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A Multimodal Study of Response Token Dui Dui Dui in Mandarin Conversation

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A Multimodal Study of Response Token Dui Dui Dui in Mandarin Conversation University of Alberta A multimodal study of response token dui dui dui in Mandarin conversation by JIE YANG A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in East Asian Interdisciplinary Studies Department of East Asian Studies ©Jie Yang Fall 2013 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission. Abstract This thesis investigates the response token dui dui dui (right right right) in Mandarin conversation from a multimodal perspective. Two types of dui dui dui are found in the data. The first type serves to display recipient’s affiliation with the speaker’s immediate previous assertion. The second type serves as a confirmation to the recipient’s collaborative completion of the speaker’s turn. The study aims to show how dui dui dui s are produced and interpreted by participants as two different actions in different sequential environments. In addition, it describes the prosodic form of each type of dui dui dui s and body movements accompanying the production of dui dui dui s. These findings suggest that each type of dui dui dui s is produced with specific prosodic and visual features and has different interactional functions. This study contributes to our understanding of the multimodal nature of the production of the response tokens in Mandarin conversation. Key words: response token; dui dui dui ; multimodal perspective; Mandarin conversation Acknowledgements This thesis could not have been completed without the help and encouragement of many of my teachers, families and friends. First of all, I would like to express my profound appreciation to my supervisor and mentor, Professor Xiaoting Li for her valuable knowledge, insightful comments as well as continuous support for my thesis. I would also like to thank Professor Tsuiyoshi Ono for opening the window of Conversation Analysis, and Professor John Newman for being tolerant about all the stupid mistakes I have made. I would also like to thank my family, especially my mother, my sister, my brothers and my lovely little niece for their warm support and encouragement. My special thanks go to my stepfather, who must be so proud if he were here to see. I was fortunate to have the help of Chinese Institute and University of Alberta. They have generously provided funding and support for this research program without which I could not carry on this study. My sincere thanks also go to all the volunteers in this program. Finally, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to Chao Zhang, Hui Zhao and Jing Yang for their love without which I could not bear this long process. Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................1 1.1 Background of the study ...................................................................................1 1.2 Research questions .............................................................................................4 1.3 Organization of the thesis .................................................................................5 Chapter 2 Literature Review ............................................................................................6 2.1 The definition of response token ....................................................................6 2.1.1 The definition of response token .......................................................6 2.1.2 The classification of response token .................................................9 2.2 Response tokens dui and dui dui dui in Mandarin ................................. 10 2.2.1 Dui ........................................................................................................... 10 2.2.2 Dui dui dui ............................................................................................ 12 2.3 Similar response tokens in other languages ............................................. 12 2.4 Summary ............................................................................................................. 15 Chapter 3 Methodology .................................................................................................. 16 3.1 Data ...................................................................................................................... 16 3.2 Transcription system ....................................................................................... 16 3.3 Methodology ..................................................................................................... 18 Chapter 4 The Multimodal Features and Interactional Functions of Dui Dui Dui ......................................................................................................................................... 20 4.1 An overview of dui and multiple dui s in the data ................................... 20 4.2 Dui dui dui produced by recipients ............................................................. 22 4.2.1 Sequential features of dui dui dui produced by recipients ...... 22 4.2.2 Prosodic form, visual features and interactional function of dui dui dui produced by recipients ................................................................... 28 4.3 Dui dui dui produced by speakers ............................................................ 46 4.3.1 Sequential features of dui dui dui produced by speakers ........ 46 4.3.2 Prosodic form, visual features and interactional function of dui dui dui produced by speakers ..................................................................... 53 4.4 Summary ............................................................................................................. 69 Chapter 5 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 71 5.1 Findings .............................................................................................................. 71 5.2 Significance of the study ................................................................................ 73 5.3 Implications ....................................................................................................... 74 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................... 76 Appendix: Transcript symbols ...................................................................................... 84 List of Tables Table 1: The frequencies of dui and multiple dui s...........................................20 List of Figures Figure 1: Waveform and pitch trace of dui dui dui in Extract 2 ......................34 Figure 2: Su’s head nod (A) .............................................................................35 Figure 3: Su’s head nod (B) .............................................................................35 Figure 4: Xi’s head nod (A) .............................................................................35 Figure 5: Xi’s head nod (B) .............................................................................35 Figure 6: Waveform and pitch trace of dui dui dui in Extract 3 ......................42 Figure 7: yinyueju (musical) ............................................................................43 Figure 8: jiangzhe (to speak)............................................................................43 Figure 9: chang (to sing)..................................................................................43 Figure 10: nazhong (that kind).........................................................................43 Figure 11: Xi’s head nod (A) ...........................................................................44 Figure 12: Xi’s head nod (B)............................................................................44 Figure 13: Wave form and pitch trace of dui dui dui in Extract 6 ...................58 Figure 14: Mouth shrug after shi (be) ..............................................................59 Figure 15: Li’s head nod (A)............................................................................59 Figure 16: Li’s head nod (B)............................................................................59 Figure 17: Wave form and Pitch trace of dui dui dui in Extract 7 ...................64 Figure 18: nüsheng (girls)................................................................................65 Figure 19: keneng (maybe) ..............................................................................66 Figure 20: Li’s head nod (A)............................................................................67 Figure 21: Li’s head nod (B)............................................................................67 Chapter 1 Introduction 1.1 Background of the study In the discipline of linguistics, scholars have traditionally focused on the production of speech, i.e. the
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