Hesitation Expressions

4.1.2.1 through 4.1.2.3 present the discussion of pause, lengthening, and word repetition. Next, we will discuss the last feature identified in our data, hesitation expressions.

4.1.2.4 Hesitation Expressions

In this section, we analyze co-construction where the speaker‘s progressivity of turn is halted with hesitation expressions. During conversation, co-construction may occur when the speaker utters some hesitation expressions toward the possible completion of his utterance. Once noticing the speaker‘s hesitation, the listener often co-constructs the speaker‘s sentence with the linguistic element projected.

Typical hesitation expressions found in our data are 那個 nage, 那種 nazhong, 一些 yixie, and 什麼 sheme. These hesitation expressions may occur alone or string in series in the speaker‘s unfinished utterance. The distribution of each hesitation expression is illustrated in Table 2.

Table 2. Types of hesitation expressions in the speaker‘s unfinished turn Type of Hesitation Expression Token Percentage

那個 nage 4 44%

那種 nazhong 4 44%

一些+那個+什麼 yixie nage sheme 1 12%

Total 9 100%

As shown in Table 2, the frequency of 那個 nage is equal to that of 那種 nazhong, both of which constitute most of the occurrence of hesitation expressions. One piece of data is identified featuring a combination of hesitation expressions. In what follows is our discussion of each hesitation expression.

4.1.2.4.1 Nage 那個

Previous studies have pointed out that Chinese demonstratives have developed discourse pragmatic functions (Huang 1999; Tao 1994). Huang (1999) identifies eight discourse-pragmatic functions. In particular, 那個 nage, as Huang proposes, functions as a pause marker and marks ―specific lexical retrieval difficulty‖ (Huang 1999:88). In our data, there are 4 pieces of data featuring the hesitation expression, 那個 nage, in the end of the speaker‘s utterance, which reveals the speaker‘s hesitation. For example:

(49) 1 A: 但是 她 是 一 位, danshi ta shi yi wei but she C/F one CL ‗But she is a‘

2 一 個 老闆.

yi ge laoban.

one CL boss

‗a boss.‘

3 B: 楊 老師?

yang laoshi Yang teacher

‗Miss Yang?‘

4 A: 對.

dui

right

‗Yes.‘

5 然後 陳 老師 曾經 是,

ranhou chen laoshi cengjing shi then Chen teacher once C/F ‗and then Mr. Chen once was‘

6 她 的,

ta de

she GEN

‗her‘

> 7 那個, nage that

‗that‘

8 B: [下 屬.

xia shu

down belong

‗her subordinate.‘

9 A: [職 員.

zhi yuan job person ‗her employee.‘

10 下 屬.

xia shu

down belong

‗her subordinate.‘

In (49), the hesitation word, 那個 nage, at the end of A‘s turn shows A‘s lexical retrieval difficulty.

4.1.2.4.2 Nazhong 那種

那 na ‗that‘, as a demonstrative, has grammaticalized to be a definite determiner (Biq 2007; Huang 1999). 那種 nazhong, as Biq (2007) argues, has lexicalized, and its meaning has grammaticalized to a stance marker showing the speaker‘s uncertainty.

There are 4 pieces of data with 那種 nazhong at the end of the speaker‘s sentence, revealing their hesitation.

(30) 1 A: 如果 說 一旦 你 就是 過 了那個 關鍵 期 的 話, ruguo shuo yidan ni jiushi guo le nage guanjian qi de hua if COM once you just pass PF that critical period NOM utterance ‗If you have passed the critical period‘

2 長大 之後 譬如 說 你 大概 zhangda zhihou piru shuo ni dagai grow-up after for-example COM you rough 十 幾 歲 再 來 學 的 話, shi ji sui zai lai xue de hua ten some age again come learn NOM utterance ‗If you learned in your teens‘

> 3 可能 就 沒有 人家 就是 從 小 從 小 開始 學 keneng jiu meiyou renjia jiushi cong xiao cong xiao kaishi xue probably just NEG someone-else just from little from little begin study 那樣子 的 那種.

nayangzi de nazhong.

that NOM that-kind

‗compared with those who started learning since they were little kids‘

4 B: 有效 吧!=

youxiao ba effective PT

‗you might not learn it that effectively.‘

5 A: =對 對 對!

dui dui dui right right right ‗Right.‘

In (30), the comparative construction in Speaker A‘s utterance projects an upcoming adjectival predicate to show the dimension of the comparison. The word, 那種 nazhong, at the end of Speaker A‘s sentence shows Speaker A‘s hesitation.

4.1.2.4.3 Yixie 一些

There is only 1 piece of data containing the hesitation expression, 一些 yixie, at

the end of the speaker‘s sentence. 一些 yixie as a measure word refers to the notion of ―more than one‖. It often co-occurs with general nouns (Biq 2007). Due to the under-specified meaning of 一些 yixie, it is often deployed as a hesitation expression showing uncertainty, as observed in (24).

(24) 1 A: ＝對 啊!

dui a right PT ‗Just right.‘

> 2 我 覺得 應該 要 有 一些 那個 什麼—, wo juede yinggai yao you yixie nage sheme I fell should want have some that what ‗I think they should have some‘

3 我 覺得, wo juede I feel ‗I think‘

4 [台灣 是, taiwan shi Taiwan C/F

‗for Taiwanese people‘

> 5 B: [危機 意識.

weiji yishi crisis sense ‗a sense of crisis‘

6 A: 對 啊!

dui a right PT ‗Right.‘

In (24), Speaker A repeats the syntactic chunk, 我覺得 wo juede, utters a series of hesitation expressions, 一些 yixie, 那個 nage, and 什麼 sheme, and lengthens the final item 什 麼 sheme, all of which in combination shows the halt of the progressivity of turn and extends an ―unprojected opportunity‖ (Lerner 1996) .

4.1.2.4.4 Sheme 什麼

As shown above in (24), 什麼 sheme functions as an ―interactional hedge‖ (Biq 1990), and it also shows A‘s hesitation. If we examine this 什麼 sheme along with the co-occurring item 那個 nage, we can see that 那個 nage and 什麼 sheme together just form a pause marker for conceptual planning identified by Huang (1999) and create the ―extended unprojected opportunity‖ in Lerner (1996).

4.1.2.4.5 Interim Summary

This section is a discussion of the various hesitation expressions deployed by the speaker in his utterance. The hesitation expressions observed in Mandarin co-construction are 那 個 nage, 那 種 nazhong, 一 些 yixie, and 什 麼 sheme.

They may occur alone or string in series in the speaker‘s unfinished utterance.

Their occurrence displays the halt of the speaker‘s progressivity of turn and the speaker‘s hesitation.

4.1.3 Summary

In Section 4.1, we presented our examination of some of the pragmatic features found in the speaker‘s unfinished turn in co-construction, i.e. the speaker‘s pause, lengthening of the final item, word repetition, and hesitation expressions.

Co-construction, especially terminal item completion, may occur without these features manifested in the speaker‘s unfinished turn. However, when these pragmatic features occur in the speakers‘ unfinished turn, they all indicate the speaker‘s hesitation and the halt of the speaker‘s progressivity of turn. The occurrence of these features may invite the listener to co-construct the speaker‘s unfinished turn, but statistically there is no evidence showing that the presence of

these features will enhance the possibility of the listener‘s co-construction.