Chapter Five
Discourse Functions of Shuo as a Discourse Marker
In this chapter, we aim to prove that due to pragmatic inferencing, in addition to functioning as a complementizer, shuo can also function as a discourse marker in a connective frame such as jiushi shuo “that is to say,” piru shuo “for example,” ruguo shuo “if” or suoyi shuo “so.” These expressions will be regarded as connectives for they function either to connect a subordinate clause to a main clause such as ruguo shuo “if” in ruguo shuo shi yanjiu qiu de na zhong wulixue wo hui hen xihuan “If it is that kind of physics which studies balls, I think I will like it” or to connect a sentence to the previous discourse such as jiushi shuo “that is to say” in wo yiding yao nian dao na zhong buyao hen pianpi de xuexiao jiushi shuo jiushi shuo wo juede FuDa hai bu cuo a “I will definitely go to that kind of university which is not in a rural area. That is to say, I think Fu-Jen University is not bad.”
In the following, we will firstly detail the distribution of these connectives. Next, we will discuss the discourse functions of shuo when it co-occurs with different types of connectives. Furthermore, we aim to focus on how the discourse functions of shuo as a discourse marker in a connective frame are related to those of shuo as a complementizer.
5.1 Categorization and Distribution of Connectives
There are totally 114 occurrences, in which shuo co-occurs with different types of connectives. These entries can be classified into four types: conditional connectives, clarification connectives, resultative connectives and negation connectives. The following examples exemplify the co-occurences of shuo with each type of connectives.
(1) Conditional Connective: ruguo shuo “if”
dan tiyu xi qishi ye bu hao nian but sports department actually also not good study danshi wo juede duiyu na zhong qiu a but I feel regarding that kind ball PAT
ruguo shuo shi yanjiu qiu de na zhong wulixue if SHUO BE research ball POSS that kind physics wo hui hen xihuan
I will very like
biru shuo biru shuo zhege dongzuo yao zenme zuo for example SHUO for exampleSHUO this movement want how do cai keyi dengfongzaoji
only can marvelous
“However, actually it is not easy to study physics. But, I think that kind of ball…if it is that kind of physics which studies balls, I think I will like it. For example, it may study how to enact the movement to make it extraordinary.”
(2) Clarification Connective: jiushi shuo “that is to say”
Zhongshan Daxue zhende hen pianpi Zhongshan Univeristy really very countryside wo yiding yao nian dao na zhong I definitely want study come that kind buyao hen pianpi de xuexiao not very countryside POSS school
jiushi shuo jiushi shuo wo juede FuDa hai bu cuo a that is SHUO that is SHUO I feel FuDa still not bad PAT
“Sun Yat-sen University is really rural. I will definitely go to that kind of university which is not in a rural area. That is to say, I think Fu-Jen University is not bad.”
(3) Resultative Connective: suoyi shuo “so”
hui ziji dong jiushi naodai hui ziji jiedu chu lai can itself understand that is brain can itself interpret out come danshi zhe zhong shijian chang duan bu yiding
but this kind time long short not certain suoyi shuo haiyao du bijiao hao
so SHUO still study compare good
“A person will understand by him/herself. That is, the brain can interpret the
information itself. However, the duration of time varies. So, you still had better study.”
(4) Negation Connective: buneng shuo “cannot …”
suoyi ni bixu yao you yi ge so you must want have one GE
keshi ni gengdong but you change
buneng shuo jintian xinqing hao dajia lai huan weizhi cannot SHUO today mood good everyone come change seat
“So, you must have one. But when you want to make a change…it cannot be that if your mood is good today, you have everyone change their seats.”
Next, we quantitatively detail the types of connectives, as shown in Table 11:
Table 11: Categories of the connectives
Category Connective Number Frequency Total
biru “for example” 30 26..3 %
piru “for example” 22 19.3 %
ruguo “if” 7 6.1 %
huozhe/shi “or” 5 4.4 %
xiang “being like” 2 1.8 %
suiran “although” 2 1.8 %
jiaru “if” 1 0.9 %
wanyi “if” 1 0.9 %
zhishi “however” 1 0.9 %
Conditional
zhiyou
“only under this condition”
1 0.9 %
72 (63.2 %)
Clarification jiushi
“that is to say”
24 21.1 % 24
(21.1 %)
bushi “it is not” 6 5.3 %
buneng “it cannot be” 3 2.6 %
buhui “it cannot be” 3 2.6 %
bukeneng
“it couldn’t be”
1 0.9 %
Negation
buyao “it cannot be” 1 0.9 %
14 (12.3 %)
Resultative suoyi “so” 4 3.5 % 4 (3.5 %)
Total 114 100 % 114 (100%)
As we can see in Table 11, the distribution of connective shuo in these four different categories varies considerably. Most of the entries fall into the category of conditional connectives (63.2%). The clarification connectives amount to 24 entries (21.1%) and negation connectives to 14 entries (12.3%). The rest 4 entries (3.5%) belong to the resultative connectives.
5.2 Discourse Functions of Shuo as a Discourse Marker
This section will discuss the discourse functions performed by shuo when used together with conditional connectives, clarification connectives, resultative connectives and negation connectives.
5.2.1 Conditional Connective
Shuo is most likely to be used with conditional connectives. There are totally 72 out of 114 entries (63.2%) of shuo co-occurring with conditional connectives1. Some of the entries where shuo co-occurs with these conditional connectives are exemplified below:
(5) biru shuo “for example”
ruguo shuo shi yanjiu qiu de na zhong wulixue if SHUO BE research ball POSS that kind physics wo hui hen xihuan
I will very like
biru shuo biru shuo zhege dongzuo yao zenme zuo for example SHUO for example SHUO this movement want how do cai keyi dengfongzaoji
only can marvelous
“If it is that kind of physics which studies balls, I think I will like it. For example, it may study how to enact the movement to make it extraordinary.”
1 In the data, there are 206 entries where conditional connectives do not co-occur with shou.
(6) piru “for example”
zhe yang shi bu tai hao de this kind BE not too good POSS
ni keneng yao you yige yi ge jihua you perhaps want have one one GE plan
piru shuo yi kaishi jiu gen dajia jiang shuo for example SHUO one begin just with everyone speak SHUO
o hao women xianzai xian zhe yang zuo o
PAT good we now first this kind sit PAT
“It is not very good in this way. Perhaps you should have a plan first. For example, in the beginning, you should tell everybody that now we will sit this way.”
(7) ruguo “if”
dan tiyu xi qishi ye bu hao nian but sports department actually also not good study danshi wo juede duiyu na zhong qiu a but I feel regarding that kind ball PAT
ruguo shuo shi yanjiu qiu de na zhong wulixue if SHUO BE research ball POSS that kind physics wo hui hen xihuan
I will very like
“However, actually it is not easy to study physical education. But, I think that kind of ball…if it is that kind of physics which studies balls, I think I will like it.”
(8) huozhe/shi “or”
wo shi xiang zhidao jiedu de fangshi shi yiyang ma I BE think know interpret POSS method BE the same QUE
huoshi shuo ni zai dianying zhong ye hui kan dao or SHUO you in movie in also will see come naxie suowei de sheme sheme
those so-called POSS what what
“I just want to know whether the way of interpretation is the same or you can also see those so-called whatever in movie?”
(9) xiang “being like”
na ruguo ni zhe yangzi dehua that if you this kind dehua (if) laogong zhe yangzi dehua
husband this kind dehua (if)
jiu xiang shuo women you xie shihou just like SHUO we have some time
piru shuo wo ba ta nong zai diangou shangmian for example SHUO I hold it put on electronic pot on
“Then, if you do this way, it’s like sometimes we … for example, put it on the electronic pot.”
(10) jiaru “if”
Shida Fuzhong na ge shi Taiwan Normal University Affiliated High School that GE BE
jiushi jiaru shuo ni yihou na ge that is if SHUO you later that GE
gaosan de shihuo a third grade POSS time PAT
ranhuo ni jiu keyi yong zai xiao chengji then you just can use at school grades
“The Affiliated High School of Taiwan Normal University is…that is, if you … when you become a third grader, you can use your grades …”
(11) wanyi “if”
yinwei…
because
wo shi xiang shuo nengbuneng pei ge yanjing I BE think SHUO can-not-can get GE glasses wanyi shuo you shihou wanshang yao kaiche dehua if SHUO have time night want drive dehua (if)
“because…I was thinking whether I should get myself a pair of glasses. If sometimes, I have to drive at night…”
(12) zhiyou “only under this condition”
A: xia yi ci jide next one time remember
B: jiran ruguo shuo yao hua zhe ge
since if SHUO want spend this GE
A: keshi wo yiwei zhe ge zhiyou shuo=
but I think this GE only SHUO
biru shuo ni yao zhu fang cai you for example SHUO you want live room just have
“A: We should remember this next time.
B: Since we have to spend the money…
A: But I thought this happens only when for example you want to stay.”
Among all entries of conditional connectives with shuo, the example-providing connectives biru (90.9%) and piru (84.6%) are far more likely to co-occur with connective shuo, as seen in Table 12.
Table 12: The co-occurrence rate of shuo with connectives
Connectives SHUO Total2 Rate Type
biru “for example” 30 33 90.9 % Conditional
piru “for example” 22 26 84.6 % Conditional
sueiran “although” 2 10 20.0 % Conditional
wanyi “if” 1 5 20.0 % Conditional
huozhe/shi “or” 5 56 8.9 % Conditional
juishi “that is to say” 26 434 6.0 % Clarification
jiaru “if” 1 18 5.6 % Conditional
ruguo “if” 7 126 5.6 % Conditional
The high co-occurrence rate of example-providing connectives and shuo has a lot to do with the similarity between the function of biru or piru and that of shuo.
Complementizer shuo, as discussed in the previous chapter, is used in conversations to signal the speaker’s psychological distance to show his/her uncertainty about the proposition of the complement clause. The discourse function of expressing uncertainty of shuo is compatible with the context where hypothetical and irrealis examples are provided. To help to express the speaker’s hypotheticality when giving
2 This means the total entries where the matrix predicate verbs occur with and without complementizer shuo.
irrealis examples, shuo tends to be present with the conditional connectives biru or piru.
The data shows that the examples following biru shuo and piru shuo are indeed hypothetical ones instead of factual examples. Take (5) and (6) as examples. In example (5), the sentence ruguo shuo shi yanjiu qiu de na zhong wulixue “if it is that kind of physics which studies balls” establishes a hypothetical context and the example given in this hypothetical context biru shuo zhege dongzuo yao zenme zuo cai keyi dengfongzaoji “for example, how to enact the movement to make it extraordinary” is also hypothetical. With regard to example (6), the hypotheticality is coded by the word jihua “plan” which suggests that the proposition has not yet taken place; in other words, piru shuo serves to lead in an irrealis example.
Furthermore, the close correlation between the example-providing connectives and shuo can also be explained by the English counterpart, saying verb say3. In spoken English, the verb say is often used to introduce examples especially when the examples are unfactual as illustrated in the following example4:
(13) um there's gonna be more, uh, more, buildings more hospitals better quality hospitals, um so people in the south are gonna, you know have more access to better health care. um also um, in terms of class, the rich class have, um, much more, access to better health care systems for example say the president of a business, or say a high C-E-O is gonna, h- he's gonna be um, he's gonna have available to him say uh, an ambulance.
In this example, the verb say co-occurs with the phrase “for example” and also serves to provide examples. The examples following say are all hypothesized. Both Chinese shuo and English say are saying verbs and they both serve a similar function:
3 I want to show my sincere gratitude for Professor Li, Ing for pointing out the English counterpart.
Credits should be given to her in that she noticed and shared with me the similarity between English say and Chinese shuo when they are used to introduce irrealis examples.
4 This example is adopted from MICASE (http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/micase/), a corpus which collects the spoken English data in America.
providing hypothetical examples. In other words, saying verbs such as shuo or say when functioning as example connectives are meant to express hypotheticality.
Shuo also frequently co-occurs with other conditional connectives to code conditionality or uncertainty. As discussed in the previous chapter, complementizer shuo can be used to express the speaker’s uncertainty. Thus, shuo tends to co-occur with conditional connectives, which agrees with the principle of iconicity. The data shows that shuo is likely to be present, when there are some other expressions with uncertain interpretations in the conditional clause (37.5%) such as sheme “what,”
keneng “probably” buzhidao “I don’t know” or dui-bu-dui “right?” On the other hand, when there is no word having uncertain interpretation in the conditional clause, shuo usually tends not to be present. Only 4.3% of the data where shuo is not used with conditional connectives contain expressions with uncertain meanings.
Table 13: Conditional connectives co-occurring with expressions with uncertain meanings
with shuo without shuo
biru 10 1
piru 6 2
ruguo 6 3
huozhe/shi 1 0
xiang 1 0
zhiyou/shi 1 0
jiaru 0 0
sueiran 1 1
wanyi 1 2
Total (Percentage) 27 (37.5%)5 9 (4.3%)6
The data where shuo is present suggests the conditional connective phrase altogether functions to express the speaker’s uncertainty about the main clause, as in illustrated
5 There are totally 72 entries of conditional connectives co-occurring with shuo.
6 There are totally 209 entries of conditional connectives co-occurring with shuo.
in (14) and (15).
(14) keshi ruguo shuo biru shuo ta yao jiang yi ge but if SHUO for example SHUO he want make one GE
wenxue zuopin pai cheng yi ge dianying dehua literature work shoot become one GE movie dehua (if) zenmeban
how
“However, if for example he wants to turn a literary work into a movie. How could it be possible?”
In the example (14), both conditional connective phrases ruguo shuo and biru shuo help the speaker express the hypotheticality of the context ta yao jiang yige wenxue zuopin pai cheng yige dianying “he wants to turn a literary work into a movie.” The co-occurrence of both conditional connective phrases together with shuo functions to express the speaker’s uncertainty about the proposition of the main clause. Moreover, the speaker’s uncertainty is also manifested in the questioning main clause zenmeban
“what should I do?”
(15) ranhou jiu bu zhidao wuisheme yue qi yue shun then just not know why more ride more smooth jiushi sueiran shuo he ye meiyou hen shao
that is although SHUO drink also not very little
keshi jiu bu zhidao wuishime jiu hen qi de shun a but just not know why just very ridePOSS smoothPAT
“Then, I didn’t know why I rode more and more smoothly. That is, although I drank not just a little, I didn’t know why I rode quite smoothly”
The speaker in this example was talking about his uncertainty why he could ride his motorcycle smoothly though he had drunk a lot. His uncertainty is manifested by such an expression as bu zhidao wuishime “I don’t know why.” To express the speaker’s uncertainty and intention to hedge his concession sueiran shuo he ye meiyou hen shao
“although I drank just a little,” shuo is used to mark a psychological distance.
In contrast, in the data where shuo is not present, the conditional connective phrase is not meant to express the speaker’s uncertainty but mostly functions to assert the speaker’s opinion on a certain condition, as we can see in (16).
(16) zheyangzi ni jiushi renzhen du in this way you namely hardworking study ni ruguo kao hao dehua you if taking exams well de hua (if) ni you quanli qu suanze xuexiao you have right go choose school ni ruguo mei kao hao you if not taking exams well jiushi bei xuexiao tiao
namely PASS school pick
“In this case, what you have to do now is just study hard. If you do well in the exam, you’ll have the right to choose schools. If you don’t do well, you will be picked by schools.”
In this conversation, this speaker, who is the listener’s mother, wanted her son to know the importance of studying hard. By explaining the merits and the demerits under different conditions which are introduced by ruguo “if,” the speaker aimed to assert her belief in the advantages of studying hard.
Moreover, the data also suggests that in addition to expressions with uncertain interpretations, conditional connectives together with shuo might co-occur with reported thought frames to help to express the speaker ’s politeness, as exemplified in (17). There are three entries (2.8%) of conditional connectives together with nide yisi shi shuo “what you mean is” to express politeness compared with one entry (0.2%) in the data where shuo is not present.
(17) na suoyi nide yisi shi shuo=
that so your meaning BE SHUO
ruguo shuo YanPing de hua if SHUO Yan-Ping de hua (if) tade laoshi hui bijiao zishen his teacher will compare experienced
“Then, what you mean is that if I enter Yen-Ping High School, I can have more experienced teachers to teach me.”
Aiming to paraphrase the interlocutor’s intention, the speaker used the reported thought frame nide yisi shi shuo to express politeness. The use of shuo together with the conditional connective ruguo helps to create a hypothetical context in which the speaker’s paraphrase sounds less assertive.
In summary, conditional connectives together with shuo function to help the speaker express uncertainty about the proposition or the concern about politeness. In principle, the psychological distance marked by shuo is compatible with conditional connectives in that both serve to express hypotheticality. Therefore, shuo is very likely to co-occur with conditional connectives (63.2%) to perform similar functions.
5.2.2 Clarification Connective
Biq (2001) has discussed the functions of clarification phrases jiushi and jiushi shuo7. She maintains that these two phrases are undergoing grammaticalization and that they are becoming semantically empty and can fulfill the interactional function as
7 The adverbial phrase jiushi shuo in Chinese is similar to its English counterpart that is to say. In English, the phrase that is to say is usually regarded as an adverbial phrase. Although this phrase is itself in the form of a clause, its discourse function renders it to behave more like an adverb
resembling namely or in other words which functions to elaborate or to clarify the speaker’s meaning in another way. In addition to performing the function of making clarification, these two adverbial phrases, jiushi shuo in Chinese and that is to say in English, are also similar in terms of their semantic components. Both jiushi shuo and that is to say make use of the verbs of saying shuo in Chinese and say in English. Moreover, both phrases can omit the verbs of saying shuo and say and still perform the same function (jiushi in Chinese and that is in English). In sum, due to the similarities between jiushi shuo in Chinese and that is to say in English, the present study views jiushi shuo as an equivalent adverbial phrase to English that is to say.
floor holders. However, she has not attempted to probe into the difference between these two phrases in terms of the function of shuo. In this section, we will discuss that jiushi shuo not only functions to clarify or as a floor holder in the interaction but also performs the discourse function of helping the speaker express uncertainty, which distinguishes jiushi shuo from jiushi.
There are totally 24 entries, in which shuo co-occurs with the clarification connective jiushi. In contrast, there are 410 entries where the clarification connective does not co-occur with shuo. The following two examples (18) and (19) exemplify the clarification phrases with and without shuo respectively.
(18) wo yiding yao nian dao na zhong I definitely want study come that kind bu yao hen pianpi de xuexiao not want very countryside POSS school
jiushi shuo jiushi shuo wo juede shuo FuDa hai bu cuo a that is SHUO that is SHUO I feel SHUO FuDa still not bad PAT
“I will definitely go to that kind of irremote university. That is to say, I think Fu-Jen University is not bad.”
(19) wo juedui bu nian na zhong zhijie kexi I definitely not study that kind direct subject jiushi leisi na zhong wuli xi na zhong namely similar that kind physics department that kind wo juedui bu nian
I definitely not study
suoyi wo keneng nian zixiun kexue zhe zhong de ba so I probably study information science this kind POSS PAT
jiushi bijiao wenke de like namely more liberal art POSS science
“I will definitely not going to study that kind of subject, namely, the department of physics. I will absolutely not going to study that. So, I will probably study something about information science, namely something more like liberal arts.”
The data of jiushi shuo points to the direction that the use of shuo helps the
speaker express uncertainty in his/her clarification. The speaker’s uncertainty is usually marked by the expressions with uncertain or hypothetical interpretations such as ruguo “if,” zen(me)yang “how,” sheme “what” or keneng “perhaps.” Among totally 24 entries of jiushi shuo, there are 10 entries (41.7%) in which expressions with uncertain interpretations are present. In contrast, when the speaker is more certain about his/her clarification, shuo tends not to be used in the clarification phrase jiushi.
There are only 16 out 410 entries of jiushi (4.1%) where the speaker’s uncertainty is discerned. Most of the entries of jiushi serve to clearly clarify the speaker’s intention instead of expressing uncertainty. The following examples (20) and (21) show the difference between jiushi shuo and jiushi.
(20) ranhou ta yingpian jieshu hou a then he movie finish after PAT
ranhou jieguo then result
bushi you yixie yingpian jieshuwan isn’t have some movie finish
dou hui you pao yixie zi chulai always will have run some words out
jiushi shuo sheme a zhe ge zhe ge xianzai zenyang le namely SHUO what PAT this GE this GE now how ASP
jiushi jiang chu shishi a namely speak out fact PAT
“Then, after the movie was finished, wasn’t there always some words coming out;
that is, what is going on right now like what or how. In short, that tells you the fact.”
The speaker in this example attempted to explain the closing remarks which sometimes appear at the end of movies. In the beginning, however, the speaker was not completely sure about the content of the closing remarks and thus gave a vague clarification by using some expressions with uncertain interpretations including sheme
“what” and zenyang “how.” To make himself sound less certain, the speaker used
shuo in the clarification phrase. Then, the speaker seemed to come to know exactly what the closing remark is usually about and therefore made a more definite clarification shishi “fact” introduced by the clarification phrase jiushi without shuo.
(21) Zhong Shan Da Xue hen pianpi Sun Yet-sen University very remote
jiushi wo bu yao nian hen pianpi de xuexiao namely I not want study very remote POSS school wo yiding yao nian dao na zhong
I definitely want study come that kind bu yao hen pianpi de xuexiao not want very remote POSS school jiushi shuo jiushi shuo
namely SHUO namely SHUO
wo juede shuo FuDa hai bu cuo a I feel SHUO FuDa kind of not bad PAT
“Sun Yet-sen University is very remote. Namely, I don’t want to study in a remote school. I will definitely go to that kind of not-rural university. That is to say, I mean Fu-Jen University is kind of not bad.”
In this example, the speaker wanted to tell his mother that he did not want to enter a remote university. He began his turn by describing Zhong Shan University as a remote school and then he clarified his strong will of not attending a university located in the countryside. The speaker’s strong will was shown by the expression yiding
“definitely” and was led in by the clarification phrase jiushi. Afterwards, when the
speaker intended to specify what he meant by bu yao hen pianpi de xuexiao “not-rural schools,” he was not sure about any typical example but mention FuDa “Fu-Jen University” as a possible example. The speaker’s indefiniteness is manifested by such expressions as wo juede shuo “I think/mean” and hai “kind of.” The reported thought frame as discussed in the previous chapter can function to express the speaker ’s
uncertainty and concern about politeness, and the use of hai “kind of” shows the speaker’s will of not specifying his statement.
To sum up, the current data suggests that the presence of shuo together with jiushi helps to express the speaker’s uncertainty in his/her clarification whereas the absence of shuo in the clarification phrase means the speaker’s definiteness in the clarification.
5.2.3 Resultative Connective
Although there are merely 4 entries (3.5 %) of resultative connectives in the data, they serve as a support to the claim that the use of shuo expresses the speaker’s concern about politeness in conversations. The data shows that all four entries (100%) of the resultative connective phrase suoyi shuo serve to lead in the speaker’s suggestion as a conclusion in a less face-threatening way. Superficially, the speaker’s suggestions may sound slightly like requests or demands and thus face-threatening because these suggestions are all presented in the form of imperative sentences. To lessen the speaker’s imposition in the suggestion and to sound less face-threatening to the interlocutor, shuo is likely to be present together with the resultative connective suoyi, as illustrated in the examples below.
(22) A: hui ronghuiguantong jiu dui le can understand just correct ASP
B: hui ziji dong can itself understand
jiushi naodai hui ziji jiedu chu lai that is brain can itself interpret out come
danshi zhe zhong shijian chang duan bu yiding but this kind time long short not certain
suoyi shuo haiyao du bijiao hao so SHUO still study compare good
“A: You will understand it, right?
B: A person will understand by him/herself. That is, the brain can interpret the information itself. However, the duration of time varies. So, you still had better study.”
In this conversation, Speaker A and Speaker B were talking about how to study math well. Speaker B felt that Speaker A might not fully understand the way of studying math effectively. Therefore, Speaker B made a more detailed explanation and then gave a suggestion as a conclusion that Speaker A had better still study on his own instead of relying on his own intelligence to understand everything. In order to make this suggestion sound less offensive, Speaker B used shuo in the resultative connective phrase.
(23) A: ta jiu shuo buguan qingtian yutian dou yao he just SHUO disregard sunny days rainy days always want
ta jiu shuo ta jiu you yidian huohui yang
he just SHUO he just have little regret feed B: na zenmeban
that how song ren give others
A: buxing a ta dangran shi zuiba shang zhe yiangzi jiang not allow PAT he certainly BE mouth on this kind speak
na song ren dangran shebude a
that send person certainly cannot let go PAT
suoyi shuo yang gou yao xiang qingchu a so SHUO feed dog want think clear PAT
“A: He just said no matter sunny days or rainy days, he will…He said he regretted a little bit.”
“B: Then, how to do with that? Give it to other people?”
“A: Of course not! Although he said he wouldn’t feel sad, he would definitely feel very harsh when his dog was sent away. So you have to think clearly before you decided to have a dog.”
Speaker A in this conversation was giving comments on one of her friends’ keeping
dogs. She intended to emphasize her problem of being compelled and difficult to send away dogs. When she came to the conclusion of the comment, she made a suggestion which is in the form of an imperative sentence: yiang guo yao xiang qingchu “you have to think carefully before you decide to keep a dog.” This imperative suggestion may sound offensive and demanding to the interlocutor. Therefore, in order to tone down the speaker’s suggestion, shuo is attached to suoyi to help the speaker maintain politeness.
On the other hand, unlike suoyi shuo, only 3 out of totally 203 entries (1.5%) of the resultative connective suoyi perform the function of giving a less face-threatening suggestion as a conclusion. Most of the data where suoyi does not co-occur with shuo, the resultative connective mainly functions to present a result as shown in (24).
(24) wo juedui bu nian na zhong zhijie kexi I definitely not study that kind direct subject jiushi leisi na zhong wuli xi na zhong namely similar that kind physics department that kind wo juedui bu nian
I definitely not study
suoyi wo yao nian zixun kexue zhe zhong de ba so I want study information science this kind POSS PAT
jiushi bijiao wenke de like namely more liberal art POSS science
“I will definitely not going to study that kind of subject. That is, I will absolutely not going to study in the department of physics. So, I will probably study something about information science, namely something more like liberal arts.”
The resultative connective suoyi in this example was mainly meant to lead in the speaker’s conclusion in response to his criticism of the department he disliked.
In summary, the data suggests that shuo is usually used together with the resultative connective suoyi to help the speaker maintain politeness in conversations by lessening the directness or the offensiveness shown in the conclusive suggestion.
5.2.4 Negation Connective
The current data also shows that shuo can co-occur with negation connectives to lessen the speaker’s assertiveness in negating the interlocutor’s opinion. The negation connectives include bushi, buneng, buhuei, bukeneng and buyao which should be translated as either “it is not” or “it cannot be” and there are totally 14 entries (12.3%) out of the data where shuo co-occurs with connectives in contrast to 536 entries where these negation connectives do not co-occur with shuo. When shuo is present in this construction, it should not be deemed as a complementizer because it does not follow the matrix predicate, as shown in the following example where shuo functions as a complementizer linking the complement clause to the main predicate jiang:
(25) na wo jiu gen women tongshi jiang shuo=
that I just with our colleague say SHUO
na tian wo zai nabian deng nimen jiu hao that day I BE there wait you just fine
“Then, I will tell my colleagues ‘I will just wait for you there that day.’”
On the other hand, when co-occurring with negation auxiliaries, shuo should be viewed as part of the negation connective which helps to link the predicate to the ma in clause, as we can see in (26) where shuo functions to link the predicate xian “become relaxed” to negation auxiliary bushi “didn’t.”
(26) wo hao xianmu ta I much envy she
ta xianzai tuixiu haishi you gongzuo she now retire still have work ta bushi shuo jiu xian zai jia ye she not SHUO just relaxed at home PAT
“I envy her so much. She is still working after retirement. She does not just stay at home and becomes relaxed.”
When shuo is used together with negation auxiliaries by which the speaker ’s strong objection is revealed, it serves to tone down the speaker ’s opposing opinion which may sound face-threatening or offensive to the interlocutors. To directly challenge or dare the interlocutor by negating the interlocutor’s opinion is in nature very face-threatening in a face-to-face conversation. In most of the data (10 out of 14 entries: 71.4%)8, the speaker expresses a strong opposition to the interlocutor’s opinion by using negation auxiliaries. In this case, in order to make the speaker sound less face-threatening and maintain the harmony in the face-to-face conversation, shuo is likely to be present to signal the speaker’s concern about politeness, as shown in examples (27) and (28).
(27) a ni bushi shuo jiao wo
PAT you not SHUO ask I jintian zaoshang deng ni today morning wait you deng ni de dianhua wait you POSS telephone dou deng meiyou always wait nothing
“Didn’t you ask me to wait for you this morning? I waited for your telephone but I didn’t get any.”
In (27), the speaker was challenging the interlocutor by using a negative interrogation, for she had been promised a phone call but eventually did not get any. The speaker made this objection to the interlocutor’s making the promise and it was in essence very face-threatening. The presence of shuo in this case helped the speaker mitigate this objection and save some face for the interlocutor.
8 In contrast, in the data in which negation connectives do without shuo, there are merely 27 entries out of 536 (5.0%) which are meant to express the speaker ’s strong negation.
(28) zhe shi hen nage de this BE very that POSS
suoyi ni bixu yao you yi ge so you must want have one GE
keshi ni gengdong but you change
ni buneng shuo jintian xinqing hao you cannot be SHUO today mood good dajia lai huan weizhi
everybody come change seat
“This is very…so you must have a …but if you want to change…it cannot be if one has a good mood today, then he or she is going to have everybody change their seats.”
In this example, the speaker expressed his strong opposition to the interlocutor’s opinion on changing students’ seats. The speaker’s objection was shown by the words zhe shi hen nage de “this is very…,” which implies that the interlocutor’s decision is very unacceptable. The strong unacceptability of the interlocutor’s decision was also manifested in the speaker’s explicit mentioning the second person subject ni “you” in ni buneng “you cannot.” To handle such an explicit face-threatening negation, shuo is likely to be present together with the negation auxiliary buneng to serve as a mitigator to lessen the speaker’s assertiveness.
In view of maintaining politeness, the use of shuo facilitates the speaker to establish a psychological distance, which serves as a boundary between the negation auxiliaries and the interlocutor’s opinion. As a result, the act of negation will not be straightforwardly imposed onto the interlocutor. By doing so, the speaker sounds less direct and the politeness in a face-to-face conversation is thus maintained. In sum, the data suggests that the presence of shuo, when co-occurring with negative connectives, functions as a mitigator to tone down the speaker ’s negation of the interlocutor’s thought.
5.3 Complementizer Shuo and Discourse Marker Shuo
The previous sections have discussed the discourse functions performed by shuo either as a complementizer or as a discourse marker in a connective frame. This subsection aims to examine how these two types of shuo are related in terms of their discourse functions.
Chapter Four and this chapter have argued that the presence of shuo in face-to-face conversations mainly functions to create a psychological distance. With this distance, the speaker is able to express his/her uncertainty about the information value of the complement proposition or to express his/her concern about politenss during the interaction. How these functions are manifested in different constructions is illustrated in Table 14.
Table 14: Discourse functions of shuo as a complementizer and as a discourse marker9
uncertainty politeness
with shuo without shuo with shuo without shuo
reported speech frames 34.5% 6.4% 5.5% 2.1%
reported thought frames 27.1% 2.0% 35.4% 0.2%
conditional connectives 37.5% 4.3% 2.8% 0.1%
clarification connectives 41.7% 4.1%
resultative connectives 100.0% 1.5%
negation connectives 71.4% 5.0%
Table 14 illustrates the relation between the discourse functions of shuo as a complementizer and those of shuo as a discourse marker in a connective frame. First, it is shown that both types of shuo can be used to perform discourse functions of expressing uncertainty and poiteness. In almost all of the constructions, the presence of shuo tends to signal the speaker’s intention of performing these functions compared
9 The percentage of common verbal frames is not included in this table due to few entries.
with the entries where shuo is not present. Secondly, the data shows the tendency that in most cases particularly in reported speech frames, conditional connectives and clarification connectives, the presence of shuo functions to mark the speaker’s uncertainty. The tendency may result from the unreliable source of information such as the third person subjects in reported speech frames or from hypothetical contexts created by conditional connectives. On the other hand, the presence of shuo in reported thought frames, resultative connectives and negation connectives is more likely to be meant to express politeness in the interaction by lessening the speaker ’s assertiveness in expressing the speaker’s opposite opinion, conclusive suggestion or negation. In conclusion, due to their similarity of linking two constituents and pragmatic inferencing, shuo either as a complementizer or as a discourse marker in a connective frame perform similar discourse functions. Table 14 suggests that the use of shuo is still undergoing grammaticalization and that the presence of shuo does not necessarily entail these discourse functions but only have the tendency to perform these functions.
5.4 Summary
This chapter has detailed how differnt discourse functions are performed by different connectives together with shuo as a discourse marker. The data points to the direction that the presence of shuo tends to mark a psychological distance which helps to signal the speaker’s uncertainty and concern about politeness in different constructions. First of all, shuo is most likely to be used with conditional connectives to mark the speaker’s uncertainty coded by irrealis examples or by hypothetical contexts. Secondly, shuo also tends to be present with clarification connective jiushi to signal the speaker’s uncertainty in his/her clarification. Next, when occurring in the resultative connectives, the presence of shuo is meant to lessen the directiveness of
the speaker’s seemingly demanding suggestion. Finally, to deal with possible confrontation in the interaction, shuo tends to be present to soften the speaker ’s negation of the interlocutor’s opinion.
