
2020. Managing a suspended course of action. Chinese Language and Discourse. An International and Interdisciplinary Journal 11:2 ► pp. 306 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 25 july 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.