A contrastive study of discourse markers used by native and Chinese L2 English speakers across speech context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/eap.33278Keywords:
discourse markers, interlanguage pragmatics, context, ChineseAbstract
Discourse markers (DMs) are difficult even for advanced L2 speakers compared with L1 speakers because of their special linguistic features. The influence of contextual factors on the use of DMs has not been examined in detail in the literature. The present article investigates the impact of speech contexts (interview vs conversation) on the use of DMs by native and advanced Chinese speakers of English. Data for the study were gathered using individual sociolinguistic interviews and group conversations. A quantitative analysis revealed that native English speakers used and and just more frequently in the interviews than in the conversations at a significant level; the Chinese speakers of English used oh, ok, and uh huh significantly more often in the conversations than in the interviews. A qualitative analysis showed that the functions of well varied across the contexts by both groups. The article further analyses the reasons for these differences: they can be due to different functions of individual markers across contexts or influence of L2 speakers’ native language (Mandarin Chinese), etc. The results indicate that the advanced L2 English speakers may not have acquired some DMs used by the native English speakers in terms of frequency and functions across the speech contexts. The article suggests that explicit instruction of functions of DMs which are difficult for L2 speakers of English can be strengthened in EFL/ESL (English as a foreign/second language) classrooms.
References
Aijmer, K. (2002). English discourse particles: Evidence from a corpus. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/scl.10
Aijmer, K. (2004). Pragmatic markers in spoken interlanguage. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 3(1), 173–190.
Biq, Y. (2001). The grammaticalization of jushi and jushishuo in Mandarin Chinese. Concentric: Studies in English Literature and Linguistics, 27, 53–74.
Brinton, L. J. (1996). Pragmatic markers in English: Grammaticalization and discourse functions. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110907582
Buysse, L. (2015). ‘Well it’s not very ideal …’ The pragmatic marker well in learner English. Intercultural Pragmatics, 12, 59–89. https://doi.org/10.1515/ip-2015-0003
Carter, R., & McCarthy, M. (2006). Cambridge grammar of English: A comprehensive guide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Clancy, P. M., Thompson, S. A., Suzuki, R., & Tao, H. (1996). The conversational use of reactive tokens in English, Japanese, and Mandarin. Journal of Pragmatics, 26(3), 355–387.
Condon, S. L. (1986). The discourse functions of OK. Semiotica, 60(1–2), 73–101. https://doi.org/10.1515/semi.1986.60.1-2.73
Fox Tree, J. E. (2010). Discourse markers across speakers and settings. Language and Linguistics Compass, 4(5), 269–281. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2010.00195.x
Fraser, B. (1999). What are discourse markers? Journal of Pragmatics, 31(7), 931–952. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(98)00101-5
Fuller, J. M. (2003). Discourse marker use across speech contexts: A comparison of native and non-native speaker performance. Multilingua, 22(2), 185–208. https://doi.org/10.1515/mult.2003.010
Fung, L., & Carter, R. (2007). Discourse markers and spoken English: Native and learner use in pedagogic settings. Applied Linguistics, 28(3), 410–439. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amm030
Goffman, E. (1981). Forms of talk. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Han, G. L., Dong, J., & Xue, L. L. (2010). Discourse markers and conversational coherence: A comparative study of the English DM ‘Well’ and its Chinese counterparts. US–China Foreign Language, 8, 1–8.
Jucker, A. H., & Smith, S. W. (1998). And people just you know like ‘wow’: Discourse markers as negotiating strategies. In A. H. Jucker, & Y. Ziv (Eds.), Discourse markers: Descriptions and theory (pp. 171–201). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.57.10juc
Kjellmer, G. (2009). Where do we backchannel? On the use of mm, mhm, uh huh and such like. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 14(1), 81–112. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.14.1.05kje
Labov, W. (1984). Field methods of the project on linguistic change and variation. In J. Baugh & J. Sherzer (Eds), Language in use: Readings in sociolinguistics (pp. 28–53). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice–Hall.
Lakoff, R. (1973). Questionable answers and answerable questions. In B. B. Kachru, R. B. Lees, Y. Malkiel, A. Pietrangeli, & S. Saporta (Eds.), Issues in linguistics: Papers in honor of Henry and Renee Kahane (pp. 453–467). Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Lam, P. W. Y. (2009). The effect of text type on the use of so as a discourse particle. Discourse Studies, 11(3), 353–372. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445609102448
Lee, H. (2004). Discourse marker use in native and non-native English speakers. In C. L. Moder, & A. Martinovic–Zic (Eds.), Discourse across languages and cultures (pp. 117–127). Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.68.07lee
Li, M., & Chen, X. (2007). Yingyu zhuanye xuesheng xide huayu biaojiyu well yuyong gongneng zhi shizheng yanjiu (Chinese English majors’ acquisition of the discourse marker well: An empirical study). Waiyu Jiaoxue Yu Yanjiu (Foreign Language Teaching and Research), 39, 21–26.
Liao, S. (2009). Variation in the use of discourse markers by Chinese teaching assistants in the US. Journal of Pragmatics, 41(7), 1313–1328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2008.09.026
Lin, Y. L. (2016). Discourse marking in spoken intercultural communication between British and Taiwanese adolescent learners. Pragmatics, 26(2), 221–245. https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.26.2.03lin
Liu, B. (2011). Chinese discourse markers in oral speech of mainland Mandarin speakers. In Y. Xiao, L. Tao, & H. L. Soh (Eds.), Current issues in Chinese linguistics (pp. 364–405). Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Liu, B. (2013). Effect of first language on the use of English discourse markers by L1 Chinese speakers of English. Journal of Pragmatics, 45(1), 149–172. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2012.11.002
Merritt, M. (1978). On the use of ‘OK’ in service encounters. No. 42. Southwest Educational Development Laboratory.
Müller, S. (2005). Discourse markers in native and non-native English discourse. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.138
Sankoff, G., Thibault, P., Nagy, N., Blondeau, H., Fonollosa, M., & Gagnon, L. (1997). Variation in the use of discourse markers in a language contact situation. Language Variation and Change, 9(2), 191–217. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954394500001873
Schegloff, E. (1982). Discourse as an interactional achievement: Some uses of ‘uh huh’ and other things that come between sentences. In D. Tannen (Ed.), Analyzing discourse: text and talk (pp. 71–93). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Schiffrin, D. (1987). Discourse markers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511611841
Schleef, E. (2005). Gender, power, discipline and context: On the sociolinguistic variation of okay, right, like, and you know in English Academic Discourse. Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual Symposium about Language and Society Forum, 48, 177–186.
Su, L. (1998). Conversational coherence: The use of ranhou in Chinese spoken discourse. In S. Huang (Ed.), Selected papers from the second international symposium on languages in Taiwan (pp. 167–181). Taipei: Crane.
Svartvik, J. (1980). Well in conversation. In S. Greenbaum, G. Leech & J. Svartvik (Eds.), Studies in English linguistics for Randolph Quirk (pp. 167–177). London: Longman.
Verdonik, D., Zgank, A., & Peterlin, A. (2008). The impact of context on discourse marker use in two conversational genres. Discourse Studies, 10(6), 759–775. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461445608096572
Wei, M. (2011). Investigating the oral proficiency of English learners in China: A comparative study of the use of pragmatic markers. Journal of Pragmatics, 43(14), 3455–3472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2011.07.014
Yngve, V. H. (1970). On getting a word in edgewise. In M. A. Campbell (Ed.), Papers from the Sixth Regional Meeting of Chicago Linguistic Society (pp. 567–577). Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.
Yuan, Z. (2012). Zhongguo yujing xia ‘ok’ yuyong bianyi de diaocha yanjiu (A survey on the pragmatic variation of ‘OK’ contextualised in Chinese contexts). Yuyan Jiaoxue Yu Yanjiu (Language Teaching and Research), 2, 96–103.
Zheng, Q. (2012). Zhongguo yingyu xuexizhe yanyu fankuiyu de yuyong shihua xianxiang yanjiu (A study of pragmatic fossilisation in Chinese English learners’ back–channel use). Waiyu Jie (Foreign Language World), 2, 65–73.
