Hao as a marker in the action structure

國

立 政 治 大

㈻㊫學

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N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

*LIN: 0 [=! screaming].

*LIN: 好. ß

hao okay Okay.

Briefly speaking, in the exchange structure, Mandarin-speaking children tended to use the discourse marker hao to show their agreement and acceptance to their partners’ suggestions, and also to acknowledge their receipt of information. They sometimes combined hao with other discourse particles such as la to imply their unwillingness to agree. Sometimes hao in Mandarin-speaking children’s conversation served as a preferred answer to an A-not-A question hao-bu-hao, which is used to ask for the addressee’s opinion or assessment. The above-mentioned functions of hao in the exchange structure illustrated how Mandarin children forged an alliance with their peers by showing their collaborative stances, and how they intended to maintain the relationships with peers.

4.2.3 Hao as a marker in the action structure

In the present data, Mandarin-speaking children also showed their ability to use hao in the action structure. Previous studies suggested that hao functions as a speech act of declaration initiating directives, assertives or mark the closure/completion of an action (Huang, 2000; Miracle, 1991; Xian, 2007). Xian (2007) claimed that hao is a marker used by speakers to capture the hearers’ attention and declare for a new action, which usually appears in the form of directives, to begin. In other words, hao serves as a declaration marker in the action structure. In the data, Mandarin-speaking children used hao as a declaration of directives, assertives, and the completion of physical actions. According to Searle’s (1981) classification of speech acts, directives

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demonstrate the speaker’s attempts to make the listener to do something. Excerpt 12 illustrates Mandarin-speaking 5-year-old children’s use of hao as a declaration initiating directives in the action structure. In the excerpt, NIN used hao to capture JUN’s attention and to express his attempt for both of them to throw the blocks again.

Excerpt 12. NIN and JUN are playing with some blocks. They pretend they are fighting with some spinning machines and they are attacking those machines with the blocks.

%act: both NIN and JUN throw the blocks out off their hands

*NIN: 好 再 來 一次. ß Mandarin-speaking children’s conversations. According to Searle’s classification, assertives are speech acts that “commit the speaker (in varying degree) to something’s being the case, to the truth of the expressed proposition” (Searle, 1981, p. 12). Excerpt 13 is an example of hao as a declaration of assertives in Mandarin-speaking children’s peer

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interaction. In this example, the two children were playing with a toy car and trying to knock out the plastic trees with it. They were negotiating the next person who can play. In NIN’s second utterance, he used hao to mark his assertion that it was his turn to play with the toy car. Excerpt 14 shows the same function of hao declaring an assertive. NIN used hao to capture CAI’s attention and to initiate his assertion zheyici kan wo de ‘this time (you) watch me do it’ to announce that it was his turn to play.

The utterance also implied that his performance would be impressive.

Excerpt 13. NIN and CAI are trying to knock down all the plastic trees by a toy car.

CAI tried first but only one plastic tree was knocked over.

*NIN: 怎麼 只有 一隻 倒下去 啊?

zeme zhiyou yizhi daoxiaqu a

how come only one knock down PRT

Why (there’s) only one knocked down?

*NIN: 好 換 我 試試看. ß

hao huan wo shishikan

okay change I try

Okay. It’s my turn to try.

Excerpt 14. CAI and NIN take turns to knock down the bells and plastic trees using a toy car.

*NIN: 讓 每 棵 樹 長得 好好的 才 可以 打.

rang mei ke shu changde haohaode cai keyi da let every CL tree grow nicely so that can hit Make every tree stay still so that we could hit (them).

%act: lining up the plastic trees

*NIN: 好 這 一次 看 我的. ß

hao zhe yici kan wode

okay this time look mine

Okay. This time (you) watch me do it.

• 國

立 政 治 大

㈻㊫學

•

N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

Moreover, Mandarin-speaking children had the ability to use hao to declare closures or completion of physical actions. Excerpt 15 and 16 are examples of the children’s use of hao as a declaration of completion. As seen in excerpt 15, JUN at the beginning asked CAI to wait for him because he had not finished building the castle yet. As soon as he finished making the castle, he declared the completion of his action with hao. The function of hao as a completion marker is clearly seen in this excerpt because there is a contrast in JUN’s utterances. He first pointed out that the action had not finished yet. In the next utterance, he used hao to announce and mark the ending point of this action. Excerpt 16 also demonstrates the same function of hao in Mandarin-speaking children’s conversation. In excerpt 16, CAI was trying to move some blocks. When finished moving them, he declared the completion of this physical action by saying out hao.

Excerpt 15. JUN and CAI are building a castle with some blocks in the playroom.

JUN notices that CAI has finished making his castle.

*JUN: 欸 等一下 我 還沒 組 好 喔.

ei denyixia wo haimei zu hao o

hey wait I yet build finish PRT

Hey wait I haven’t finished making up (them) yet.

*JUN: 好 了 ß

hao le finish PRT Okay.

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Excerpt 16. CAI is moving some blocks. NIN wants to help him.

*CAI: 我 一個人 可以 啦 [% 搬積木]. completion of actions, in the present data most of the time when Mandarin-speaking children use hao as a declaration of completion, they tended to use it with particle le as showed above in excerpt 15 and 16. Particle le in Mandarin, according to previous researchers, marks “change of states” (Chu, 1999), or “current relevant states” (Li &

Thompson, 1981), which has compatible function with that of hao as a completion marker. Biq (2004) suggested that hao le as an independent intonation unit marks the transition boundaries of topics. Excerpt 17 is another example of the combination of hao with le in the current data. In excerpt 17, JUN volunteered to help ZHI make up the blocks. He claimed that he could build them. When he did it, instead of using hao, he said hao le to mark the completion of his action and to highlight the change of states.

Excerpt 17. JUN and ZHI are playing with blocks in the room. ZHI is making up the toy house. JUN volunteers to help.

*JUN: /ei/ 我 可以 我 可以 我 可以

ei wo keyi wo keyi wo keyi

hey I can I can I can

Eh, I can, I can, I can (do it).

• 國

立 政 治 大

㈻㊫學

•

N a tio na

l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y

*JUN: 我 可以 拼 出來. [% 組合積木]

wo keyi pin chulai [% building up the blocks]

I can compose come out

I can make it.

*JUN: 好 了. ß

hao le okay PRT Okay.

To sum up, in the current data Mandarin-speaking children used hao as a declaration to mark directives, assertives, and completion of physical actions in the action structure when interacting with peers. Moreover, when declaring the completion of a physical action, most of the time Mandarin children combined hao with discourse particle le to further indicate “change of states” (Chu, 1999).