In our data, as does shi-o with a statement (29.4%) and with a question (28.2%), free-standing shi-o constitutes over one-fourth of the total of shi-o tokens, 29.4%
(97/330). As noted earlier, it is natural for a recipient to make comments on new information or inquire more about the current topic of talk, and thus shi-o frequently occurs with other turn components. As opposed to shi-o with additional moves
9 Nicknames are the basic visual cues to represent chatters’ identity that they wish to reveal. Based on my observation, chatters usually use a nickname with a short utterance indicating their mood.
which show interactants’ higher involvement in the conversation, when occurring as an independent turn, shi-o acquires a singular function showing the speaker’s disinterest in the informing or the current topic and the intention to curtail the topic.
(3.8) CW1: Danshui you jia hen hao chi de 淡水 有 家 很 好 吃 的 Danshui have CL very good eat ASSOC
‘There is a store selling very delicious cake at Danshui.’
na ni mai Tubo de 那 你 買 土撥 的 Then 2SG buy Tubo GEN
‘Then how about buying some cake from Tubo?’
OK1: bu yao 不 要 NEG want ‘No.’
wo xiangyao xiao xiao xiao xiao xiao dangao 我 想要 小 小 小 小 小 蛋糕 1SG want small small small small small cake
‘I want very small-sized cake.’
CW2: Fei Tai-Tai la 費 太太 啦 Fei TaiTai PAR
‘You can buy one at Fei Tai-Tai Bakery.’
Xinguang lou xia you a 新光 樓 下 有 啊 Xinguang floor beneth have PAR
‘It is in the basement of Xinguang Department Store.’
OK2: ai ya 哎呀 Hey
‘Ai ya.’
Yidie ye you a 一跌[衣蝶)也 有 阿 Yidie too have PAR
‘There is a branch in Yidie Department Store.’
ÆCW3: shi o
是喔 RT
‘Is that so?.’
OK3: en a 恩阿 yeah
‘Yeah.’
yi guan 一 管[館]
first building
‘In the first building of Yidie.’
CW4: ni qu gangan ya 你 去 看看 呀 2SG go see PAR
‘Go and take a look at it.’
yinggai you xiao de 應該 有 小 的 should have small ASSOC
‘There should be small-sized one.’
OK4: ai dao zuihou yiding shi wo chi diao
唉..到 最後 一定 是 我 吃 掉...=_=10"
reach last must COP 1SG eat up
‘But it must be eaten by me at last.’
In excerpt (3.8), the two girls are talking about buying a cake for celebrating OK’s boyfriend’s birthday. CW suggests that OK buy one at a store in Danshui while OK says she prefers a small cake. It reminds CW that there is a famous bakery called Fei Tai-Tai in Xinguang Department Store. However, OK tells her there is a branch of this bakery at Yidie department store, which is new, and thus CW utters shi-o to express her receipt of the informative news which did not exist in her knowledge state.
As soon as OK hears CW3, she reconfirms the message by producing the minimal utterance en a to reconfirm CW’s unexpectedness and adds the information about the
10 ‘=_=’ is a symbol of facial expression used by young people, denoting how such a stupid thing could happen or that the user is embarrassed. There are some variants of the symbol, such as -.-, ==|||, -.-||| , :| and so on.
location of the bakery. However, CW does not care whether OK should go to Yidie or Xinguang department stores. In CW4, CW returns to the original topic of talk to continue her main point that OK should go to look for a small cake at Fei Tai-Tai bakery. Therefore, it appears that the free-standing shi-o is more likely to be curtailing about the location of this bakery because the user does not pursue the talk by a question or even at least make a comment on this. Instead, any detailing of this topic after shi-o, if any, is made voluntarily by the other speaker.
As noted in section 3.1, when a news announcer produces a piece of headline news, he/she usually expects the recipient to show interest by virtue of a response asking more about the topic or giving an assessment to encourage the continuation of the topic. Otherwise, the current speaker would self-select to continue. In stark contrast with shi-o-plus-question, which is a structure of “request-to-tell” and a warrant for the news announcer to move on to the next turn (Button and Casey 1985:24), free-standing shi-o seems to make a conversation more stagnant. The following example is a further illustration of a free-standing shi-o which shows the speaker’s low interest in the news announced.
(3.9) BM1: Xiaozhu bayisan shengri ye 小豬i 813 生日 耶 Xiaozhu August 13th birthday PAR
‘You know, August 13th is the birthday of Xiaozhui.’
ÆCW1: shi o 是 喔 shi o
‘Oh’
BM2: ta qu chonglang 他i 去 衝浪 3SG go surf
‘Hei went surfing.’
BM3: xia dao wo le
嚇 到 我 了 scare reach 1SG PFV
‘What he did scared me.’
CW2: hai bian ba 海 邊 吧 sea side PAR
‘I guess it was ocean surf.’
BM4: buran qu he shang chonglang o 不然 去 河 上 衝浪 喔 otherwise go river above surf PAR
‘Otherwise, was it river surf?’
BM5: ni shi xiang shuo zhe ge ma 你 是 想 說 這 個 嗎 2SG COP want say this CL PAR
‘Is this what you want to say?’
CW3: zhongdian shi qu hai bian wan he
=_=~~~重點 是 去 海 邊 玩~ 呵 key point COP go sea side play ha
‘The key point is to go to the beach, ha.’
CW4: xiang kan zhaopian 想 看 照片 want look picture
‘I wanna see pictures.’
BM6: ai you 唉 唷
‘Mm.’
uui a 對 阿 RT PAR
‘Yeah.’
zheng xiang shuo 正 想 說 right want say
‘That is what I am going to say.’
Ha ha 哈 哈 ha ha ‘Ha ha.’
In (3.9), BM is announcing the news that Xiaozhu’s birthday is on August 13th with ye, which marks “a piece of information as new and impressive” (Shie 1991:155). After the headline news, according to Button and Casey (1985), the news announcer prefers to be asked a question by the recipient so that the announcer can continue the topic.
In other words, he/she does not like to pursue the topic by volunteering to continue the talk but prefers the topic to be continued by the recipient with a question.
However, as we can see from CW’s response in CW1, she does not collaborate by offering a request-to-tell. CW only acknowledges the news announcement with a bare shi-o. Compared with example (3.7) indicated earlier where the recipient designs a further question for the speaker to elaborate on the telling, free-standing shi-o carries a strong overtone of disinterest in pursuing the topic; CW’s lack of
interest can be further supported by CW2 which is perfunctory and redundant in that surfing of course takes place in the sea. Consequently, the current topic does not last too long.
An even more explicit example of the topic-curtailing function of free-standing shi-o is given in the following.
(3.10) OS1: ming tian bu shangban ye ye 明 天 不 上班 耶 耶 next day NEG work RT hurray
‘We don’t need to go to work tomorrow. Yeah!.’
ÆKB1: shi o 是喔 RT
‘Is that so?’
OS2: dui ya 對 呀 RT PAR
‘Yeah.’
KB2: en 恩 RT
‘Mm.’
OS3: ni dou bu xingfen 你 都 不 興奮？
2SG just NEG excited
‘Aren’t you excited?’
KB3: he 呵 ha
‘Ha!’
KB4: wo cai gang fangjia cong nan bu huilai 我 才 剛 放假 從 南 部 回來 1SG just just off from south part back
‘I had a vacation and just came back from the south.’
OS tells KB that there is one day off because of the coming of typhoon. In contrast, KB utters only a free-standing shi-o in response, implying her indifference. The further evidence of KB’s detachment is the empty RT en in KB2, which makes OS frustrated, as shown in OS3. OS is curious about why KB is not excited about a piece of news that almost everyone would love to hear about. KB then explains why she is not and ceases the continuation of the topic.
A radical example can be seen in (3.11), where the speaker’s repeated uses of bare shi-o sound very detached.
(3.11) (KU and JA are talking about whether JA’s parenets got along well with each other during Chinese New Year’s holidays.)
KU1: tamen you zeyang ma 他們 有 怎樣 ㄇ[嗎]??
3PL have how PAR
‘Did anything happen to (your parents)??’
JA 1: hai hao la 還 好 啦
just good PAR
‘Not really.’
J A2: jien nian 今 年 this year
‘This year.’
KU2: (smiley)
JA 2: keneng shi wo yeye shengbing gang huilai 可能 是 我 爺爺 生並[病] 剛 回來 maybe COP 1SG grandfather sick just back
‘Maybe it was bcause they were visiting my sick grandfather, who was just back from the hospital.’
ÆKU3: shi o 是喔!
RT
‘Mm huh.’
JA 3: jiu hen gaoxing a 就 很 高興 ㄚ[阿]
just very gload PAR
‘So they were happy.’
ÆKU4: shi o 是喔! RT
‘Mm huh.’
JA4: suoyi dajia ye gaoxing 所以 大家 也 高興 so everyone too happy
‘So everyone was happy, too.’
JA5: dui a 對 ㄚ[啊]
RT PAR JA6: ranhao
然後 then
‘Then,’
JA7: ye bu xiang zai na zheng changhe zeyiang ba 也 不 想 在 那 種 場合 怎樣 吧 too NEG think at that knnd occasion how PAR
‘They didn’t want to argue with each other on that occasion,’
JA8: wo juede la 我 覺得 啦 1SG feel PAR
‘I guess.’
JA9: buguo zui gai jian de faner mei name jian 不過 嘴 該 賤 ㄉ[的] 反而 沒 那麼 賤 but mouth should scurrilous NOM but NEG so mean
‘But those who were scurrilous were not so at that time.’
JA10: a bu gai jian de ㄚ[阿] 不 該 賤 ㄉ[的]
PAR NEG should scurrilous NOM JA11: faner bian jian le
反而 變 賤 ㄌ[了]
but change scurrilous CRS
JA10-11: ‘On the contrary, those who shouldn’t have been so scurrilous became mean at that time.’
ÆKU5: shi o 是喔! RT
‘Mm huh’
JA12: aya wo zuo tian chi wan nian ye fan jiu qu ㄚ[阿]呀!我 昨 天 吃 完 年 夜 飯 就 去 OAR 1SG last day eat finish year night meal just go guang wufenpu jia raohe jie
逛 五分埔 +[加] 饒河 街 stroll Wufenpu plus Raohe street
‘After the Chinese New Year’s Eve’s dinner yesterday, I went shopping at Wufenpu and Raohejie.’
Before KU1, KU and JA were talking about JA’s parents, who often fight with each other on New Year’s Eve and this made JA worry a lot. To show her concern, KU asked further about the situation happening during the Chinese New Year. A news inquiry is formed by KU to offer the sequential context for KA to tell. After receiving “not really” and brief talk, JA relieves KU of the worry and then KU only utters a free-standing shi-o to signal that the topic is completed. JA, however, moves
on to proffer several possible reasons in the articulation why her parents got along with each other well this year. During this extended telling, shi-o is uttered three times to show KU’s recipiency in the talk and to decline the main floor. This is especially noticeable in the second half of the conversation, starting from JA4 in which JA seems to be talking to herself alone. That is, after many turns, JA4 to JA11, there is only one shi-o occurring singly. Although it signals recipiency of information, it has an opposite effect showing inattention, failure to be interested in the other’s point, or failure to align oneself interactionally. Such inattention finally raises JA’s awareness that her topic cannot attract KU’s interest. Therefore, JA abandons the family topic and introduces a new topic in JA12.
Moreover, a bare shi-o can be produced as a delay to agree with the other participant’s stance, which is illustrated in (3.12).
(3.12) (OS and XT are in their thirties. They are discussing a man, who is 23 years old in a picture sent by OS.)
OS1: ershisan ba 二十三 吧 twenty-three PAR ‘I guess 23 years old.’
XT1: hai shi hai zi 還 是 孩子 stil COP child
‘He is still a child.’
OS2: zehui ne 怎會 呢 how PAR
‘Why?’
XT2: bu shihe wo 不 適合 我 NEG match 1SG
‘We are not well-matched.’
XT3: zeme bu hui
怎麼 不 會 how NEG can ‘Why not?’
ÆOS3: shi o 是喔 RT
‘Is that so?’
XT4: ruguo wo sishi sui ta sanshi sui na hai shuo 如果 我 40 歲 他 30 歲 那 還 說 if 1SG forty year-old 3SG thirty year-old that still COMP
de guoqi 的 過去 CSC pass
‘If I am forty and he is thirty, we will probably be suitable for each other.’
XT5: er shi ji sui bianhua jui duo de shihou 二十 幾 歲 變化 最 多 的 時候 twenty several year-old change most most ASSOC moment
‘People at their 20s change most.’
XT6: hai zai mosuo ziji 還 在 摸索 自己 still ASP explore self
‘They are still exploring themselves.’
OS4: zeyang shuo ye dui 這樣 說 也 對 this- way COMP too right
‘What you said is true, too.’
XT7: en 恩 RT ‘Mm.’
XT8: suoyi wo sishi sui zai jieshao gei wo ba 所以 我 40 歲 再 介紹 給 我 吧 so 1SG forty year old again introduce to 1SG PAR
‘So introduce him to me when I am 40.’
OS shows XT a picture with a 23-year-old man in it, suggesting that XT date him.
XT considers the man too young to have a steady relationship with her. The
declination by XT in XT1, 2, and 3 seem to disappoint OS, and OS responds with the minimal token shi-o. Obviously, OS is reluctant to agree with her immediately but she delays the agreement until OS4 which is a weak agreement with ye that qualifies the agreement dui (cf. Cheng 1989:356-57 on ye ba and ye hao). Such a device is similar to the weak agreement in English, an evaluation plus too, e.g. “I like it, too” in response to “I like it” (Pomerantz 1984:66).
To sum up, over a quarter of the tokens of shi-o occur as a bare form and show the conversant’s minimal involvement. If the other speaker does not pursue the topic further, the topic is usually curtailed and a new topic ensues. As we have demonstrated above, various occurrences of free-standing shi-o within the same topic sound inadequate in that it may lead to an impression that the recipient is inattentive or uninterested in the current topic. Besides, when a speaker proposes a dispreferred informing, shi-o can occur singly to signal the speaker’s relunctance to agree. This can be instantiated by a weak agreement which commonly emerges at the end of the topic.