Other-initiated Topic

FRT o can be tagged to a new topic which is come up with by the prior speaker, as is also found in Taiwanese o (Li 1999). It takes up 8.4% (35/419) of all the occurrences of FRT o. Observe example (4.19) in the following.

(4.19) SA1: ni you yao gen ni nan peng qu nali kua nian ma 你 有 要 跟 你 男 朋友 去 那裡 跨 年 嗎...

2SG have want with 2SG boy friend go where cross year PAR

‘Do you have any plan with your boyfriend on New Year’s Day?

GG1: ai lao le mei dongle zhi xiang chi 唉.. 老 了.. 沒 動力.. 只 想 吃:-#

RT old CRS NEG motivation only want eat

‘I am getting old. I don’t have any motivation (to join any activities).

What I want is to eat.’

GG2: ni ne 你 ㄋ[呢]

2SG PAR

‘How about you?’

SA2: suoyi mingtian yao qu chi dai can 所以 明天 要 去 吃 大 餐??

so tomorrow will go eat big meal

‘So are you going to enjoy a big meal tomorrow (to celebrate New Year)?

ÆSA3: wo o hui gen <L2 Pitt L2> hai you xuedi 我 喔.. 會 跟 <L2 Pitt L2> 還 有 學弟

1SG FRT will with Pitt still have junior school mate yiqi guo ba

一起 過 吧...

together pass PAR

‘Me? Probably, I’ll celebrate New Year with Pitt and a junior school mate.’

GG3: wa zhen qinlao 　 挖　.　.　. 真 勤勞

Gee really industrious ‘Gee! You are so vigorous.’

GG4 :ting shuo shi jiufen dui ba 聽 說 是 九份.. 對 ㄅ[吧]

hear say COP Jiufen right PAR

‘It is said that you plan to go to Jiufen, don’t you?’

(The topic continues to be developed on SA’s activity on New Year’s Day.)

At the beginning, SA initiates the topic about how GG will celebrate the coming of New Year’s Day. GG1 shows that she will not have any special activity on that day and then she asks how SA will spend that holiday. The suffix o in SA3 signals SA’s receipt of the previous enquiry in GG2, and in the following, the whole trajectory of talk shifts to how SA celebrates the New Year’s Day. Notice that when comparing IRT o and FRT o in this function, we find that the distinction is made by whether the topic is introduced by the speaker himself/herself. Both IRT o and FRT o are used to mark the receipt of the prior informing and the speaker’s change of knowledge state.

However, the topic after IRT o is introduced on the current speaker’s initiative for

further information while the one after FRT o is introduced by the prior speaker (SA, in (4.19)) since the o-suffixed utterance marks the reception of the topic which has just been brought up.

4.2.3 Mitigator

Li and Thompson (1981:311) argue that utterance final o is a particle showing the speaker’s caring and concern. Among the uses of o in the MSN talk, in addition to marking the receipt of prior information, this use of o tagged to an utterance is also found to soften a directive. However, it only accounts for 2.9% (13/419) of all the uses of FRT o.

(4.20) CW1: wo jin tian qing jia hueilai 我 今 天 請 假 回來 1SG this day ask leave back

‘I asked for a leave today.’

MI1: gan ma 幹嘛

‘For what?’

CW2: yinwei hao bu shufu 因為 好 不 舒服

because very NEG comfortable

‘Because I didn’t feel good.’

MI2: xiuxi ma 休息 嘛 rest PAR

‘Then take a rest.’

CW3: en en 嗯嗯 RT

‘Mm hum.’

ÆMI3: na guaigai o 那 乖乖 喔 then good FRT

‘Then take care.’

CW4: wo hui ya 我 會 呀 1SG will PAR

‘Sure.’

(the end of the topic )

CW has a part-time job during summer vacation. She tells MI that she takes a day off in that she does not feel good (CW1). Receiving the bad informing, MI shows her concern as if she were CW’s mother by virtue of o-suffixed suggestion. FRT o here smoothes the tone of imperative and speaker’s concern is revealed. Another example shows the speaker’s warning, as indicated in (4.21).

(4.21 ) CW1: wo yao zhao ren bao yang wo 我要找人包養我

1SG want find person wrap keep 1SG

‘I want to be someone’s concubine.’

LM1: kao 靠

dependent

‘Shit.’

CW2: smiley

LM2: wo juede yang wo nu pengyou yijing hen chili le 我 覺得 養 我 女 朋友 已經 很 吃力 了 1SG feel keep 1SG girl friend already very laborious CRS I feel that supporting my girlfriend has cost me a lot.’

LM3: jiao shouji fei jiu liang qian 角[繳] 手機 費 就 兩 千 pay cell-phone fee just two thousand

‘Just for the phone bill, I need to spend two thousand (every month) on it.’

CW2: duo yang yi dian ba 多 養 一 點 吧 more keep one CL PAR

‘You can raise one more (person).’

LM4: ＝ ＝

CW3: wo chi hen shao

我 吃 很 少 1SG eat very less

‘I don’t eat much’

CW4: wo yi ge yue shi wuan jiu hao 我 一 個 月 10 萬 就 好 1SG one CL month ten ten-thousand just okay

‘It will only cost ten thousand each month (if I were your concubine).’

ÆLM5: ni tai gui le o 你 太 貴 了 喔 2SG too expensive CRS FRT

‘Hey! You are too expensive.’

CW5: ha ha ha 哈 哈 哈 ‘ ha ha ha

‘ha ha ha.’

LM6: mei ren hui yang 沒 人 會 養 NEG person will keep

‘No one will support you.’

CW6: hai hao la 還 好 啦 still good PAR

‘I don’t think so.’

(The following shifts to another topic.)

CW jokes with LM that she wants to be a concubine. In LM2 and LM3, LM tells CW that it is difficult for him to have another lover since financially just paying the cell phone bill for his current girlfriend is already a big load to him. CW plays a joke on LM that she would like to be LM’s concubine if LM pays her one hundred thousand dollars a month (CW4). In LM5, the warning attached to by an FRT o reminds CW of the fact that CW neglected (cf. Shie 1991:169), i.e. it is too expensive to keep her as a concubine. He warns CW that she is asking too much and no one would take her (LM6). With FRT o, however, the warning sounds mild and

humorous, particularly in the contxt where the two interlocutors are joking,.

In sum, FRT o may be used to mark the receipt of information and at the same time mitigate the degree of directive force and show the speaker’s concern.

Additionally, the overall tone of FRT o in this use is soft and mild, which is similar to Taiwanese o, which has the function of decreasing the degree of demanding (Li 1999:168). The fact that it is less frequent might be because such a use is often used by people who are in different social statuses, like mother to child, teacher to student, and so on. However, all of the MSN chatters in our study are peers, and this factor may therefore reduce such a use of FRT o.