Chapter 6
From matrix clause to turn expansion
The emergence of wo juede ‘I
feel/think’ in Mandarin conversational
interaction
One way complex clauses manifest themselves
is through a combination of a matrix clause and a
complement clause. However, matrix clauses as
represented by constructions such as I
think have been widely reported to
undergo grammaticization, whereby they become a
marker indicating the speaker’s epistemic stance.
This has also been identified for Mandarin Chinese.
In this chapter, however, we report that wo
juede ‘I feel/think’ in Mandarin has
developed a conversation interactional function that
extends turns-at-talk – a phenomenon that has not
yet received much attention in the Chinese
literature on talk in interaction. By providing an
account for the link between the
epistemic/evaluative uses and the turn-expansion
function of the erstwhile matrix clause, this paper
brings in an extended, interactional dimension to
the study of clause-combining.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Data
- 3.Subjective use of wo juede
- 3.1Evaluative use
- 3.2Epistemic use
- 4.Intersubjective use of wo
juede
- 5.
Wo juede and turn
expansion
- 5.1Prosodically integrated wo juede
- 5.2Prosodically independent wo juede
- 6.Discussion
- 6.1Functional distribution
- 6.2Explaining the link between multiple
functions
- 6.3Pathways of the emergence of the extended
uses
- 7.Conclusions
-
Notes
-
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