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Article published In: Interactional Linguistics
Vol. 6:1 (2026) ► pp.66–94

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Marking pedagogical saliency with honh in Taiwan Mandarin interaction

ORCiD logo with link | University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa | Hawaiʻi Pacific University
ORCiD logo with link | University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa | Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center
Published online: 10 December 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/il.24023.cho
Abstract
Honh is a pervasive particle in Taiwan Mandarin interaction. While prior pragmatic research has identified honh as “signaling negotiation invitation” (Li, Y. (1999). Utterance-final particles in Taiwanese: A discourse-pragmatic analysis. Wenhe Publisher.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, p. 90) in Taiwanese Southern Min and Hakka, its specific interactional functions in Taiwan Mandarin remain underexplored. This paper addresses this gap by exploring the interactional imports of honh in Taiwan Mandarin instructional settings.
Using conversation analysis (CA; Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language, 50(4), 696–735. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) and interactional linguistics (IL; Couper-Kuhlen, E., & Selting, M. (2018). Interactional linguistics: Studying language in social interaction. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Selting, M., & Couper-Kuhlen, E. (Eds.). (2001). Studies in interactional linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), we analyzed 15.5 hours of video-recorded interactions from a self-discovery art facilitator training workshop and a cooking class. While honh is found to exhibit a multitude of interactional functions, in this paper, we focus particularly on how it is used as an emphatic device in reformulated or repeated instructions (45 cases).
Findings reveal teachers predominantly attach honh to reformulated elements in TCU-final or TCU-independent positions to emphasize a prior instructional point (31 cases), while 14 cases occur in repeated instructions when an important pedagogical point is first introduced. Accompanying embodiment (e.g., raising eyebrows or pointing to relevant objects) further contributes to highlighting the honh-marked points as pedagogically salient. Through detailing the multimodal practices and sequential organization of honh, our findings expand the limited literature on Taiwan Mandarin particles.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Literature review
    • 2.1Particles in Chinese
    • 2.2Particles in instructional settings
  • 3.Data & method
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1Honh in reformulated instruction
    • 4.2Honh in immediately repeated instruction
  • 5.Discussion & conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
References (57)
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