Other-repetitions in Mandarin Chinese

Functions and responses

Authors

  • Xiuzhen Xiong Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
  • Lihong Quan Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/eap.37068

Keywords:

other-repetitions, responses, functions, mandarin chinese

Abstract

It is generally acknowledged that other-repetitions have various functions in daily conversation. However, no research has yet been done to explore the relationship between their functions and responses. This study sets out to bridge this gap by investigating the functions of other-repetitions in Mandarin Chinese conversations as well as the relationships between the functions and the responses. Adopting the method of conversation analysis, the study shows that other-repetitions may be accomplished by no response, minimal response, and expanded response, which are highly related with the functions that other-repetitions fulfil. Specifically, (i) for other-repetitions serving as reactive tokens to show listenership, alignment, and registering of receipt, no response is needed; (ii) for other-repetitions indicating recipients’ understanding of the previous utterance, a further confirmation or minimal response is generally needed; and (iii) for other-repetitions with a rising intonation or particular stress of certain words indicating recipients’ failure in understanding what is uttered, they will be accomplished by expanded responses.

Author Biographies

  • Xiuzhen Xiong, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

    Xiuzhen Xiong is an English teacher in Matian Primary School in Shenzhen, China. Her research interests are in Conversation Analysis and Second Language Acquisition.

  • Lihong Quan, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

    Lihong Quan (corresponding author) is Professor in the School of English and Education, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. Her research interests are in Conversation Analysis and sociolinguistics. She has conducted conversation analytic research into the organisation of talk-in-interaction in English and Chinese in daily conversation and classroom settings. She has published articles injournals such as System, Discourse Studies, Modern Foreign Languages, etc.

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Published

2019-11-12

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Xiong, X., & Quan, L. (2019). Other-repetitions in Mandarin Chinese: Functions and responses. East Asian Pragmatics, 4(2), 217-238. https://doi.org/10.1558/eap.37068