Adjusting epistemic gradients
The final particle ba in Mandarin Chinese conversation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/10.1558/eap.36120Keywords:
conversation analysis, Mandarin Chinese, final particles, epistemic, the ba particleAbstract
In Mandarin Chinese conversation, the final particle ba contributes to the formation of a variety of social actions. Using the methods of conversation analysis, this article examines the use of the ba particle in answers to questions, informings, and assessments. It is argued that the particle serves as a turn-constructional resource for the adjustment of the epistemic gradient invoked in the sequence, downgrading the speaker’s epistemic position. In assessment sequences, the epistemic adjustment made by the particle also serves to solicit a response from the recipient who invariably has knowledge of the matter in question. An analysis of the ba particle in terms of epistemic gradients and their adjustment unifies two accounts of the particle’s function put forward in the literature.
References
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Cheung, H. S. (1994). A practical Chinese grammar. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.
Chu, C. C. (1998). A discourse grammar of Mandarin Chinese. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Chu, C. C. (2009). Relevance and the discourse functions of Mandarin utterance-final modality particles. Language and Linguistics Compass, 3(1), 282–299. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2008.00105.x
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Heritage, J. (2013). Epistemics in conversation. In J. Sidnell & T. Stivers (Eds.), The handbook of Conversation Analysis (pp. 370–394). Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Heritage, J., & Raymond, G. (2005). The terms of agreement: Indexing epistemic authority and subordination in talk-in-interaction. Social Psychology Quarterly, 68, 15–38.
Heritage, J., & Raymond, G. (2012). Navigating epistemic landscapes: Acquiescence, agency and resistance in ‘repetitive’ responses to polar questions. In J. P. de Ruiter (Ed.), Questions: Formal, functional and interactional perspectives (pp. 179–192). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139045414.013
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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.
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Stivers, T., & Rossano, F. (2010). Mobilizing response. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 43(1), 3–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351810903471258
Tsai, I.-N. (2011). Grammar as situated practices: Conversational practices of two Mandarin yes/no question formats in talk-in-interaction (PhD dissertation). University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles.
Wu, R.-J. R. (2004). Stance in talk: A conversation analysis of Mandarin final particles. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.117
Wu, R.-J. R. (2005). ‘There is more here than meets the eye!’: The use of final ou in two sequential positions in Mandarin Chinese conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 37(7), 967–995. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2004.12.006
Wu, R.-J. R. (2006). Initiating repair and beyond: The use of two repeat-formatted repair initiations in Mandarin conversation. Discourse Processes: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 41(1), 43. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326950dp4101_5
Wu, R.-J. R., & Heritage, J. (2017). Particles and epistemics: Convergences and divergences between English and Mandarin. In G. Raymond, G. H. Lerner, & J. Heritage (Eds.), Enabling human conduct: Studies of talk-in-interaction in honor of Emanuel A. Schegloff (pp. 273–298). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.273.14wu
Cheung, H. S. (1994). A practical Chinese grammar. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.
Chu, C. C. (1998). A discourse grammar of Mandarin Chinese. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Chu, C. C. (2009). Relevance and the discourse functions of Mandarin utterance-final modality particles. Language and Linguistics Compass, 3(1), 282–299. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2008.00105.x
Fox, B., & Thompson, S. (2010). Responses to Wh-questions in English conversation. Research on Language & Social Interaction, 43(2), 133–156. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351811003751680
Goodwin, C., & Goodwin, M. H. (1987). Concurrent operations on talk: Notes on the interactive organization of assessments. IPrA Papers in Pragmatics, 1(1), 1–54. https://doi.org/10.1075/iprapip.1.1.01goo
Han, Y. S. (1995). A pragmatic analysis of the BA particle in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 23(2), 99–127.
Heritage, J. (1998). Oh-prefaced responses to inquiry. Language in Society, 27(3), 291–334.
Heritage, J. (2002). The limits of questioning: Negative interrogatives and hostile question content. Journal of Pragmatics, 34(10–11), 1427–1446. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00072-3
Heritage, J. (2008). Conversation Analysis as social theory. In B. S. Turner (Ed.), The new Blackwell companion to social theory (pp. 300–320). Oxford: Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444304992.ch15
Heritage, J. (2010). Questioning in medicine. In A. F. Freed & S. Ehrlich (Eds.), ‘Why do you ask?’: The function of questions in institutional discourse (pp. 42–68). New York: Oxford University Press.
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. (2013). Epistemics in conversation. In J. Sidnell & T. Stivers (Eds.), The handbook of Conversation Analysis (pp. 370–394). Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Heritage, J., & Raymond, G. (2005). The terms of agreement: Indexing epistemic authority and subordination in talk-in-interaction. Social Psychology Quarterly, 68, 15–38.
Heritage, J., & Raymond, G. (2012). Navigating epistemic landscapes: Acquiescence, agency and resistance in ‘repetitive’ responses to polar questions. In J. P. de Ruiter (Ed.), Questions: Formal, functional and interactional perspectives (pp. 179–192). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139045414.013
Kendrick, K. H. (2010). Epistemics and action formation in Mandarin Chinese (PhD dissertation). University of California, Santa Barbara.
Levinson, S. C. (2013). Action formation and ascription. In J. Sidnell & T. Stivers (Eds.), The handbook of Conversation Analysis (pp. 101–130). Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Li, C. N., & Thompson, S. A. (1981). Mandarin Chinese: A functional reference grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Lin, H. T. (1981). Essential grammar for modern Chinese. Boston: Cheng and Tsui Company.
Liu, M. (2010). Emergence of indefinite article: Discourse evidence for the grammaticalization of ‘yige’ in spoken Mandarin. In A. Van linden, J.-C. Verstraete, & K. Davidse (Eds.), Formal evidence in grammaticalization research. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
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.
Qin, L. (2012). A conversational study of the particle ne in Mandarin Chinese (Master’s thesis). University of Alberta, Canada.
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
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. (2004). On dispensability. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 37(2), 95–149. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327973rlsi3702_2
Stivers, T., & Rossano, F. (2010). Mobilizing response. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 43(1), 3–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351810903471258
Tsai, I.-N. (2011). Grammar as situated practices: Conversational practices of two Mandarin yes/no question formats in talk-in-interaction (PhD dissertation). University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles.
Wu, R.-J. R. (2004). Stance in talk: A conversation analysis of Mandarin final particles. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.117
Wu, R.-J. R. (2005). ‘There is more here than meets the eye!’: The use of final ou in two sequential positions in Mandarin Chinese conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, 37(7), 967–995. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2004.12.006
Wu, R.-J. R. (2006). Initiating repair and beyond: The use of two repeat-formatted repair initiations in Mandarin conversation. Discourse Processes: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 41(1), 43. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326950dp4101_5
Wu, R.-J. R., & Heritage, J. (2017). Particles and epistemics: Convergences and divergences between English and Mandarin. In G. Raymond, G. H. Lerner, & J. Heritage (Eds.), Enabling human conduct: Studies of talk-in-interaction in honor of Emanuel A. Schegloff (pp. 273–298). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.273.14wu
Published
2018-04-17
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Kendrick, K. H. (2018). Adjusting epistemic gradients: The final particle ba in Mandarin Chinese conversation. East Asian Pragmatics, 3(1), 5-26. https://doi.org/10.1558/10.1558/eap.36120
