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In:New Perspectives in Interactional Linguistic Research
Edited by Margret Selting and Dagmar Barth-Weingarten
[Studies in Language and Social Interaction 36] 2024
► pp. 220–244

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Managing progressivity and solidarity with nage shenme ‘that what’ in Mandarin interaction

 | University of Alberta
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

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Published online: 26 August 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/slsi.36.08li
Abstract
Nage shenme ‘that what’ is a fixed pronoun phrase commonly used as a “filler” in Mandarin. This study examines the interactional functions of nage shenmes (NSs) in face-to-face Mandarin interaction. An examination of the data shows that NSs appear in a variety of turn positions. This study focuses on the usages of TCU-medial and turn-final NSs. I argue that TCU-medial NSs are used as placeholders to deal with problems of progressivity of the TCU- and action-in-progress. Turn-final NSs in disagreement talk serve as mitigation markers to mitigate the force of discordant actions. They are employed by the speaker to seek reconciliation with coparticipants and to promote social solidarity.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Previous research
  • 3.Data and method
  • 4.Interactional functions of NSs
    • 4.1TCU-medial NSs as placeholders to manage progressivity
    • 4.2Turn-final NSs as mitigation markers to promote solidarity
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (61)
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