Correcting

Among the various social actions implemented through the employment of hao bu

hao, correcting is the most conspicuous and recognizable one. When hao bu hao of this

sort occurs, there is usually a discrepancy between different interactants’ conception of the same thing, where this “thing” can be linguistic (semantic) or behavioral in nature.

In (21) below, the discrepancy is between two speakers’ understanding of the action a particular utterance performs in talk-in-interaction. Here speaker D (戴錫欽), a Taipei City councilor, is talking about the Kuomintang’s (KMT) attitude towards Taizhong concerning the upcoming election at the end of the year. As he points out, Taizhong is deemed a “war zone,” and the chairman of KMT is going to place a lot of resources in it (lines 1-4, 6-7). In receipt of this piece of information, speaker Z (周玉蔻), a commentator who has higher expectations of the candidate of the Democratic

are you gonna give up Taipei?’. Notice that this utterance is prefaced by the connective

na, which can, quite surprisingly, be used for both topic succession and topic change

(Biq, 1990). Obviously, D (戴錫欽) construes this token of na as a new topic introducer, as evidenced in lines 10-11, and interprets the question as a deliberate digression.

However, judging from Z’s (周玉蔻) immediate denial accompanied by high pitch, she seems to feel wronged²⁶ . According to her, line 8 should be understood as her expressing care. The utterance-final hao bu hao in line 12, then, helps correct D’s (戴 錫欽) “accusation.” As if this is not enough, Z (周玉蔻) adds that she is actually paying a lot of attention to D (lines 18-19). Following Fox and Japerson (1995), we can call

guanxin ‘care’ in line 12 the “repairing segment” and zhuanyi huati ‘change topic’ in

line 11 the “repaired segment.”

(21) [20180807: Average Monthly Wage in Taiwan]

1 D 那 我 也 坦白 跟 你 講. 剛剛 委員

na.. wo ye tanbai gen ni jiang ganggang weiyuan then I also frankly with you tell just.now legislator

2 所 說 的... 吳敦義 跟 黨 中央 確實

suo shuo de… wudunyi gen dang zhonyang deque

SUO say NOM Wudunyi and party center really

3 把 台中 視 為 一 個 非常 重要 的

ba taizhong shi wei yi ge feichang zhongyao de

BA Taichong view as one CL very important NOM

4 戰區.

zhanqu

26 Though rare, misunderstandings of actions by recipients in conversation are not non-existent.

Generally speaking, if the assignment of an action to a turn by the next speaker is not corrected in the following turn(s), this understanding is in some sense “good enough” (Levinson, 2013:104).

war.zone 5 Xie Uh huh.

6 D 包括 吳 主席 包括.. 集結 重 兵 都

baogua wu zhuxi baogua jijie zhong bing dou including Wu chairman including assemble heavy soldier all

7 會 下 在 這個 地方.

hui xia zai zhege difang will put at this place ((He keeps pointing at the table))

8 Z 那 你 [要 不 要] 放棄 台北 市 啊.

na ni yao bu yao fangqi taipei shi a then you want NEG want give.up Taipei city PRT

9 D [所以]-

suoyi so

10 >沒有 沒有 沒有 沒有<. 蔻蔻 姐… 你 不要

meiyou meiyou meiyou meiyou koukou jie ni buyao NEG NEG NEG NEG Koukou sister you don’t

11 轉移 話題.

zhuanyi huati change topic

12 Z → <H <@不是@> 我 關心 好 不 好H>.

bushi wo guanxin hao bu hao NEG.be I care good NEG good 13 <H 我 沒有 [轉移 話題]1H>.

I NEG change topic

14 D [你 也 不 能 否]1認 嘛.

ni ye bu neng fouren me you YE NEG can deny PRT

15 [如果 台中 國民黨 贏]2.. [國民黨 年 底]3

ruguo taizhong guomindang ying guomindang nian di if Taizhong KMT win KMT year end

16 二零一八 這 一 局.. >是 不 是 就 可以< 算

erlingyiba zhe yi ju shi bu shi jiu keyi suan 2018 this one CL be NEG be then can count

17 贏 了.

ying le win PRT

18 Z [我 非常 認]2真 在 [聽 你 的

wuo feichang renzhen zai ting ni de I very attentively DUR listen you ASSOC 19 話]3.

hua speech

D: ‘Then I’ll tell you frankly that, as the legislator said, Wu Dunyi and the center of KMT really view Taizhong as an extremely important constituency.’

Xie: ‘Uh huh.’

D: ‘Chairman Wu, and (our) human resources will all be placed in this place.’

Z: ‘Given this, are you gonna give up Taipei?’

D: ‘So-’ ‘No no no no, Koukou… don’t change the topic.’

Z: ‘No, I didn’t change the topic. I was expressing my care, ok? I didn’t change the topic.’

D: ‘(But) you can’t deny that if the KMT wins in Taizhong it is fair to say that it wins the (entire) election at the end of this year. Am I right?’

Z: ‘I am listening to you very attentively.’

Besides correcting what action an utterance is thought to perform, speakers can also correct the linguistic (semantic) aspect of a piece of talk. That is, one party to the conversation notices a “mistake” in the semantic content of what has just been said by another conversationalist and thinks it necessary to point it out right away, for the sake of proper communication of ideas. Consider (22) below:

(22) [20180810: Political Infighting within the Democratic Progressive Party (2)]

1 Xu 但是 總之 呢.. 痾: 其實 馬 >總統< 他 danshi zongzhi ne uh qishi ma zongtong ta but anyway PRT PRT actually Ma president he

2 已經 卸::任 了 啦. 那 所以 他.. 的 輔選

yijing xieren le la na suoyi ta de fuxuan already retire PRT PRT then so he ASSOC help.elect

3 的 行程 是.. 如果 有 人 >找 他< 去

de xingcheng shi ruguo you ren zhao ta qu ASSOC schedule be if exist person find he go

4 的 他 都 會 去.

de ta dou hui qu

5 Xie >可是 蔻蔻< 說 這 顆 太陽 快 要 燒死 keshi koukou shuo zhe ke taiyang kuai yao shaosi but Koukou say this CL sun soon will burn.to.death

6 吳 主席.

xu zhuxi Wu chairman

7 Z → [已經 燒死 了 好 不 好].

[yijing shaozi

le hao bu hao

[already burn.to.death PRT good NEG good

8 Xu [燒死 不 會 吧:]. 我們 吳 主席

[shaosi

bu hui ba women wu zhuxi

[burn.to.death NEG

will PRT we Wu chairman

9 這麼 受 歡迎.

zheme shou huanying this get welcome

10 C 吳 主席 生命力 那麼 強韌.

wu zhuxi shengmingli name qiangren Wu chairman vitality that strong 11 Xu 對 啊.

dui a right PRT

Xu: ‘But anyway…uh…actually (former) President Ma has already retired. So…

his schedule for election assistance… If somebody asks him for help, he’ll go.’

Xie: ‘But Koukou said that this sun (President Ma) is going to kill chairman Wu.’

Z: ‘It has already done so, ok?’

Xu: ‘Kill? I don’t think so… (since) our chairman Wu is such a popular person.’

C: ‘Chairman Wu’s vitality is so strong.’

Xu: ‘Yah.’

Prior to this excerpt, speaker Z (周玉蔻) has just finished her comment on the power nucleus of the KMT, which chairman Wu has been excluded from and which has

“stamped him to death.” We can see from lines 1-3 that, when it is speaker Xu (徐巧 芯)’s turn to speak, she does not intend to dwell on this matter any longer, as she produces the summative token zongzhi ‘anyway’ in line 1. However, prompted by Xu’s mentioning of former President Ma, speaker Xie (謝震武) responds with lines 5-6, inadvertently bringing the topic back. Now the action of correcting in line 7, accompanied by the utterance-final hao bu hao, arises because Z notices a trouble in Xie’s interpretation of the relationship between former President Ma and chairman Wu.

In Z’s opinion, Ma “has already killed Wu” (as opposed to “going to kill Wu,” which is a prediction about the near future). Interestingly, since the correcting is based on personal judgement rather than objective truth (both taiyang ‘sun’ and shaosi

‘burn.to.death’ are metaphorical expressions), it is open to challenge or doubt. Indeed, this is exactly how Xu and C (陳東豪) react in the subsequent turns, both of whom provide reasons for their disbelief (lines 8-10).

Though the action of correcting arises from the gap between different speakers’

construals of the same object, it does not entail that the corrector is always “correct.”

Sometimes, due to cognitive failures such as incomplete memory or distraction, a speaker may perform a correction that is ill-founded, and co-participants may not always stay alert to detect it. To see how this can be, examine (23) below:

(23) [20180827: President Cai Visits Flood-stricken Areas]

1 L 我 講 [的 是 事實].

wo jiang de shi shishi I say NOM be fact

2 Zh [<H 不要 這樣 敵]視 國家 buyao zheyan dishi guojia don’t this.way hostile.view country

3 元首 啦. 馬英九 幹 了 八 年 總統.

yuanshou la mayingjou gan le ba nian zongton head.of.state PRT Mayingjou do PFV eight year president

4 我 都 叫 他 [馬英]1九 總[統 了 好 不

wo dou jiao ta

[mayingjou

zongtong le hao bu I still call he

[Mayingjou [president

PRT good NEG 5 好H>]2.

hao good

6 L [所以 大]1… [大家 大家]2 罵

[suoyi

da dajia dajia ma

[so

da everyone everyone criticize

7 嘛.

me PRT

8 Zh 可以 嘛. 你 愛 [怎麼 罵]3 沒 問題.

keyi me ni ai

[zhenme ma

mei wenti can PRT you love [how criticize no problem 9 L [大家 罵 嘛]3.

dajia ma me everyone critize PRT

10 Zh 你 [發洩(.) 發洩 到 我 身 上]4 來 吧

ni

[faxie

faxie dao wo shen shang lai ba

you

[vent

vent arrive I body up come PRT

[好 不 好]5.

[hao bu

hao

[good NEG good

((He points at his own chest.))

11 L [現在 是 罵 大家 嘛]4. [<E OK E>]5.

[xianzai shi ma

dajia me OK

[now

be criticize everyone PRT OK

12 我.. 我 講 啊. 你: 說: 氣象 局 報 的

wo wo jiang a ni shuo qixiang ju bao de I I say PRT you say weather bureau forecast NOM

13 不 準. 欸…

bu zhun ei NEG accurate PRT

14 Zh 我 沒有 [說 不 準 啦]6.

wo meiyou

[shuo

bu zhun la I NEG

[say

NEG accurate PRT ((As he speaks, he frowns.))

15 L [我 那: 我 那]6 天 在… [那 天 的 那(.)

[wo nei wo nei tian zai nei tian de nei

[I that I

that day at that day NOM that

nei tian de nei tian de nei tian de yuce that day NOM that day NOM that day NOM prediction

17 啊.

a PRT

18 Zh → [我 說 常常 會 失靈 啦 好 不 好]7.

[wo shuo changchang hui shiling la hao

bu hao

[I say often

will not.work PRT good NEG good

((He keeps frowning.)) 19 Xie 嗯.

mm PRT

20 L 我們 有 把 雨 量 出來. 有... [有 講

women you ba yu liang chulai you

[you

jiang we exist BA rain measure out exist [exist say

21 出來.

chulai out 21 Xie 嗯.

mm PRT

L: ‘What I said is true.’

Zh: ‘Don’t be hostile to the head of state like this! During the eight years in which Ma Yingjou was President, even I called him “President Ma”!’

L: ‘So… everyone can criticize (the president).’

Zh: ‘Please do. You can criticize the president in whatever way you like.’

L: ‘Everyone can criticize (the president).’

Zh: ‘(Come on), vent (all your hatred) on me.’

L: ‘What you’re doing is criticizing everyone. Ok. Let me continue. You said that… the forecast made by the weather bureau was not accurate. Well…’

Zh: ‘I didn’t say that the forecast “was not accurate.”’

L: ‘On that day I… the prediction… the prediction… the prediction… the prediction on that day…’

Zh: ‘I said that the prediction “often doesn’t work,” ok?’

Xie: ‘Mm.’

L: ‘We made a measurement of the rainfall.’

Xie: ‘Mm.’

Prior to this excerpt, L (李富城, a weather forecaster) and Zh (莊瑞雄) have been quarreling about the current president’s reaction when she arrived in a flood-stricken area for quite some time, during which L was exasperated by Zh’s mentioning of his old age. As the debate proceeds, one can sense the tension between the two speakers surge, as evidenced by the recurring utterance-final particle me for insistence and obviousness (Chu, 1998). Finally, after the topic closure signal ok in line 11, L (李富 城) makes explicit his role as the next speaker, temporarily enjoying the floor. Bearing a grudge, he recalls Zh’s (莊瑞雄) comment on weather forecasts some forty minutes ago (see below), and seems prepared to challenge him as a professional (line 12).

Clearly, Zh’s (莊瑞雄) immediate refutation in line 14 shows that he considers what L has just said in the previous turn to be incompatible with his own memory. Eager to

(changchang hui shiling) in line 18 and attaches hao bu hao to it, resulting in what Murata (1994) calls a “disagreement interruption.” However, based on the following fragment, it is indisputable that Zh (莊瑞雄), perhaps affected by the emotion-charged context (indicated by prosody and his facial expressions), “mis-corrects” L:

(24) [20180827: President Cai Visits Flood-stricken Areas]

1 Zh 啊 這 一 次 我 看 政府 所 做 的

a zhe yi ci wo kan zhengfu suo zhuo de PRT this one time I see government SUO do NOM

2 判斷 也 都 要

[依照

專家 的 建議.

panduan ye dou yao

[yizhao zhuanjia de

jianyi judgement also all need [follow expert NOM advice 3 Xie 痾.

uh PRT

4 Zh 氣象 專家 我 看 了

[之後.. 我 我- 其實

我

qixiang zhuanjia wo kan le

[zhihou wo wo qishi

wo weather expert I see PFV [after I I actually I

5 對 氣象 專家 是 <H 最 H> 尊敬 的. <H 可是

dui qixiang zhuanjia shi zui zunjing de keshi to weather expert be most respect NOM but 6 → 常常 都 不 準H>.

changchang dou bu zhun often all NEG accurate 7 Xie 痾.

uh

PRT

8 Zh 不 準 我 也 不 能 說 他 是(.)

bu zhun wo ye bu neng shuo ta shi NEG accurate I still NEG can say he be

9 不 是 專家 你 知道 嗎. 因為 確實 是(.)

bu shi zhuanjia ni zhidao ma yinwei queshi shi NEG be expert you know PRT because indeed be

10 天候 這[個 這]1… [太 難 測 了]2.

tianhou zhege zhe

[tai nan

ce le weather FILL FILL

[too hard

predict PRT

11 Xie [對 對 對]1 [對 [老天爺 太 難]2

[dui

dui dui

[dui [laotianye

tai nan

[right right

right [right

[Heaven

too hard

12 測 了.

ce le predict PRT

Zh: ‘And this time I can see that all of the judgements made by the government need to follow experts’ advice.

Xie: ‘Uh.’

Zh: ‘After I saw the weather experts’ (forecast)- I, I… actually I respect weather experts the most. But (the forecasts they make) are often not accurate.’

Xie: ‘Uh.’

Zh: ‘But even so, I still cannot say that they are not experts, you know? It’s just that the weather is… too hard to predict.’

Xie ‘Yes, yes, yes. The Heaven is too hard to predict.’

In this piece of talk, Zh (莊瑞雄) is giving a personal comment on the weather forecasts in Taiwan. In lines 4-5, Zh voices his respect for weather experts and prefaces it with

qishi ‘actually’, which is equivalent to what Brown and Levinson (1987) call an

“redressive action,” paving the way for the about-to-come face-threatening evaluation

keshi changchang dou bu zhun in line 6 (recall that L happens to be a weather

forecaster). Equipped with this piece of evidence, we know that Zh’s correction in line 14 of (23) is untenable. Note, however, that none of the interactants in (23) perceives the mis-correction; L simply begins his defense in line 20 of (23), and Xie (謝震武)’s attention is directed to it (indexed by the backchannel mm in line 21).

Before we leave this section, it is necessary to relate observations of the correcting

hao bu hao to research on “repair” in general, the rubric under which correction is

subsumed. As laypeople can attest, natural human communication is not perfect in the sense that speakers can always talk like machines whose utterances resemble edited, proofread written texts on paper and listeners readily accept linguistic input. What does happen, as conversation analysts have long been aware of, is that parties to talk-in-interaction recurrently encounter troubles or problems in speaking, hearing, or understanding the talk (Schegloff, 2007). According to Schegloff, Jefferson, and Sacks (1977), the overt efforts to deal with these processing difficulties, collectively termed

“repairs,” are sequential phenomena consisting of two stages. In the initiation stage, the trouble is, in one way or another, spotted, identified, or located by either the producer of the trouble-source or someone else. The actual solving of the trouble, whether successful or not, takes place in the repair-outcome stage (or simply “repair,” as it is called by later researchers). Since both initiation and solving can be done by “self” or

“other,” in theory repair comes in four possibilities, namely self-initiated self-repair,

other-initiated self-repair, self-initiated other-repair, and other-initiated other-repair.

Nevertheless, possibility cannot be translated into probability. Research has shown that opportunities for self to initiate, as well as to perform the repair, outnumber opportunities for other to initiate or to perform repair (Fox, Benjamin, & Mazeland, 2012). Given this, it is a reasonable inference that other-initiated other-repairs would be extremely hard to find, and indeed this is empirically true. Even when they do happen, they are frequently modulated. In English, for example, speakers may add I think to their repairing segments or employ the you mean X? format to show seeming uncertainty (Schegloff et al., 1977). Viewed against this backdrop, the correcting hao

bu hao is unique in that, except for example (22), in which there is only the repair stage

but not the initiation stage, all of its usages are other-initiated other-repairs. Accordingly, we have good reason to argue that hao bu hao is a special other-correction strategy in Mandarin Chinese.

In addition to its distribution in relation to other variants of repair, the correcting

hao bu hao warrants extra attention due to its “look,” i.e., the fashion in which

correction reveals itself. When a speaker corrects another conversationalist’s utterances, he has latitude in presenting the correction as either more or less conspicuous. A no-prefaced correction in English, for instance, draws the producer of the trouble’s attention to the fault, hence making it salient (Couper-Kuhlen & Selting, 2018). In Jefferson’s (1987) report on initiated repair, he distinguishes between other-corrections that are “exposed” and ones that are “embedded.”²⁷ In the former case, there is noticeable discontinuity in talk; speakers are temporarily occupied with “the

27 For Levinson (1983), the term exposed is misleading and should better be replaced by covert or

business of correcting.” In the latter case, the correcting is done in a by-the-way fashion, as shown in Jefferson’s example below:

(25) [from Jefferson 1987: 93]

1 Ken Well- if you’re gonna race, the police have said this to us.

2 Roger → That makes it even better. The challenge of running from the cops!

3 Ken → The cops say if you wanna race, uh go out at four or five in the

4 morning on the freeway…

We see that after Roger uses the word cops to refer to the police in line 2, Ken automatically follows suit, abandoning his original diction. The talk moves on smoothly, as if the change were invisible. In other words, the action of correcting is somehow

“disguised.” In the present study, the correcting hao bu hao of this sort is not found; all of its usages are exposed corrections. What follows is the final example:

(26) [20180820: Residence Permit for Taiwan Residents in China]

1 Xie 可是: 莊 委員 的 意思 是 你們 藍

keshi zhuang weiyuan de yisi shi nimen lan but Zhuang legislator NOM meaning be you blue

2 營 的 人 要 小心. >因為< 當

ying de ren yao xiaoxin yinwei dang camp NOM people should careful because when 3 宋.. >因為<(.) 廣義 >大家< 認為 是 泛藍

song >yinwei guangyi dajia renwei shi fanlan Song>because broadly everyone think be pro.blue

4 系統. 所以 你們 要 小心 他 會 吃 掉

xitong suoyi nimen yao xiaoxin ta hui chi diao system so you should careful he will eat drop

5 你們 的 人.

nimen de ren you NOM people

6 L 我 >覺得< 那 不 是 藍 軍 要 小心.

wo juede na bu shi lan jun yao xiaoxin I think that NEG be blue army should careful

7 我 >覺得 民進黨< 也 要 小心.

wo juede minjindang ye yao xiaoxin I think DPP also should careful 8 Xie [@@].

9 L [過去 我 >覺得<]- 兩 邊 都 要 小心.

[guoqu wo juede liang

bian dou yao xiaoxin

[past

I think two side both should careful

[past

I think two side both should careful

在文檔中 從要求到給予：台灣政論節目中「好不好」與「好嗎」的知識轉換 (頁 61-80)