The sequential environments of positive assessments as responsive actions in Mandarin daily interaction

Authors

  • Yanhong Zhang Taiyuan University of Science and Technology
  • Guodong Yu Ocean University of China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/eap.36911

Keywords:

positive assessment, mandarin chinese, sequential environments, projectability

Abstract

This article, adopting conversation analysis as the research methodology, investigates the sequential environments that normally and sequentially project the occurrence of positive assessments (PAs) in Mandarin daily interactions. Based on the collected data, six different types of sequential environments are identified: they are performing the social actions of self-praise, self-deprecation, troubles-telling, self-PA-implicative conducive yes/no question, offering/granting a request, and informing respectively. When responding to one of these six social actions, interlocutors normally provide a positive assessment as a response. It is demonstrated that these six actions have different degrees of projectability for the occurrence of positive assessments. In addition, their varying degrees of projectability constitute a continuum. Self-praise, self-deprecation, and self-PA-implicative conducive yes/no questions have the highest degrees of projectability, informing has the least, with troubles-telling and offer/granting a request positioning in between. The present study contributes to our understanding of the sequential environments in which Mandarin Chinese speakers make positive assessments to support the social solidarity.

Author Biographies

  • Yanhong Zhang, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology

    Yanhong Zhang is a lecturer at School of Foreign Languages, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, China. She attained her PhD under the guidance of Professor Guodong Yu from Shanxi University, China. Her research interests are conversation analysis and intercultural communication.

  • Guodong Yu, Ocean University of China

    Guodong Yu is a professor of linguistics at College of Foreign Languages, Ocean University of China. He attained his PhD in linguistic pragmatics from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, China, and he studied conversation analysis as an academic visitor at the University of York (UK), Loughborough University (UK), State University of New York at Albany (USA), and UCLA (USA). His research interests are social actions and Mandarin grammar and doctor–patient interactions in conversation analysis.

References

Antaki, C., Houtkoop-Steenstra, H., & Rapley, M. (2000). “Brilliant. Next question …”: High-grade assessment sequences in the completion of interactional units. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 33(3), 235–262. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327973rlsi3303_1

Bolinger, D. (1978). Yes–no questions are not alternative questions. In H. Hiz (Ed.), Questions (pp. 87–105). Dordrecht: Reidel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9509-3_3

Boyle, R. (2000). ‘‘You’ve worked with Elizabeth Taylor!’’: Phatic functions and implicit compliments. Applied Linguistics, 21(1), 26–46. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/21.1.26

Clayman, S. E. (2012). Turn-constructional units and the transition-relevance place. In J. Sidnell & T. Stivers (Eds), The handbook of conversation analysis (pp. 150–166). London: Wiley-Blackwell.

Clayman, S. E., & Heritage, J. (2014). Benefactors and beneficiaries: Benefactive status and stance in the management of offers and requests. In P. Drew & E. Couper-Kuhlen (Eds.), Requesting in social interaction (pp. 55–86). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/slsi.26.03cla

Curl, T. S. (2006). Offers of assistance: Constraints on syntactic design. Journal of Pragmatics, 38(8), 1257–1280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2005.09.004

Dayter, D. (2014). Self-praise in microblogging. Journal of Pragmatics, 61, 91–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2013.11.021

Drew, P. (1984). Speakers’ reportings in invitation sequences. In J. M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action: Studies in conversation analysis (pp. 129–151). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511665868.010

Drew, P. (2009). “Quit talking while I’m interrupting”: A comparison between positions of overlap onset in conversation. In M. Haakana, M. Laakso, & J. Lindström (Eds.), Comparative aspects of conversation analysis (pp. 70–93). Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society.

Fox, B., & Thompson, S. (2010). Responses to wh-questions in English conversation. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 43(2), 133–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351811003751680

Golato, A. (2002). German compliment responses. Journal of Pragmatics, 34(5), 547–571. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0378-2166(01)00040-6

Golato, A, (2005). Compliments and compliment responses. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Goodwin, C., & Goodwin, M. H. (1987). Concurrent operations on talk: Notes on the interactive organization of assessments. Pragmatics, 1, 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1075/iprapip.1.1.01goo

Herbert, R. K. (1986). Say “thank you” – or something. American Speech, 61(1), 76–88. https://doi.org/10.2307/454710

Herbert, R. K. (1989). The ethnography of English compliment and compliment responses: A contrastive sketch. In W. Oleksy (Ed.), Contrastive pragmatics (pp. 3–35). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.3.05her

Herbert, R. K. (1990). Sex-based differences in compliment behavior. Language in Society, 19(2), 201–224. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0047404500014378

Heritage, J. (1984a). Garfinkel and ethnomethodology. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Heritage, J. (1984b). A change-of-state token and aspects of its sequential placement. In M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action (pp. 299–345). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511665868.020

Heritage, J. (1998). Oh-prefaced responses to inquiry. Language in Society, 27(3), 291–334. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0047404500019990

Heritage, J. (2012a). Epistemics in action: Action formation and territories of knowledge. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 45(1), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2012.646684

Heritage, J. (2012b). The epistemic engine: Sequence organization and territories of knowledge. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 45(1), 30–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2012.646685

Heritage, J., & Atkinson, J. M. (1984). Introduction. In J. M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action: Studies in conversation analysis (pp. 1–15). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Holmes, J. (1986). Compliments and compliment responses in New Zealand English. Anthropological Linguistics, 28(4): 485-508.

Holmes, J. (1988). Paying compliments: A sex preferential politeness strategy. Journal of Pragmatics, 12(4), 445–465. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(88)90005-7

Jefferson, G. (1978). Sequential aspects of storytelling in conversation. In J. Schenkein (Ed.), Studies in the organization of conversational interaction (pp. 219–248). New York: Academic Press.

Jefferson, G. (1984). Transcription notation. In J. M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action (pp. ix–xvi). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Jefferson, G. (2015). Talking about troubles in conversation. Ed. Paul Drew, John Heritage, Gene H. Lerner, & Anita Pomerantz. New York: Oxford University Press.

Kim, M. (2014). Why self-deprecating? Achieving ‘oneness’ in conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 69, 82–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2014.03.004

Knapp, M., Hopper, R., & Bell, R. (1984). Compliments: A descriptive taxonomy. Journal of Communication, 34(4), 12–31. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1984.tb02185.x

Leech. G. (1983). Principles of pragmatics. London: Longman.

Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk, B. (1989). Praising and complimenting. In W. Oleksy (Ed.), Contrastive pragmatics (pp. 73–100). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Co. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.3.08lew

Maíz-Arévalo, C. (2012). “Was that a compliment?” Implicit compliments in English and Spanish. Journal of Pragmatics, 44(8), 980–996. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2012.04.004

Manes, J., & Wolfson, N. (1981). The compliment formula. In F. Coulmas (Ed.), Conversational routine (pp. 115–132). The Hague: Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110809145.115

Ochs, E., & Capps, L. (2001). Living narrative: Creating lives in everyday storytelling. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Pomerantz, A. (1980). Telling my side: ‘Limited access’ as a ‘fishing device’. Sociological Inquiry, 50(3–4), 186–198. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-682x.1980.tb00020.x

Pomerantz, A. (1984). Agreeing and disagreeing with assessments: Some features of preferred/dispreferred turn shapes. In J. M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action: Studies in conversation analysis (pp. 57–101). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511665868.008

Pomerantz, A. (1986). Extreme case formulations: A way of legitimizing claims. Human Studies, 9(2–3): 219–229. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf00148128

Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., & Svartvik, J. (1985). A comprehensive grammar of the English language. New York: Longman.

Raymond, G. (2003). Grammar and social organization: Yes/no interrogatives and the structure of responding. American Sociological Review, 68(6), 939–967. https://doi.org/10.2307/1519752

Ruusuvuori, J., & Peräkylä, A. (2009). Facial and verbal expressions in assessing stories and topics. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 42(4), 377–394. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351810903296499

Sacks, H. (1987). On the preferences for agreement and contiguity in sequences in conversation. In G. Button and J. R. E. Lee (Eds.), Talk and social organization (pp. 54–69). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Sacks, H. (1992). Lectures on conversation, 2 Vols. (Fall 1964–Spring 1972). Oxford: Blackwell.

Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language, 50(4), 696–735. https://doi.org/10.1353/lan.1974.0010

Schegloff, E. A. (1968). Sequencing in conversational openings. American Anthropologist, 70(6), 1075–1095. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1968.70.6.02a00030

Schegloff, E. A. (1984). On some questions and ambiguities in conversation. In J. M. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action (pp. 28–52). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511665868.006

Schegloff, E. A. (1996). Confirming allusions: Toward an empirical account of action. American Journal of Sociology, 102(1), 161–216. https://doi.org/10.1086/230911

Schegloff, E. A. (2007). Sequence organization in interaction: A primer in conversation analysis (Vol. 1). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Schegloff, E. A., & Sacks, H. (1973). Opening up closings. Semiotica, 8(4), 289–327. https://doi.org/10.1515/semi.1973.8.4.289

Shaw, R., & Kitzinger, C. (2012). Compliments on a home birth helpline. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 45(3), 213–244. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351813.2012.699251

Wolfson, N. (1983). An empirically based analysis of complimenting in American English. In N. Wolfson & E. Judd (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and language acquisition (pp. 82–95). London: Newbury House Publishers.

Wolfson, N. (1989). The social dynamics of native and nonnative variation in complimenting behavior. In M. Eisenstein (Ed.), The dynamic interlanguage: Empirical studies in second language variation (pp. 219–236). New York: Plenum. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0900-8_14

Wolfson, N., & Manes, J. (1980) The compliment as a social strategy. Papers in linguistics: International journal of human communication, 13(3–4), 391–410. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351818009370503

Wu, R.-J. R. (2012). Self-praising through reporting: Strategic use of two reporting practices in Mandarin conversation. Discourse Processes, 49(8), 622–659. https://doi.org/10.1080/0163853x.2012.722060

Ye, Lei. (1995). Complimenting in Mandarin Chinese. In G. Kasper (Ed.), Pragmatics of Chinese as native and target language (pp. 207–302). Honolulu: Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center. University of Hawai’I at Manoa.

Published

2020-11-16

How to Cite

Zhang, Y., & Yu, G. (2020). The sequential environments of positive assessments as responsive actions in Mandarin daily interaction. East Asian Pragmatics, 5(3), 295-321. https://doi.org/10.1558/eap.36911