FOCAL POINT IN CONVERSATION: DISCOURSE-PRAGMATIC FUNCTIONS OF DISTAL DEMONSTRATIVE HE IN TAIWANESE SOUTHERN MIN

Abstract

This study examines the discourse-pragmatic functions of the distal demonstrative HE `that` and its functional equivalents in Taiwanese Southern Min (TSM) conversation. The analysis shows that an overwhelming proportion of HE tokens are used to denote a referent that is assumed by the speaker to be identifiable based on community knowledge, shared background knowledge, inference, or evoked information. Such uses are argued to emerge from the negotiation of the meaning of the referent via the interactional contexts (cf. Tao 1999; Huang 2013). They signify the speaker`s belief toward the hearer regarding the identifiability of the referent in the process of information exchanging and negotiating. The marking of a referent with HE brings the NP at issue to an activated state which then serves as the focal point of interest in the succeeding exchange of talk. Meanwhile, the speaker might convey an emotional tone or viewpoint distancing from the referent. The major uses of HE mark NPs that are otherwise conceptually distant from the interlocutors` consciousness.

本文討論台灣閩南話遠指詞《彼》及其近似詞在自然對話中的篇章語用功能。研究顯示，談話者大多可透過推論、社群知識或談話者所共有的背景知識等方式辨識而出《彼》所指涉的事物。這些用法乃是由互動中，透過說話者的語意協商浮現而出。《彼》表達了說話者對所指涉事物可辨識程度的看法。通常《彼》被使用在指涉一個說話者想要強調的焦點訊息，藉由此指示詞，引出並活化了原存在於談話者的較久遠記憶內的事物，成為談話焦點。同時，《彼》亦可表達談話者對談話主題的觀點、情緒、立場或態度。