Requesting for Clarifications

When receiving a piece of informing which signals message contrary to the chatter’s information state or not existing in his/her knowledge world, he/she may respond with an utterance tagged with an FRT o for clarification. An o-tagged utterance marking the speaker’s request for further clarifications accounts for 43.7%

(182/419) of all the occurrences of FRT o.

(4.22) JJ1: shuxue shujia zuoye shi sha 數學 暑假 作頁[業] 是 啥 math summer-vacation assignment COP what

‘What is the math assignment during our summer vocation?’

LH1: en kan yi ban shu hou xie xinde jige laoshi 恩　.　.看 一 本 書 後 寫 心得 寄 給 老師 RT read one CL book after write feeling mail to teacher

‘Mm, read one book and then write your reflection. (Remember to) mail it to our teacher.’

LH2: ranhao hai you timu yao xie 然後 還 有 題目 要 寫 then still have question need write

‘Then some problems we need to solve as well.’

ÆJJ2: o bu shi na san zhang kaojuan o 喔　.　.ㄅ[不] 是 那 三 張 考卷 喔 RT NEG COP that three CL paper FRT

‘Oh, aren’t they the three test sheets (which were our assignments)?

LH3: xie zai eifour biji ban 寫 在 A4 筆記 本 write in A four note book

‘Just write them in the notebook in the A4 format.’

LH4: na san zhang ye shi a 那 三 張 也 是 阿 that three CL too COP PAR

‘The three test sheets are also included.’

JJ3: shi o wa 是喔　 哇∼∼∼

RT RT

‘Is that so? My goodness!’

LH5: en heng 恩哼

‘Mm hum.’

LH6: ni hai mei xie a 你 還 沒 寫 阿@@”

2SG still NEG write PAR

‘(I can’t believe) you haven’t done it.’

(…the topic continues)

JJ asks LH what their assignment is for summer vacation in JJ1. After receiving the message from LH1 and LH2, JJ uses an IRT o to indicate the successful transmission of the information and utters an o-tagged utterance (JJ2). The o-suffixed utterance signals JJ’s surprise because the prior informing appears to contradict his expectation.

Since JJ shows his unexpectedness, simultaneously he implies that he needs more clarification to eliminate his uncertainty towards the new and unexpected information.

The o-suffixed utterance is therefore perceived as a clarification question to LH, who continues to clarify the ambiguity in LH4. Note, however, that FRT o is not a typical question marker since it mainly indicates the chatter’s unexpectedness and indirectly

invites the prior speaker to clarify. That is it vacillates ‘between a declaration and a question’ (Shie 1991:178). Besides, it is noted that FRT o here can suggest the tone of disagreement in that the prior informing violates his default assumption. Beyond JJ’s expectation again, LH tells him that the assignment JJ mentioned is also included (LH4).

Another example is shown as follows.

(4.23) (CW and MI are freshmen in different colleges.)

CW1: David zaoshang da lai shuo yao David 早上 打 來 說… 要 David morning call come COMP want lianyi

連[聯]遺[誼]

interscholastic-outing

‘David called me this morning and he said he wants to hold an interscholastic outing with (classmates).

ÆMI1: gen ni men xuexiao o 跟 你們 學校 喔???

with 2PL school o

‘Did he mean (he wants to have this activity with students) in your university?’

CW2: dui ya

@@對 呀 RT PAR

‘Yeah.’

　 CW3: wo shuo women ban mei meinu 我 說 我們 班 沒 美女 1SG say 1PL class NEG beauty

‘I said that there are no beauties in my class.’

CW4: ha ta bu xin 哈， 他 不 信 ha 3SG NEG believe

‘Ha, he didn’t believe it.’

ÆMI2: shi o ni kan guo nusheng le o 是喔　. . 　 你 看 過 女生 了 喔?!

RT 2SG see EXP girl PFV FRT

‘Is that so? Have you observed the female (classmates in your class)?’

MI3: mei you zheng de o 沒 有 正 的 喔？

NEG have gorgeous NOM PAR

‘No beauties?’

　 CW5: yiwei xinsheng xunlian 因為 新生 訓練 because freshman training

‘(I’d seen them ) in the freshman orientation.’

CW6: mei sha ye 沒 啥 耶 NEG what PAR

‘There is not any girl who is especially beautiful.’

CW announces the news that David invited CW to hold an interscholastic outing (CW1). Not knowing which school CW is referring to, MI responds to CW’s informing by an utterance suffixed by o marking the receipt of the prior news (MI1).

Concurrently, the o-suffixed utterance in MI1 is perceived as a question by CW, and thus CW reconfirms MI’s uncertainty and continues to develop the current topic.

However, the informing in CW3 runs counter to MI’s expectation since it is unusual that there is no beauty in a class and thus shi-o emerges in MI2 to signal MI’s surprise.

Furthermore, the FRT o in MI2 not only shows the receipt of informing but implies disagreement and doubt. A further indication of the doubt is received by MI3. In order to clarify MI’s confusion and mitigate her disagreement, CW provides more information in CW5 and CW6 to clarify the question in MI2 and the doubt in MI3 respectively.

To sum up, example (4.22) and (4.23) demonstrate that when a piece of information just announced confuses the addressee or when it conflicts with the addressee’s default assumption, the addressee may respond with an utterance with

more substantial meaing suffixed an FRT o to seek for clarification of the message.

Since FRT o shows the speaker’s uncertainty towards the announced informing, the message deliverer is invited to take the next turn to respond to the query and provide further information. Concurrently, since this is the least expected informing, the FRT o may implicate the speaker’s disagreement.