Mandarin-speaking Children's Use of Discourse Markers Hao 'Okay' and Dui 'Right' in Peer Interaction
| Autor: | Yeh, Kanyu, 葉侃彧 |
|---|---|
| Druh dokumentu: | 學位論文 ; thesis |
| Popis: | 101 The thesis aims to investigate Mandarin-speaking children’s use of two frequently appearing discourse markers, hao ‘okay’ and dui ‘right’, when interacting with peers in order to examine how their use of these markers may reflect their communicative skills and the characteristics of peer relation. The data included 237 minutes of 5-year-old Mandarin children’s conversations with friends while playing. Schiffrin’s (1987) model of discourse structures, which includes the exchange structure, the action structure, the ideational structures, the participation frameworks, and the information state, was used for the analysis. The results showed that Mandarin-speaking children used hao in the information state, the exchange structure and the action structure while dui in the information state, the exchange structure and the ideational structure. The functions of hao and dui in the present data demonstrated several similarities and differences. Both markers were used by the children in the exchange structure to show the speaker’s agreement. However, only hao functioned as an acknowledgement marker to indicate the receipt of information in the exchange structure while only dui marking topic transitions in the ideational structure, even though both markers can serve these two functions in adult conversation. Mandarin-speaking children’s use of hao and dui to express agreements, which indicates their collaborative stances, may help them establish alliances with each other (Wang et al., 2010). Moreover, Mandarin-speaking children at age five demonstrated their ability to use hao as an acknowledgement marker to show their intention to participate in their peer’s current talk. In addition, that only hao but not dui served as an acknowledgement marker may result from the similarity between the acknowledging function of dui and that of backchannels, which has been considered among the last acquired communicative skills (Hess &; Johnston, 1988). Furthermore, Mandarin 5-year-old children had the ability to use dui as a topic transition marker to establish discourse coherence. Meanwhile, that dui, instead of hao, was chosen by the children as a transition marker may reflect the relatively equal relations between peers, since hao is usually used by a speaker with higher status to control the topics in adult conversation (Chen &; Liu, 2009). It is concluded that Mandarin children’s use of the two markers not only demonstrates their communicative skills but also reflects the particular nature of peer interaction. |
| Databáze: | Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations |
| Externí odkaz: |
|