Turn-Prefacing �Wo Gen Ni Shuo' In Mandarin Chinese:A Conversation Analytic Perspective

In social interaction,participants tend to conform to progressivity,technically,they move from one element to a hearably next one with nothing intervening,if something violates the contiguity between the current and hearably next action,the progressivity of talk will be ceased and its import will be examined by the participant.There is a wide array of methods available that interactants use to maintain or restore the progressvity of ongoing talk in social interaction.Turn-prefacing �wo gen ni shuo'investigated in this study can serve as potent device managing the important issue of progressvity.Previous domestic researches into �wo gen ni shuo' have been done on a number of dimensions to do with syntax,semantics and pragmatics.However,few of studies have adopted the methodology of conversation analysis prioritizing the structural analysis to deal with communicative functions of �wo gen ni shuo' in the sequential organization of conversation.Thus,the present study is piloting an innovative way of investigating the very research object �wo gen ni shuo' from the perspective of conversation analysis.It commences to examine the hitherto less studied but distinctive interactional functions performed by turn-prefacing �wo gen ni shuo' at two different sequential positions: sequence-initial position and sequence subsequent position at which turn-initial�wo gen ni shuo' appears,The data collected for the present research are approximately 350 minutes audio recordings of mundane conversations,and 90 turn-prefacing �wo gen ni shuo' cases are located.Based on the detailed analysis of data collected for the present research,we have arrived at the following findings.Firstly,turn-initial �wo gen ni shuo' occurring at sequence-initial and functioning as a topic-implicative marker manages a sequence-boundaried topic transition for the sake of maintaining the progressvity of the current sequence.Secondly,turn-initial �wo gen ni shuo' at sequence-subsequent position acting as a resistant marker projects an upcoming disaffilative,dispreferred action in response to the first action or initiative action in the prior turn.Thirdly,turn-initial �wo gen ni shuo' serves as an alert to a forthcoming turn expansion regardless of the sequential positions it might appear.Besides,�wo gen ni shuo' is also a powerful device managing epistemic asymmetry across different sequential positions and turn positions.The findings of the present research present linguistic researchers on the Chinese language and Chinese grammar in particular with some novel but insightful understandings of �wo gen ni shuo' in naturally occurring mundane conversations.Furthermore,it is hoped that the present research may propel more empirical research on the use of Chinese linguistic resources from the perspective of conversation analysis.