Article published In: Conversation Analysis in Chinese
Edited by Sandra A. Thompson and Ruey-Jiuan Regina Wu
[Chinese Language and Discourse 7:2] 2016
► pp. 210–236
Turn design and progression
Aiyou in Mandarin conversation
Published online: 23 December 2016
https://doi.org/10.1075/cld.7.2.02wu
https://doi.org/10.1075/cld.7.2.02wu
The temporal character of talk is one fundamental feature of language in situ. As interaction unfolds, participants need to not only monitor the temporal progression of talk toward a completion, but also attend to how the current turn ties back to the preceding turns. Whereas such dual-directional consideration is often a latent aspect of turn construction, at times efforts to clear up possible ambiguity are in order. This article introduces a Mandarin practice, aiyou-preface, which seems to be used just to this end, and demonstrates an intimate relationship between the prosodic design of aiyou-preface and the displayed orientation to the intended directionality of the talk. The analysis draws upon a corpus of 35 hours of conversations collected in China.
Keywords: particles, directionality, turn design, turn progression, prosody, conversation analysis, aiyou
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Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Wu, Ruey-Jiuan Regina
Wu, Ruey-Jiuan Regina
2018. Turn design and progression. In Between turn and sequence [Studies in Language and Social Interaction, 31], ► pp. 287 ff.
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