Chapter 4 Results
4.3 Dui in different structures of discourse
4.3.3 Dui as a marker in the ideational structure
國
立 政 治 大
㈻㊫學
•
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Generally speaking, when interacting with peers, Mandarin-speaking 5-year-old children used dui mainly in the exchange structure to express their agreement toward others’ propositions or in their own turn to affirm and strengthen their subjective beliefs. The use of dui as an acknowledgement marker was not found in the children’s conversation. Dui in the exchange structure often appeared with particle a to further indicate the speaker’s personal involvement to the current topic. As an agreement maker in the exchange structure, dui indicated the children’s collaborative stances and their intention to build alignments with each other, which may benefit their peer relationships.
4.3.3 Dui as a marker in the ideational structure
Besides the exchange structure, Mandarin-speaking 5-year-old children also showed their ability to use dui in the ideational structure. Previous studies suggested that dui serves the function of information management as a “planning marker” (Yu, 2004) to mark topic transition (Tsai, 2001; Wang et al., 2010). It provides the speaker an exit from the current topic and an entry to a new and unrelated one. For instance, ZHI and JUN in excerpt 31 pretended they would have some guests visiting their toy house tomorrow. But JUN accidentally kicked some blocks and made a mess. ZHI blamed JUN for messing up. JUN strategically used dui as an exit from the current unpleasant topic and started an unrelated one that he is going to buy a watch and a phone before he left.
•
Excerpt 31. ZHI and JUN are playing in a toy house built of blocks and pretend it is their house. JUN accidentally knocked out some blocks when he moved his toy car.
*ZHI: <明天> [/] 明天 有人 要 來 我們 家裡.
mingtian youran yao lai women jiali
tomorrow someone be going to come our home (Some) people are coming to our home tomorrow.
*ZHI: 你 這樣 亂七八糟的 怎麼 弄 啦!
ni zheyang luanqibazaode zeme nong la
you like this messy how handle PRT
You messed up like this. How could I handle this!
*JUN: 喔 對. ß
%sit: JUN pushes the toy car and leaves
When dui was used as a marker of information management in the ideational structure, it usually combined with discourse particle le. According to Wang and colleagues (2010), dui le as a transition marker enables the speaker to interrupt the ongoing topic and sets up an expectation that a new topic is to begin. Excerpt 32 and 33 illustrate how Mandarin-speaking 5-year-olds used dui le to mark topic shifts when interacting with peers. In the two excerpts, the children were all playing with blocks and using them to build up roads. CAI in excerpt 32 and NIN in excerpt 33 both used dui le to interrupt the ongoing topic, which was related to the roads they were building. CAI used dui le to set up a new topic about the toy cars they were going to use, while on the other hand, NIN apologized for moving the blocks to build
•
signboards. In the two cases, dui le signaled a thematic break indicating the closure of the current topic and the beginning of a new one.
Excerpt 32. LIN and CAI are linking up the railways.
*LIN: 裝 好 了.
dudu haobuhao [% holding a toy excavator]
dudu A-not-A
Excerpt 33. NIN and LIN are building up the house and roads with blocks.
*LIN: 這 條 不是 到 我 家.
zhe tiao bushi dao wo jia
this CL not to I house
This (road) does not lead to my house.
•
Because I was going to build a sign (with the blocks).
想要 蓋 一 個 招牌 的.
xiangyao gai yi ge zhaopai de
want build one CL sign DE
Briefly, the results suggested that dui served the function of topic transition in the ideational structure in Mandarin-speaking children’s peer conversation. Mandarin children used it to show their intention to close the current topic and to start a new and usually unrelated one. Sometimes dui combined with particle le to set up an expectation that a new topic is to begin. They used dui and dui le as information management devices to organize their propositional content so as to build up the coherence of their conversation.
• 國
立 政 治 大
㈻㊫學
•
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
73 Chapter 5
Discussion
In chapter 4, Mandarin-speaking children’s uses of discourse markers hao and dui in peer interactions were analyzed in terms of their distribution in different discourse structures. The results suggested that Mandarin-speaking children used hao mainly in the information state, the exchange structure and the action structure, while dui predominately in the information state, the exchange structure and the ideational structure. Further analysis has been done on the various functions of the two markers in each discourse structure. Several similarities and differences of Mandarin children’s use of hao and dui were observed in the present data. Earlier researchers suggested that hao and dui as frequently used discourse markers in Mandarin conversations shared similar functions (Wang et al., 2010). In the present data, both hao and dui were activated in the information state. The result was consistent with Wang and colleagues’ (2010) study that both hao and dui functioned as devices to achieve a shared information state between interlocutors. In other words, hao is associated with the speaker’s positive evaluation toward the information, and dui concerned about the truthfulness of the information, the interlocutors’ shared information and shared orientation. According to Yu (2004), dui signals the speaker’s conceptual processing as well as the transition of interactional sequences during the conversation. The meanings of the two markers signaled the interaction between the speaker and the hearer in their cognitive state. They were related to the organization and management of the speaker and hearer’s knowledge and meta-knowledge.
Furthermore, since it is the core meanings of hao and dui that are associated with the
• 國
立 政 治 大
㈻㊫學
•
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
information state, each token of the two markers, regardless of which discourse structure they located, functioned simultaneously in the information state.
Moreover, in the current data, hao and dui were used predominately in the exchange structure. Both served as agreement markers in this structure. Mandarin children used hao to show their positive evaluation towards the previous proposition, and dui to confirm the truthfulness of the other speaker’s assessment or information therefore to express their agreement. Agreements demonstrate the speaker’s supportive attitude toward the other interlocutor, thereby meeting the other’s face needs (Brown & Levinson, 1987). In other words, agreement markers dui and hao function as face-preserving devices to express positive politeness (Brown & Levinson, 1987) or shared understanding (Holmes, 1986). Besides, hao and dui in the exchange structure appeared as responses, which are second pair parts in adjacency pairs, to previous moves. A second pair part demonstrates its speaker’s interpretation towards the previous turn. Hao and dui as second pair parts showing agreements with the other speaker therefore suggest the alignment between interlocutors (Wang et al., 2010). As a result, the agreement markers hao and dui indicating the speaker’s collaborative stances may help Mandarin-speaking children establish alignments with their peers. It may further strengthen Mandarin children’s peer relationships.
Although hao and dui could be used to show the speaker’s agreement, Mandarin children seemed to use them differently from adults. Earlier research suggested that in adult conversation dui could co-occur with contrastive markers such as keshi/danshi
‘but’ to express “weak disagreement” (Wang et al., 2010). Because most of the time disagreement is a face-threatening act, for being polite, speakers tend to minimize their disagreement in the ways such as expressing it indirectly with partial agreements.
•
Mandarin-speaking children’s peer interactions. However, interestingly, hao appeared more frequently in children’s peer talk demonstrating conditional agreements or compromises. Mandarin-speaking 5-year-olds sometimes used hao, na… ‘okay, in that case…’ to negotiate their rights or thoughts with their peers. They used hao to agree with some aspects of the other’s suggestions or requests and na ‘in that case’ to mark the conditions of the agreement. Excerpt 34 illustrates Mandarin-speaking children’s usage of hao na… ‘okay, in that case…’ to negotiate with peers. In the example, JUN took ZHI’s toy phone away. ZHI was annoyed and shouted at JUN.JUN justified his action by explaining that he needs the phone to contact ZHI because he is going out to buy some food for her. ZHI approved of JUN keeping the phone with a condition that she would call JUN as well. ZHI used hao na to mark the conditional agreement and express her compromise with JUN.
Excerpt 34. JUN and ZHI are sitting in their toy house.
*JUN: 等一下 [% 拿起電話].
3 Here danshi ‘but’ was chosen to represent all the possible contrastive markers that could follow dui in Mandarin such as keshi, buguo, for convenience purpose.
•
Briefly, Mandarin-speaking children’s use of hao and dui as agreement markers in the exchange structure when interacting with peers not only showed the speaker’s positive evaluation but also demonstrated conditional agreement, such as a compromise. Either ways indicated the speaker’s intention to cooperate with each
• 國
立 政 治 大
㈻㊫學
•
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
other for being polite, which fulfilled Leech’s (1983) “Agreement Maxim” in Politeness Principle that “minimize disagreement between self and other; maximize agreement between self and other” (p. 132). Such usage of hao and dui may further help Mandarin-speaking children to establish and maintain their peer relations.
Besides the similarities, the functions of hao and dui observed in the present data also demonstrated some differences. In the data, only hao functioned as an acknowledgement marker in the exchange structure. This function of dui was not found in Mandarin-speaking 5-year-old children’s peer conversation. According to previous research, hao and dui could both serve as acknowledgement markers in the exchange structure in adult conversation (Biq, 1998; Chen & Liu, 2009; Tsai, 2001;
Wang et al., 2010; Yu, 2004). Mandarin-speaking children at age five demonstrated their ability to use hao as an acknowledgement marker to show the receipt of information. The acknowledgement marker indicated the children’s intention to participate in their interlocutor’s current talk and to make the conversation go smoothly. By showing their involvement and interests in their peer’s talk, Mandarin-speaking children could maintain their relations with peers more efficiently. However, that only hao but not dui served as an acknowledgement marker in Mandarin children’s peer conversation may result from the backchannel usage dui has. When dui signals acknowledgement, it indicates not only its speaker’s understanding but also his approval of the previous speaker to maintain the floor (Wang et al., 2010).
Dui therefore served very similar functions with minimal utterances such as reactive tokens or backchannels. According to Hess and Johnston (1988), backchannel responses were among the last acquired conversational skills in children’s language development. They appeared relatively late, around age 7, and the frequency increased with age all the way till the children reached age 11. Moreover, on the
• 國
立 政 治 大
㈻㊫學
•
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
contrary to the earlier study of adult conversation (Wang et. al, 2010), dui appeared less frequently than hao in the present data of children’s peer conversation. This may also suggest the relatively advanced discourse functions dui has. In addition, that only hao instead of dui functioned as an acknowledgement marker in our data may also associate with the symmetrical and equal relations between peers. Because of the balanced relations between peers, children may show stronger intention to take over the floor compare to that when they interact with higher status roles. It seems to be less likely for children to use backchannels to pass the turn and encourage their peer to continue talking.
Furthermore, the results showed that dui other than hao was used to mark topic transitions in the ideational structure. Earlier research suggested that both hao and dui function as transition markers in the ideational structure (Chen & Liu, 2009; Tsai, 2001; Wang et al., 2010; Yu, 2004). The use of hao and dui could set up an expectation that a new topic is to begin. In the study, Mandarin-speaking children at age five had the ability to use dui as a topic transition marker to establish discourse coherence. However, this function of hao was seldom found in the children’s peer conversation. This finding may result from the balanced and symmetrical relations between peers (Piaget, 1932). As previous studies suggested, children’s uses of different discourse markers reflected their recognition of social relations (Andersen et al., 1999). They tended to use certain discourse markers when acting in high status roles while the others in low status roles during pretend plays. Moreover, in Andersen’s (1996) study about children’s use of boundary markers in pretend play, the results suggested that not only frequency but also particular types distributed differently across roles. For example, high status roles such as parents used lexical markers more frequently than lower ones. In addition, parent roles used well more
• 國
立 政 治 大
㈻㊫學
•
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
frequently when talking to their children. On the contrary, they seldom used it when talking to each other. Andersen (1996) proposed that particular types such as well may display “authoritative connotations” (p. 131) and are more likely to be used when interacting with lower status roles. The findings of the present study may indicate similar interpretation. According to Chen and Liu (2009), hao as a transition marker has the pragmatic function to claim or reclaim speakership, which indicates the speaker’s power to control the topics or situations. It is often used by speakers with higher status such as teachers or radio program hosts who have the power to decide and control the topics. Therefore, hao as a transition marker in Mandarin may also have an authoritative connotation. Mandarin children’s use of such a discourse marker related to high status roles like hao may cause damages to their friendships. Therefore, they chose dui instead of hao to signal topic shifts in their conversations. This finding further indicated that children’s understanding of social relations might be reflected in the functions as well as the types of discourse markers they used.
In sum, some similarities and differences of Mandarin-speaking children’s use of discourse markers hao and dui were observed in the present data. Both hao and dui functioned in the information state and the exchange structure of discourse. They served as agreement markers, which indicates the speakers’ collaborative stances, in the exchange structure. Such uses may help Mandarin children build alliances with their peers. On the other hand, some functions of hao and dui in Mandarin-speaking children’s peer conversation were slightly different. Only hao but not dui was used as an acknowledgement marker in the exchange structure. In addition, dui rather than hao functioned as a topic transition marker in the ideational structure. Mandarin-speaking children at age five demonstrated the ability to use linguistic devices like hao to express the receipt of information to make the conversation go smoothly and to
• 國
立 政 治 大
㈻㊫學
•
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
help them maintain the relations with peers. In addition, they used only hao rather than dui as an acknowledgement marker may result from the similar function between dui and backchannels, which were considered among the latest acquired communicative skills. Moreover, Mandarin 5-year-old children were also capable of using dui as a topic transition marker to achieve discourse coherence. Meanwhile, they chose the more neutral topic transition marker dui instead of hao may be related to the symmetrical and balanced relationships between peers. Therefore, the findings of the thesis suggested that Mandarin-speaking children’s use of the multifunction of the discourse markers hao and dui reflects the characteristics of peer relations as well as demonstrates their communicative skills.
• 國
立 政 治 大
㈻㊫學
•
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
81 Chapter 6
Conclusion
6.1 Summary
The study aims to investigate how Mandarin-speaking 5-year-old children use the two frequently appearing discourse markers, hao ‘okay’ and dui ‘right’, when interacting with peers. Schiffrin’s (1987) model of discourse was adopted to analyze the various functions of the two markers. The findings suggested that Mandarin children’s use of discourse markers represents their communicative skills and also reflects the characteristics of peer relations.
In the present study, Mandarin-speaking children used hao in three discourse structures, which includes the information state, the exchange structure and the action structure while dui in the information state, the exchange structure and the ideational structure. Because it is the original meanings of hao and dui as stative verbs that are related to the information state, each token of them was recognized as multifunctional in the information state. That is, no matter which discourse structures the two markers were located in, they functioned simultaneously in the information state.
Mandarin-speaking children used discourse marker hao in the exchange structure to show their agreements or acceptance to others’ suggestion, and to acknowledge their receipts of information; in the action structure hao functioned as declaration of directives, assertives and completion of physical actions. Sometimes hao was found in our data combining with discourse particles such as la and le to express additional interactional functions. On the other hand, Mandarin-speaking children used dui in the exchange structure to confirm the truthfulness of the previous speaker’s information,
• 國
立 政 治 大
㈻㊫學
•
N a tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
thereby expressing their agreement, or in their own turn to affirm and strengthen their subjective beliefs; in the ideational structure dui was used to mark topic transition.
Dui in the current data occasionally appeared with discourse particles a or le.
Several similarities and differences of Mandarin-speaking children’s use of the two discourse markers were also observed in the present data. First of all, both hao and dui functioned in the information state as devices to achieve a shared cognitive state between speakers. In addition, both markers were used in the exchange structure to show the speaker’s agreement. However, only hao functioned as an acknowledgement marker in the exchange structure to indicate the receipt of information while dui marking topic transitions in the ideational structure, even though both markers could serve these two functions in adult conversation.
Consistent with Wang and colleagues’ (2010) findings in adult conversation, Mandarin-speaking children’s use of both hao and dui as agreement markers to express their collaborative stances may further help them establish alignment between peers. On the other hand, that hao, instead of dui, served the function as an acknowledgement marker in Mandarin children’s peer conversation may result from the backchannel usage dui has. According to Hess and Johnston (1988), backchannels were considered among the last acquired communicative skills at around age 7. Not until age 11 could children use them in a more adult-like way. It seemed very likely that Mandarin-speaking children may acquire the backchannel usage of dui relatively late in their development. Even so, Mandarin-speaking children at age five were capable of using devices such as hao to acknowledge their receipts of information to make the conversation go smoothly. Moreover, that only dui but not hao was used by
Consistent with Wang and colleagues’ (2010) findings in adult conversation, Mandarin-speaking children’s use of both hao and dui as agreement markers to express their collaborative stances may further help them establish alignment between peers. On the other hand, that hao, instead of dui, served the function as an acknowledgement marker in Mandarin children’s peer conversation may result from the backchannel usage dui has. According to Hess and Johnston (1988), backchannels were considered among the last acquired communicative skills at around age 7. Not until age 11 could children use them in a more adult-like way. It seemed very likely that Mandarin-speaking children may acquire the backchannel usage of dui relatively late in their development. Even so, Mandarin-speaking children at age five were capable of using devices such as hao to acknowledge their receipts of information to make the conversation go smoothly. Moreover, that only dui but not hao was used by