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

| San Diego State University
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
Published online: 23 December 2016
https://doi.org/10.1075/cld.7.2.02wu
References
Auer, Peter
2005 “Projection in Interaction and Projection in Grammar.” Text 25 (1): 7–36. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Chao, Yuen Ren
1968 A Grammar of Spoken Chinese. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth, and Sandra A. Thompson
2005 “A Linguistic Practice for Retracting Overstatements: Concessive Repair.” In Syntax and Lexis in Conversation: Studies on the Use of Linguistic Resources in Talk-in-interaction, ed. by Auli Haulinen, and Margret Selting, 257–288. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ford, Cecilia E., Barbara A. Fox, and Sandra A. Thompson
2002 “Introduction.” In The Language of Turn and Sequence, ed. by Cecilia E. Ford, Barbara A. Fox, and Sandra A. Thompson, 3–13. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Goodwin, Charles
2006 “Retrospective and Prospective Orientation in the Construction of Argumentative Moves.” Text & Talk 26 (4/5): 443–461. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Goodwin, Marjorie H., and Charles Goodwin
1987 “Children’s Arguing.” In Language, Gender, and Sex in Comparative Perspective, ed. by Susan U. Philips, Susan Steele, and Christine Tanz, 200–248. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hayashi, Makoto
2004 “Projection and Grammar: Notes on the ‘Action-projecting’ Use of the Distal Demonstrative are in Japanese.” Journal of Pragmatics 361: 1337–1374. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Heritage, John
1984 “A Change of State Token and Aspects of its Sequential Placement.” In Structures of Social Action, ed. by J. Maxwell Atkinson, and John Heritage, 299–345. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar
2013 “Action Formation and its Epistemic (and Other) Backgrounds.” Discourse Studies 151: 547–574. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Heritage, John, and Geoffrey Raymond
2005 “The Terms of Agreement: Indexing Epistemic Authority and Subordination in Assessment Sequences.” Social Psychology Quarterly 681: 15–38. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hu, Mingyang
1987 Beijing Hua Chu Tan [An Exploration of Beijing Mandarin]. Beijing: Commerce Press.Google Scholar
Jefferson, Gail
1972 “Side Sequences.” In Studies in Social Interaction, ed. by David N. Sudnow, 294–338. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
1984 “On Stepwise Transition from Talk about a Trouble to Inappropriately Next-positioned Matters.” In Structures of Social Action, ed. by J. Maxwell Atkinson, and John Heritage, 191–222. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar
Lerner, Gene
1996 “On the ‘Semi-permeable’ Character of Grammatical Units in Conversation: Conditional Entry into the Turn Space of Another Speaker.” In Interaction and Grammar, ed. by Elinor Ochs, Emanuel A. Schegloff, and Sandra A. Thompson, 238–276. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pomerantz, Anita
1986 “Extreme Case Formulations: A Way of Legitimizing Claims.” Human Studies 91: 219–229. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sacks, Harvey
1995 Lectures on Conversation. Oxford: Blackwell. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sacks, Harvey, Emanuel A. Schegloff, and Gail Jefferson
1974 “A Simplest Systematics for the Organization of Turn-taking for Conversation.” Language 50 (4): 696–735. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schegloff, Emanuel. A
1979 “The Relevance of Repair to Syntax-for-conversation.” In Syntax and Semantics, Volume 12: Discourse and Syntax, ed. by Thomas Givón, 261–286. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
2007 Sequence Organization in Interaction: A Premier in Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Schegloff, Emanuel. A., and Harvey Sacks
1973 “Opening up Closings.” Semiotica 81: 289–327. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sidnell, Jack
2007 “ ‘Look’-prefaced Turns in First and Second Position: Launching, Interceding and Redirecting Action.” Discourse Studies 9 (3): 387–408. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
ten Have, Paul
2007 Doing Conversation Analysis: A Practical Guide, 2nd ed. London: SAGE Publications. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wu, Ruey-Jiuan Regina
1997 “Transforming Participation Frameworks in Multi-party Mandarin Conversation: The Use of Discourse Particles and Body Behavior.” Issues in Applied Linguistics 8 (2): 97–117.Google Scholar
2012 “Self-praising through Reporting: Strategic Use of Two Reporting Practices in Mandarin Conversation.” Discourse Processes 491: 622–659. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2014 “Managing Turn Entry: The Design of EI-prefaced Turns in Mandarin Conversation.” Journal of Pragmatics 661: 139–161. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
forthcoming a. “Turn Design and Progression: The Use of Aiyou in Mandarin Conversation.” In Turn-Initial Particles Across Languages ed. by John Heritage, and Marja-leena Sorjonen Amsterdam John Benjamins
forthcoming b. “Managing Participation Contingencies in Multi-party Conversation: Aiyou-prefacing as an Interactional Resource.” East Asian Pragmatics.
Wu, Ruey-Jiuan Regina, and John Heritage
forthcoming. “Particles and Epistemics: Convergences and Divergences between English and Mandarin.” In Enabling Human Conduct: Naturalistic Studies of Talk-in-interaction in Honor of Emanuel A. Schegloff ed. by Gene Lerner, Geoffrey Raymond, and John Heritage Amsterdam John Benjamins Crossref
Cited by

Cited by 2 other publications

Wu, Ruey-Jiuan Regina
2018.  In Between Turn and Sequence [Studies in Language and Social Interaction, 31], ► pp. 287 ff. Crossref logo
Wu, Ruey-Jiuan Regina
2018. Indexing epistemic authority/primacy in Mandarin conversation: aiyou -prefacing as an interactional resource. Journal of Pragmatics 131 ► pp. 30 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 08 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.