A Study On The Discourse Markers In Turn-taking Process In The Big Bang Theory

As a very common phenomenon in daily conversations, turn-taking has been oneof the central issues in conversation analysis. In the mean time, discourse markers hasgradually become an integral part in verbal communications. Nonetheless, a fact hasalways been neglected: discourse markers occur in turn-taking with a high frequency,and the accurate understanding and flexible application of discourse markers processcan enhance language communication efficiency. Therefore, the research of discoursemarkers in turn-taking is assumed to have both theoretical and practical significance.However, researches which dissect the discourse markers in turn-taking from theperspective of pragmatics have not been widely examined.With the data from the noted American sitcom The Big Bang Theory (SeasonⅠ),this thesis does research about the functions of discourse markers in turn-takingin The Big Bang Theory from a pragmatic perspective on the basis of the analyticframework of turn-taking proposed by Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson (1974) on thefoundation of existing researches.The major researches about discourse markers are Schiffrin’s coherence-basedstudies, Blakemore’s relevance-based studies and Bruce Fraser’s pragmatic approach,among which both Schiffrin and Fraser focus on local coherence of the utterances.The current study follows Schiffrin’s (1987) framework of analysis of discoursemarkers especially in the exchange structure—sequences of turn-taking in The BigBang Theory focusing on more global dimensions of coherence as well as localcoherence and attempts to describe the strategies that discourse markers have inturn-initiating, turn-holding, and turn-yielding, according to Sacks et al.’s (1974)seminal framework for English conversation, and further analyzes their functions inrevealing the characterization, characters’ relationship, and the theme of the play. Thepresent study, based on the different definitions in different periods and from variousangles, comes to the conclusion that discourse markers possess the following threemain features: first, they are grammatically optional or syntactically independent;second, they have little or no propositional meaning; third, they have multifunctionality with high frequency in oral discourse.This thesis aims to study the employment of discourse markers in The Big BangTheory from the perspective of turn-taking system, i.e., turn-initiating, turn-holdingand turn-yielding. It firstly define turn-taking and discourse markers on the basis ofthe existed researches, then dynamically describe the positions of discourse markersin turn-taking in The Big Bang Theory, and their functions in turn-initiating,turn-holding and turn-yielding through the adoption of descriptive and explanatorymethods. Through observation, the reasons for the use of discourse markers inconcrete contexts are expounded. In the mean time, the methods of qualitative andquantitative analysis are also combined to carry out the pragmatic illustration ofdiscourse markers under discussion. The study shows that discourse markers in TheBig Bang Theory have the functions of getting attention, shifting topics, continuing ordelaying, providing information, repairing and showing attitude etc., and they caninitiate, hold and yield turns in turn-taking.