31 the Pragmatic Functions of Turning Discourse Markers: “Danshi(但是)”

Volume 5, Number 3, 2014 pp.31–-50

The Pragmatic Functions of Turning Discourse Markers: “Danshi(但是)”,“Keshi(可是)” and “Buguo(不过)”

Zhang Wei

International College of Chinese Studies Shanghai Normal University Shanghai, 200234, China [email protected]

Selected Paper from Chinese Lexical Semantic Workshop 2014

ABSTRACT. In the traditional sense, the conjunction such as “danshi(但是)”, “keshi(可是)”and “buguo(不过)”,etc. They have little real value semantics and play pragmatic functions in discourse in certain contexts. In this paper, we make a more comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the turning discourse markers as the representative of the words’ pragmatic functions such as discourse organization and convergence, topic or turns conversion and attention causing, etc. Meanwhile, their formation mechanisms and cognitive foundation are included in the paper. Keywords: semantic reduction; Discourse Markers; pragmatic functions; mechanism of formation; cognitive basis

1. Introduction. The consensus of disjunctive relation studies is that the clauses of disjunctive compound sentences are semantically opposite. The disjunctive connective markers include disjunctive conjunctions (eg. “danshi/ dan”, “keshi/ke”, “buguo”, “ran’er” etc.) and adverbs (eg. “que”, “dao” etc.). Academic explorations and researches have already acquired lots of achievements, however most of them focus on the disjunctive words’ functions when expressing truth value semantic relationship in disjunctive compound sentences. By the corpus-based investigation, it’s carried out that in some contexts those disjunctive conjunctions, which express the traditional meaning, such as “danshi”, “keshi” and “buguo” etc., barely have truth value semantics relationship themselves. They produce influence only when speakers express their communicative intentions, and mainly play the pragmatic function. During the long-term and frequent using process, their original semantics fade out while their pragmatic values reveal and display certain regularity. The examples in this paper contain both written and spoken language. Narrations and

 The paper is supported by the Projects of National Social Science（13CYY035） and the Innovation Projects of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission（12ZS131）. 31

dialogues from novels of modern and contemporary writers, conversations from plays, spoken language research datum, TV interviews and recorded daily conversations are all included.

2. The Pragmatic Function of the Disjunctive Discourse Markers “Danshi”, “Keshi” and “Buguo”. As mentioned in “Xiandai Hanyu BaBai Ci” (800 words from Modern Chinese), the explanations of these words are: Danshi [conj.] denoting a transition in meaning and educing opposite meaning from the above contexts, limiting or supplying the above contexts. It can connect clauses or sentences as well as conjunctions, phrases and paragraphs. The part to be emphasized is positioned after “danshi”. Keshi [conj.] denoting disjunctive meaning; but Buguo [conj.] denoting disjunctive meaning but the degree is lighter. It is more likely to be used in spoken language. In practical use, these words have grammaticalized tendency at different degree, which manifest as the logical semantic disjunctive relationship weakening or even fading away. For example: (1) 这就是“惩前毖后”的意思。但是我们揭发错误批判缺点的目的，好像医生治病一样，完全是为了救人，而不是把人整死。（转引自杨月蓉 2000） Zhè jiùshì “Chéngqiánbìhòu” de yìsi. Dànshì wǒmen jiēfā cuòwù pīpàn quēdiǎn de mùdì, hǎoxiàng yīshēng zhìbìng yíyàng, wánquán shì wèile jiùrén, ér búshì bǎ rén zhěngsǐ. This is the meaning of “learning from the past mistakes and avoiding future ones”. But (danshi) the purpose why we exposed mistakes and criticized weaknesses are just like seeing doctors. It is about saving people’s life rather than killing people. (Quoting from Yang Yuerong, 2000) In Yang Yuerong’s opinion, “danshi” in this sentence doesn’t mean the turning in meaning but the turning in mood. Zhang Jianjun, Wu Chang’an (2010) claim that the disjunctive attributes of “danshi2” should be [+ markedness].it marks the semantic emphasis of the words after it. In this paper, we marked the part before “danshi” as p while the part after as q. Therefore in (1) q is the further interpretation of p. If “danshi” is replaced by “huanyanzhi/ huanjuhuashuo” or directly omitted, the meaning of the sentence remain the same. (1)’ 这就是“惩前毖后”的意思。我们揭发错误批判缺点的目的，好像医生治病一样，完全是为了救人，而不是把人整死。（转引自杨月蓉 2000） Zhè jiùshì “chéngqiánbìhòu” de yìsi. Wǒmen jiēfā cuòwù pīpàn quēdiǎn de mùdì, hǎoxiàng yīshēng zhìbìng yíyàng, wánquán shì wèile jiùrén, ér búshì bǎ rén zhěngsǐ. This is the meaning of “learning from the past mistakes and avoiding future ones”. The purpose why we exposed mistakes and criticized weaknesses are just like seeing doctors. It is about saving people’s life rather than killing people. In fact, “danshi” here has already been tokenized as a discourse marker. It is corresponding to “in fact” or “in other words” in English. Fang Mei (2000: 459) points out that in the practical natural intercourse, quite lot conjunctions only serve as the cohesion,

which assists discourse units rather than expresses truth value semantic relationship, such as logical semantic relationship and temporal sequence relationship etc. We call it semantic reduction. Through the investigation of both spoken and written language, we found that “keshi”, “buguo” are similar to “danshi”. They all undergo the semantic reduction or even grammaticalization. In order to show the source, we call them “disjunctive discourse marker” in this paper. Even though the disjunctive meaning of them are reduced even vanished. They make the discourse coherent and provide a clue of showing the communicative intention the conversations carry. Therefore we can tell that the main function of them is pragmatic function. Now we are making a detailed discussion about them. 2.1. “Danshi” and “Dan”. In the various logical relationships, disjunctive relation is the most unexpected one. Typically, p endows the listeners with high psychological expectations. Therefore q is the exact expressive emphasis, which can easily arouse the attention of listeners. Speakers can use “danshi”, “keshi” and “buguo” to attract the listeners’ attention and then make them concern about q so as to exhibit an obvious pragmatic function. The non-truth value semantic usages of “danshi” and “dan” are mainly manifested as attracting the attention, contrast or comparison, conversion of topics, inheritance or accompaniment etc. The analyses are as follows:

Attracting Attention. (2) 我的腿力量已经不够，无法将球投入篮筐，我的投篮一直击中篮圈前沿。我马上就感到很累，但是我命中率降低的最大原因，是我在比赛开始时就将投篮这只手的食指弄伤了。（姚明《我的世界我的梦》，以下简称《梦》） Wǒde tuǐ lìliàng yǐjīng búgòu, wúfǎ jiāng qiú tóurù lánkuāng, wǒde tóulán yìzhí jīzhòng lánquān qiányán. Wǒ mǎshàng jiù gǎndào hěn lèi, dànshì wǒ mìngzhònglǜ jiàngdī de zuì dà yuányīn, shì wǒ zài bǐsài kāishǐ shí jiù jiāng tóulán zhè zhī shǒu de shízhǐ nòng shāng le. I didn’t have enough strength in my leg. I couldn’t shoot the ball into the hoop. My shooting always hit the rim edge. I felt so tired immediately but (danshi) the biggest reason why my hit rate was so low was that I hurt the forefinger of my shooting hand at the beginning of the game. (Yao Ming, My World My Dream, hereinafter referred to as Dream) (3) 我把其余的 150 个保存下来，以防万一她没有感动，我还可以再试。但是这些玩意儿真的很好，当我累的时候，我看着它们就回想起那些有趣的奥运会经历，能够使我不再那么疲劳。（《梦》） Wǒ bǎ qíyú de 150 gè bǎocún xiàlái, yǐfáng wànyī tā méiyǒu gǎndòng, wǒ hái kěyǐ zài shì. Dànshì zhè xiē wányìr zhēnde hěn hǎo, dāng wǒ lèi de shíhou, wǒ kànzhe tāmen jiù huì xiǎngqǐ nàxiē yǒuqù de Àoyùnhuì jīnglì, nénggòu shǐ wǒ búzài nàme píláo. I kept the rest 150 just in case that I could try it again if she was not touched. But (danshi) these stuffs were really good. When I was tired, they recalled my memories of those interesting experience in Olympics, which made me not feeling tired anymore. (Dream) (4) 牛月清说：“你还嫌他堕落得不够？”孟云房说：“但我可以说，在这个城里的文化圈里，庄之蝶算是最好的！”（贾平凹《废都》，以下简称《都》） Niú Yuèqīng shuō: “Nǐ hái xián tā duòluò de búgòu?” Mèng Yúnfáng shuō: “Dàn wǒ

kěyǐ shuō, zài zhè ge chéngli de wénhuàquān li, Zhuāng Zhīdié suànshì zuìhǎo de!” Niu Yueqing said: “So you think he is not corrupting too much?” Meng Yunfang said: “But (dan) I can tell you that in this city’s cultural circle, Zhuang Zhidie is the best!” (Jia Pingwa, Evening Glow of an Imperial City, hereinafter referred to as City) (5) 他蹲在房檐下，一边往嘴里扒拉饭，一边在心里猜测：她之所以也常常最后来取饭，原因大概和他一样。…… 但他对她的一切毫无所知。因为班上一天点一次名，他现在只知道她的名字叫郝红梅。（路遥《平凡的世界》第一章，以下简称《平》） Tā dūn zài fángyán xià, yìbiān wǎng zuǐli bālā fàn, yìbiān zài xīnli cāicè: tā zhīsuǒyǐ yě chángcháng zuìhòu lái qǔ fàn, yuányīn dàgài hé tā yíyàng …… Dàn tā duì tā de yíqiè háowúsuǒzhī. Yīnwèi bān shang yì tiān diǎn yí cì míng, tā xiànzài zhǐ zhīdào tā de míngzi jiào Hǎo Hóngméi. He squatted under the cornice, eating and guessing: the reason why she was always the last one coming to get her meal was probably the same as his… But (dan) he knew nothing about her. The roll call was once a day, so the only thing he knew was her name “Hao Hongmei”. (Lu Yao, The Ordinary World, Chapter 1, hereinafter referred to as Ping) In example (2), the p before “danshi” is talking about Yao Ming’s inaccurate shooting, then the discourse marker “danshi” which is used to arouse the readers’ attention rather than referring to the truth value: the following q tells the exact reason. In example (3) “danshi” is also used to arouse the attention. It is used to indicate the advantage of keeping the Olympic badges: Yao Ming uses them to touch Ye Li. Here both “danshi” can be omitted; and the meaning of the sentences won’t be changed. “Dan” has the pragmatic function as well. In example (4) the two people in the conversation evaluated Zhuang Zhidie. Although Meng used “dan”, there is no disjunctive relation between Meng’s words and Niu’s words. It is used to arouse the listener and readers’ attention and state the view. As a matter of fact, this is also the finishing touch of the whole story. The example (5) highlights the focus: Sun Shaoping observed and speculated Hao Hongmei. In fact, he knew nothing about her but her name, which arouses the interest of reading and makes readers pay more attention to the relationships between characters. Here “dan” plays a role of textual cohesion.

Comparison or Contrast. (6) 我还记得第一次和他过招时的感觉，我不想找借口，反正他那场比赛中对我随心所欲，得了 39 分。我的篮板比他多，10 个对他的 5 个，但是 13 投我 10 次不中，只得了 6 分。（《梦》） Wǒ hái jìde dì yī cì hé tā guòzhāo shí de gǎnjué, wǒ bù xiǎng zhǎo jièkǒu, fǎnzhèng tā nà chǎng bǐsài zhōng duì wǒ suíxīnsuǒyù, dé le 39 fēn. Wǒ de lánbǎn bǐ tā duō, 10 ge duì tā de 5 ge, dànshì 13 tóu wǒ 10 cì bú zhòng, zhǐ dé le 6 fēn. I still remember the first time when I played basketball with him. I don’t want to excuse myself. Anyway, he did very well in this match, scoring 39 points. I have ten rebounds and he has five rebounds, while (danshi) among my 13 shots, I only hit 3 imes, scoring 6 at last. 34

(Dream) (7) 我喜欢打球，不论是练习还是比赛。但是确实不喜欢其它的事情。（《梦》） Wǒ xǐhuan dǎ qiú, búlùn shì liànxí háishì bǐsài. Dànshì quèshí bù xǐhuan qítā de shìqing. I love playing basketball whether it is practice or a game. And (danshi) it’s true that I dislike other things. (Dream) (8) 庄之蝶说：“咱们常常把复杂的事情想得过于简单，但也常常把简单的事情想得太复杂了。”(《都》) Zhuāng Zhīdié shuō: “Zánmen chángcháng bǎ fùzá de shìqing xiǎng de guòyú jiǎndān, dàn yě chángcháng bǎ jiǎndān de shìqing xiǎng de tài fùzá le.” Zhuang Zhidie said, people always simplify complicated things but (dan) also perplex simple things. (City) (8)’ 庄之蝶说：“咱们常常把复杂的事情想得过于简单，也常常把简单的事情想得太复杂了。” Zhuāng Zhīdié shuō:“Zánmen chángchang bǎ fùzá de shìqing xiǎngde guòyú jiǎndān，yě chángchang bǎ jiǎndān de shìqing xiǎngde tài fùzá le.” Zhidie Zhuang said, people always simplify complicated things and also perplex simple things. “Danshi” in example (6) has a more obviously meaning of comparison, which demonstrated the gap of the first match between me and Oneale by comparing figures. Example (7) makes a comparison between liked things and disliked things, “danshi” is a kind of opposition and contrast discourse markers, does not mean turning. Just like example (8), “dan” has same function. We can understand the speaker’s intention even without “dan”. Conversely, the meaning of comparison will be more noticeable if we keep it. And the focus is the last sentence (q) instead of the first one (p). i.e. People always perplex simple things, such as the-immediate- thing. Yao Shuangyun (2012:198) analyzed the usage of “danshi” in spontaneous speech and summarized various usages of “danshi” as “contrastive discourse marker”.

Topic Change. In the process of verbal communication, the speakers usually change the topic they are talking about to another for some reasons. It’s better for the listeners to catch the speakers’ intention when the change has achieved by linguistic means, otherwise, the communication would fail. Fang Mei (2000:465) considered that the conjunctions which are usually used for topic change also express disjunctive and progressive relation, such as “keshi” and “er’qie”. Actually, “danshi” and “buguo” can be markers of topic change as well. For example, (9) 每当他从校门外的坡底下挑一担垃圾土，往学校后面山地里送的时候，只感到两眼冒花，天旋地转，思维完全不存在了，只是吃力而机械地蠕动着两条打颤的腿一步步在山路上爬蜒。但是对孙少平来说，这些也许都还能忍受。他现在感到最痛苦的是由于贫困而给自尊心所带来的伤害。（《平》第二章）

Měidāng tā cóng xiàomén wài de pō dǐxia tiāo yí dàn lājītǔ, wǎng xuéxiào hòumian shāndì li sòng de shíhou, zhǐ gǎndào liǎng yǎn mào huā, tiānxuándìzhuǎn, sīwéi wánquán bù cúnzài le, zhǐshì chīlì ér jīxiè de rúdòng zhe liǎng tiáo dǎchàn de tuǐ yí bùbù zài shānlù shang páyán. Dànshì duì Sūn Shàopíng láishuō, zhèxiē yěxǔ dōu háinéng rěnshòu. Tā xiànzài gǎndào zuì tòngkǔ de shì yóuyú pínkùn ér gěi zìzūnxīn suǒ dàilái de shānghài. When he was on the way, carrying a load of garbage soil, from the slope outside the school gate to the mountains behind the school, he felt dizzy and couldn’t think at all. He just crawled step by step, difficultly and mechanically, along the mountain road. However (danshi), these may be endurable for Sun Shaoping. What hurts him most is the harm on his self-esteem because of poorness. (Ping, Chapter 2) (10) 我还认识一个小孩儿学画画儿。不过小孩儿学画画儿是画得不怎么像啊。现在啊，就说，画人知道是人，也就算不错了啊。但是他也是哪个班儿都上啊，那，外头上班儿，上那个那种学习班，挺贵的呢。而且写大字吧，实际上他也那什么，而且那小孩儿还抽烟、滑冰。（1982 年北京话调查资料：柳家旺，语料来自北大中国语言学研究中心语料库。以下简称《1982》） Wǒ hái rènshi yí ge xiǎoháir xué huà huàr. Búguò xiǎoháir xué huà huàr shì huà de bù zěnme xiàng a. Xiànzài a, jiùshuō, huà rén zhīdào shì rén, yě jiùsuàn búcuò le a. Dànshì tā yěshì nǎge bānr dōu shàng a, nà, wài tóu shàng bānr, shàng nàge nàzhǒng xuéxíbān, tǐng guì de ne. Érqiě xiě dàzì ba, shíjìshang tā yě nà shenme, érqiě nà xiǎoháir hái chōuyan, huábīng. I knew a kid who was learning drawing. We can’t expect kids to draw very well. It's good if their drawing of person can be recognized. But (danshi) he also participated in every learning class which fairly expensive. As for calligraphy, he was just so so. And the kid also smoked and skated. (The material of Beijing dialect investigation in 1982: Liu Jiawang, hereinafter referred to as 1982. The corpus is from Center for Chinese Linguistics PKU (CCL).) “Danshi”, in two examples, represents the topics changing instead of disjunctive relation. “Danshi”, in the second paragraph of example (9), turns the topic that “he feels hungry and weak after heavy work” to another one “what hurt him most is the harm on his self-esteem because of poorness”. Example (10) reflects that topics in oral language switch freely.

Inheritance or Accompaniment (comitative). (11) 小保姆才认真起来，又仔仔细细打量一番，脸就通红，但立即说：“实在对不起，冒犯你了！”(《都》) Xiǎo bǎomǔ cái rènzhēn qǐlái, yòu zǐzǐxìxì dǎliàng yì fān, liǎn jiù tōnghóng, dàn lìjí shuō:“Shízài duìbuqǐ, màofàn nǐ le！” The little babysitter became serious and looked up and down carefully. Her face turned into red then (dan) said immediately, “I’m sorry that I’ve offended you.” (City) (12) 牛的发笑是一种接连的打喷嚏，它每日都会有这么一连串的喷嚏的。但牛又在想了，牛在想的时候也是颠来倒去地掂量，它偶尔冒上来的念头是自己不理解人，不理解拥挤着人的这个城市，是不是自己不是人也没有注册于这个城市户籍的缘故？ 36

自己毕竟是一头牲口，血液里流动的是一种野性，有着能消化草料的大的胃口，和并不需要衣饰的庞大的身躯？但是，牛坚信的是当这个世界在混沌的时候，地球上生存的都是野兽，人也是野兽的一种。（《都》） Niú de fāxiào shì yì zhǒng jiēlián de dǎ pēntì, tā měirì dōu huì yǒu zhème yìliánchuàn de pēntì de. Dàn niú yòu zài xiǎng le, niú zài xiǎng de shíhou yěshì diānláidǎoqù de diānliáng, tā ǒu’ěr mào shànglai de niàntou shì zìjǐ bù lǐjiě rén, bù lǐjiě yōngjǐ zhe rén de zhè ge chéngshì, shìbúshì zìjǐ búshì rén yě méiyǒu zhùcè yú zhège chéngshì hùjí de yuángù? Zìjǐ bìjìng shì yì tóu shēngkǒu, xuèyè li liúdòng de shì yì zhǒng yěxìng, yǒu zhe néng xiāohuà cǎoliào de dà de wèikǒu, hé bìng bù xūyào yīshì de pángdà de shēnqū? Dànshì, niú jiānxìn de shì dāng zhè ge shìjiè zài húndùn de shíhou, dìqiú shang shēngcún de dōushì yěshòu, rén yěshì yěshòu de yì zhǒng. The laughing of the cow is a series of sneezing which happens every day. But (dan) the cow also gets into thinking. When it thinks, it thinks over and over. Occasionally, the idea comes into its head is the lack of understanding of people and the crowded city. Is it because that itself doesn’t belong to humans and isn’t a citizen? After all, it is only a cow. Or because the wildness flows in its blood and it only has a big appetite to digest forage and a big body without clothes to decorate. But (danshi) the cow firmly believes that there are beasts all over the world when the world is in chaos; humans are also one kind of beasts. (City) In example (11), “dan” only implies the sequence of man’s action and behavior, equals to “jiexialai” or “jiezhe”. In example (12) “dan” and “danshi” are both comitative associated markers. The former one (dan) can be replaced by “zheshihou”, the latter one (danshi) can be replaced by “tongshi”. Just like “while” in English, shows the meaning of turning and concessions at the same time. We treat “dan” and “danshi” in the above cases as discourse markers, because they mainly play the pragmatic function of inheritance or accompaniment. It will have no influence on sentences or sentence groups’ truth value semantics.

Hesitation. Sometimes, “dan” and “danshi” reflect the speakers’ hesitated or contradictory psychology instead of the turning in mood. For example, (13) 柳月眼睛立即亮了，说： “市长的儿子？”但又摇了头，说: “你在哄我的。”（《都》） Liǔ Yuè yǎnjing lìjí liàng le, shuō: “Shìzhǎng de érzi?” Dàn yòu yáo le tóu, shuō:“Nǐ zài hǒng wǒ de.” Liuyue said with her eyes shining, “Son of mayor?” while (dan) she shook her head and said immediately, “You are kidding me.” (City) (14) 比胃口打开更大的是说话的兴致。我用微醺眼光打量眼前能干的年轻人。他跑新闻的劲头大，出手快，写东西也抓得到特点。但是，但是……我迟疑起来，我问自己——究竟是否应该说出正在我胸中翻滚的话……（徐城北《土菜》） Bǐ wèikǒu dǎkāi gèng dà de shì shuōhuà de xìngzhì. Wǒ yòng wēixūn yǎnguāng dǎliàng yǎnqián nénggàn de niánqīngrén. Tā pǎo xīnwén de jìntóu dà, chūshǒu kuài, xiě dōngxi yě 37

zhuā de dào tèdiǎn. Dànshì, dànshì…… Wǒ chíyí qǐlái, wǒ wèn zìjǐ——jiūjìng shìfǒu yīnggāi shuō chū zhèngzài wǒ xiōngzhōng fāngǔn de huà…… The intention to speak is larger than appetite. When I looked at the young competent man who is energetic and responses quickly when going interview, and can always get the points when writing as well. However (danshi), I hesitated whether I should say the words out which are rolling violently in my heart…… (Xu Chengbei, Local Cuisine) In order to intensify and highlight the speaker’s hesitation, we often repeat “danshi” twice. Hadumod Bussmann (2000:400) thinks that verbal communication hindered by destructive noise, personal idiolect and other changes, negligence, misconstruction. It is very clear in all aspects of linguistic description that language developed into a communication means with much redundant parts, especially morphologic multilayer markers and repetition of words. Redundancy can also work as rhetorical purpose intentional, but repetition like “danshi, danshi” has unique expression function and pragmatic value. It is also very common to repeat “buguo” and “keshi”. In general, the functions of discourse marker can be summarized as discourse organization, contextual adaptation and interpersonal interaction. 2The most prominent role of discourse marker in discourse organization is organizing words, building communicative context, and ensuring utterance meaning coherent. The discourse marker’s organization function is primarily found in making the context smooth and the communicators’ paying attention to the coherence of communicative event. (Liu Liyan, 2005) The main functions of “comparison or contrast” and “topic change” appeared above are the coherence of content. “Attracting attention” and “hesitation” are the symbols of interpersonal interaction function, “Inheritance or Accompaniment” are contextual adaptation function.

2.2. “Keshi” and “Ke”. As the discourse makers, “keshi” and “ke” undertake the pragmatic functions of comparison, topic changing and turn taking and holding in the discourse. Specifically, comparison and topic changing have the functional connections in semantic coherence, while turn taking and holding plays a role in the syntactic coherence, which both belong to discourse organization.

Comparison. Such as the comparison of p and q in the following sentences, “ke” doesn’t indicate the disjunctive relation, while it highlights the essential difference between the man and the woman. (15) 男的非常忠厚老实，温文尔雅。可那个女的简直是个泼妇。（马未都、王朔、冯小刚《编辑部的故事》，以下简称《编》） Nánde fēicháng zhōnghòu lǎoshí, wēnwéněryǎ. Kě nà ge nǚde jiǎnzhí shì ge pōfù. The man is very loyal and honest, gentle and cultivated .While (ke) that woman is totally a bitch. (Ma Weidu, Wang Shuo, and Feng Xiaogang, Stories from the Editorial Board, hereinafter referred to as Bian)

2 Functional Linguistics regarded language as the system of social symbol and thought that the functions of language can be summarized as Ideational Function, Interpersonal Function and Discourse Function. 38

Topic Change. (16) 牛：哎呀，那是过去的事儿了。现在一个丰收接一个丰收。形势喜人哪！不能跟过去同日而语。余：可是我这么琢磨着就算是咱们半年萝卜半年粮，这萝卜也吃不完呢。诶，这算不算新时期出现的新问题？（《编》） Niú: Ai ya, nàshì guòqù de shìr le. Xiànzài yí ge fēngshōu jiē yí ge fēngshōu. Xíngshìxǐrén na! Bùnéng gēn guòqù tóngrìéryǔ. Yú: Kěshì wǒ zhème zhuómo zhe jiùsuàn shì zánmen bànnián luóbo bànnián liáng, zhè luóbo yě chī bù wán ne. Éi, zhè suànbúsuàn xīn shíqī chūxiàn de xīn wèntí？ Niu: Ah! That is a thing of the past. Recently we have one harvest after the other .The situation now is gratifying. Obviously, it shouldn’t even be compared with the past. Yu: But (keshi) I’m wondering about that. Although the radishes and the grain are in good harvest half a year for each, the radishes would never be eaten out. Well, can it be regarded as a new problem in the new period? (Bian) (17) 我妈妈的父亲死的很早，这样就寄在这个，寄在这个，叔叔篱下吧，就是寄人篱下，寄在，就是靠二叔叔活下去。可是他们这个封建道德还是有的，就是说，好象一个人有钱，那么养一家子还是可以养的起的。一个大院儿哈。可是我妈妈呢，就是说还有我姥姥啦，就是总是依靠别人呢，就要，就是说要努力学习啦，因为钱什么的都是靠别人哪。（1982:冯振） Wǒ māma de fùqīn sǐ de hěn zǎo, zhèyàng jiù jì zài zhè ge, jì zài zhè ge, shūshu lí xià ba, jiùshì jìrénlíxià, jì zài, jiùshì kào èr shūshu huó xiàqù. Kěshì tāmen zhè ge fēngjiàn dàodé háishì yǒu de, jiùshì shuō, hǎoxiàng yí ge rén yǒu qián, nàme yǎng yìjiāzi háishì kěyǐ yang de qǐ de. Yí ge dàyuànr ha. Kěshì wǒ māma ne, jiùshìshuō háiyǒu wǒ lǎolao la, jiùshì zǒngshì yīkào biérén ne, jiùyào, jiùshìshuō yào nǔlì xuéxí la, yīnwèi qián shenme de dōushì kào biérén na. My grandpa died in his early years. Therefore, my mother had to depend on my uncle for a living. However (keshi), they still kept the feudal morality to support the whole family. As if a person was wealthy, then he could afford all the people in the family, the number of which equals to those living in a big courtyard. But(keshi) as for my mother, my grandmother as well, said that if you always lived on the others, you would have had to study hard，because they made money for your living expenses. (Feng Zhen, 1982) The example (16) indicates that the topic has been changed from “a good harvest in the situation of the agriculture” to “the problem of the radishes”. The first “keshi” in example (17) converts the topic from “my mother’s living on my uncle” to “the family condition of uncle’s”, while the second one goes back to the former topic once again, i.e. “if you depend on the others to make a living, you must study hard”. As a result, the topic could be developed continuously in the discourse, of which also reflects that expressions in oral language switching freely.

Striving for turn. It is concluded that one of the effects of the discourse makers in the existing discourse

analysis theory is “turn-taking” (refer to Fang Mei, 2000:462).According to conversational analysis theory, turn is a fundamental unit of a conversation. One conversation at least consist of two turns. Turn-taking generally involves giving up the right to speak, maintaining or requiring for it and feedback. The disjunctive discourse markers have the function of turn-taking. “Keshi/ke”, which is located at the beginning of the turn-taking, is called to strive for the turn. While at the turning point in turn-taking, it is “to maintain the turn”. (18) 何：还有其他好处。目前拉到的赞助已经超过预算，用不了，就是说，我们热热闹闹完了事儿，咱们大家还能分点儿。李：这事儿倒不错，不出钱，不费力，又扬名又风光，最后还有进项。戈：可这事儿也太好了。好得都悬了。这年头儿还有这种好事儿，我真是头一次遇见。（《编》） Hé: Háiyǒu qítā hǎochù. Mùqián lādào de zànzhù yǐjīng chāoguò yùsuàn, yòng bùliǎo, jiùshìshuō, wǒmen rèrènaonao wán le shìr, zánmen dàjiā hái néng fēn diǎnr. Lǐ: Zhè shìr dào búcuò, bù chū qián, bú fèilì, yòu yángmíng yòu fēngguāng, zuìhòu háiyǒu jìnxiàng. Gē: Kě zhè shìr yě tài hǎo le. Hǎo de dōu xuán le. Zhè niántour háiyǒu zhèzhǒng hǎoshìr, wǒ zhēnshì tóuyícì yùjiàn. He: There are other advantages. At present the sponsorship is in excess of our budges, of which will not be run out. That is to say, if we succeed to finish the event lively, we could share the rest of the money. Li: That’s not bad. You don’t have to spend the money or make any efforts, but you will get good reputation and extra income at last. Ge: But (keshi) it is too good to be imagined. I’ve never heard of such a good thing before. (Bian) (19) B：我懂你的意思，可是你们的合同上并没有使用第三者的称谓啊。比如说，…… 余：诶，可是...... （同上） B: Wǒ dǒng nǐ de yìsi, kěshì nǐmen de hétong shang bìng méiyǒu shǐyòng dì sān zhe de chēngwèi a. Bǐrúshuō，…… Yú: Ēi, kěshì...... B: I got what you meant. But (keshi) there is not a she/ he on your contract. For instance... Yu: Well, but..... (Bian) (20) 我发怒了，咆哮着让她滚出去，永远都不要见到她。 “对不起，我不是故意的。”她坐在我的对面，开始向我道歉，“可是我朋友是真正的喜欢那幅画。”（卞庆奎《中国北漂艺人生存实录》 Wǒ fānù le, páoxiào zhe ràng tā gǔnchūqù, yǒngyuǎn dōu búyào jiàndào tā. “Duìbuqǐ, wǒ búshì gùyì de.”Tā zuò zài wǒ de duìmiàn, kāishǐ xiàng wǒ dàoqiàn, “kěshì wǒ péngyǒu shì zhēnzhèng de xǐhuān nà fú huà.” I flared up, yelling at her to get out of here, and never wanted to see her ever. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.” She sat in front of me, apologizing: “But (keshi)

my friend is truly into that painting.”(Bian Qingkui, Chinese artists living in Beijing) In example (18), the editor in chief of The Public Life, He Bi, was talking about preparing the evening party for the children of the city on Children’s Day. And he wanted to have a cooperation with The World Guide. Ge Ling used “ke” to strive for the discourse right, showing her anxiety. Example (19) works in the same way. Due to the mighty discourse right on the opposite side, Yu Deli couldn’t say more word except “keshi”. In example (20), “keshi” is used as the turning point to maintain the conversation, while the part q is the pleading, explanation for the part p.(Wu Qiong took away one of my paintings. When she came back, she said that it was sold to a tourist by five hundred yuan. In fact, she gave the painting to her friend as a present and paid for the five hundred yuan herself instead. I was provoked by her sympathy.) It feels to have stronger willing for the discourse right with using double “keshi”, by making a comparison with using the single “ke” or “keshi”. The purpose of striving for the turn could also be categorized in details: a) To draw attention; b) To question; c) To refute; d) To be eager to make a clear statement of one’s opinion; e) To plead and make explanation. In the process of dealing with the conversation, the listener needs to process the new information or hypothesis provided by the speaker through a series of contextual assumption, then obtain the contextual effect, by which the listener could get the implication and understand the purpose of the communication. As discourse makers, these double forms are used by the speakers to change the cognitive context hypothesis of the listeners and make an effect on the context, which turns out to be the pragmatic strategies that restrict the discourse comprehension of the listener and reflect the function of the interpersonal interaction as the following examples, (21) “可是，可是……”小草急切的说： “我们往哪儿走啊？” “反正不跟他走一路就对了！”（琼瑶《青青河边草》） “Kěshì, kěshì ……”Xiǎocǎo jíqiè de shuō: “Wǒmen wǎng nǎr zǒu a?” “Fǎnzhèng bù gēn tā zǒu yí lù jiù duì le!” “But (keshi), but (keshi)...” Xiao Cao said anxiously, “where are we going?” “It will be a right option not going with him.”(Qiong Yao, Green Grass by the River) (22) “我看过很多家庭，因为妻妾不和，而弄得天下大乱！我不想做这种家庭的男主人，而且，你已经占满了我整个胸怀，我不知道，我还有什么位置给华又琳？” “可是，可是，”青青担心极了：”只怕你一回北京，面对你的父母，华家的长辈，你这所有的道理，不一定说得出口啊！”（同上） “Wǒ kàn guo hěn duō jiātíng, yīnwèi qī qiè bù hé, ér nòng de tiānxiàdàluàn! Wǒ bù xiǎng zuò zhè zhǒng jiātíng de nán zhǔrén, érqiě, nǐ yǐjīng zhàn mǎn le wǒ zhěng gè xiōnghuái, wǒ bù zhīdào, wǒ hái yǒu shenme wèizhì gěi Huà Yòulín?” “Kěshì, kěshì,” Qīngqīng dānxīn jí le: “Zhǐ pà nǐ yì huí Běijīng, miànduì nǐ de fùmǔ, Huà jiā de zhǎngbèi, nǐ zhè suǒyǒu de dàolǐ, bù yídìng shuō de chū kǒu a!” “I’ve seen too many families broken up, due to the bad relationship between the couples. I don’t want to be such a host. Moreover, you have already occupied my mind. I don’t know what else I can give to Hua.” “But(keshi), but(keshi),” Qingqing was very anxious and said, “I’m worried about that 41

you probably couldn’t say all these arguments out in front of your parents and the elders in Hua’s when you go back to Beijing. (Qiong Yao, Green Grass by the River) (23) “都以为徐达非不定多享受呢，其实……其实我还是个普通人。” “可是，可是，怎么也该让您住得宽敞点，先不说和好莱坞的明星比吧——我觉得在演技上您并不比他们差！”（王朔《你不是一个俗人》） “Dōu yǐwéi Xú Dáfēi búdìng duō xiǎngshòu ne, qíshí ……qíshí wǒ háishì ge pǔtōng rén.” “Kěshì, Kěshì, zěnme yě gāi ràng nín zhù de kuānchǎng diǎn, xiān bù shuō hé Hǎoláiwū de míngxīng bǐ ba ——wǒ juéde zài yǎnjì shang nín bìng bù bǐ tāmen chà!” “Everyone thought that I enjoy myself. However, the fact is.....that I’m just an ordinary person.” “But (keshi),but (keshi), they should provide you a more comfortable place to stay. Despite of the superstars in Hollywood, your acting is more skillful than them!”(Wang Shuo, You are not Average) (24) 李：没关系王师傅，……胖成什么样儿都没关系。戈：就是。你就坐办公室，坐着。王：可是，可是我就喜欢当厨子。我就觉着炒菜好玩儿。（《编》） Lǐ: Méi guānxì Wáng shīfu……wǒmen zhèr bù zháo qián. Pàng chéng shénme yàngr dōu méi guānxì. Gē: Jiù shì. Nǐ jiù zuò bàngōngshì, zuò zhe. Wáng: Kěshì, kěshì wǒ jiù xǐhuan dāng chúzi. Wǒ jiù juézhe chǎocài hǎowánr. Li: It’s ok, Mr Wang,....Never mind your overweight. Ge: Right. Just sit in the office, just sit. Wang: But (keshi), but (keshi), I like to be a chef. It is fun to cook dishes.(Bian) (25) 到什么时候也不要忘了你的奴婢身份。好自为之，你也就不要再争了；不知自爱，你争，也没有用。……春红，这种事，你是知道该怎么做的。” “可是，可是，”春红一下子说不出话来了，她跪在地上，挺直了身子，就和姑奶争辩（林希《婢女春红》） Dào shenme shíhou yě búyào wàngle nǐ de núbì shēnfèn. Hǎozìwéizhī, nǐ yě jiù búyào zài zhēng le; bù zhī zìài, nǐ zhēng, yě méiyǒu yòng…Chūnhóng，zhè zhǒng shì, nǐ shì zhīdào gāi zěnme zuò de.” “Kěshì, kěshì,” Chūnhóng yíxiàzi shuō bù chū huà lái le, tā guì zài dìshang, tǐng zhí le shēnzi, jiù hé gūnǎi zhēngbiàn. “Don’t forget that you are a maid at any time. Take good care of yourself and stop arguing any more. Even if you did, it would be in vain...... Chunhong, you should have known how to deal with this kind of stuff.” “But (keshi),but (keshi),” Chunhong could not speak a word suddenly. She drew herself up on her knees arguing with the Great aunt. (Lin Xi, The maid Chunhong) In the dialogues above, (21) Xiaocao used double “keshi” to get the turn and wanted to arouse the other’s attention of “where are we going?” (22) Qingqing didn’t agree with Shiwei and questioned him. (23)Double “keshi” didn’t increase the disjunctive mood. The

latter q retorted the opinion of Xu Dafei. In (24), those people were talking about Mr. Wang’s weight. They thought that Mr. Wang was discriminated and suggested him working in the editorial department. However, Mr. Wang urged to state his own point that chef was his favourite job. In (25), Chunhong resisted and defended herself because of the misunderstanding by striving for the speech right.

Attracting Attention. （26）世界上确是有奇事的。侦探回来报告张村长：张荣回来了，还离村有五里多地。可是，可是，他搀着李全，走得很慢！侦探准知道村长要说什么，所以赶紧补充上：我并没发昏，我揉了几次眼睛，千真万确是他们两个！（老舍《敌与友》） Shìjiè shang què shì yǒu qí shì de. Zhēntàn huílai bàogào Zhāng cūnzhǎng: Zhāng Róng huílai le, hái lí cūn yǒu wǔ lǐ duō dì. Kěshì, kě shì, tā chān zhe Lǐ Quán, zǒu de hěn màn! Zhēntàn zhǔn zhīdao cūnzhǎng yào shuō shenme, suǒyǐ gǎnjǐn bǔchōng shang: wǒ bìng méi fā hūn, wǒ róu le jǐ cì yǎnjing, qiānzhēnwànquè shì tāmen liǎng ge! There are wonders in the world. The detective came back and informed the village head that Zhang Rong was on the way to the village five miles away. But (keshi), but (keshi), he walked very slowly, helping Li Quan by his arms. Before the village head was about to say something, the detective added that I saw them clearly with rubbing my eyes. (Lao She, The enemy and friend) Here, “keshi, keshi” is not the discourse maker for the speak right, which only emphasizes and highlights the focus of attention that Zhang Rong and Li Quan came back together!

Hesitation. (27) 他微微一笑说：“这个我懂！可是，可是……” “可是什么？”（航鹰《明姑娘》） Tā wēiwēi yí xiào shuō: “Zhè ge wǒ dǒng! Kěshì, kěshì……” “Kěshì shénme?” He smiled and said: “I understand! But (keshi), but (keshi)...” “But what...?” (Ying Hang, Ms. Ming) In the example above, Ms. Ming made a suggestion to visit the garden. She wanted to arouse Zhao Can’s love of the nature, but Zhao felt self-abasement. Therefore, Ms. Ming talked to him rationally. He gave the expression of his own opinion with hesitation. The double “keshi” ended up with ellipsis in this situation similar to Zhao’s which usually happens when someone feels embarassed or anxious to say it out. The listener is eager to know the point of the speaker and makes a detail inquiry.

2.3. “Buguo”. As mentioned above, “buguo” also has a turn-taking function. Besides, it also has the pragmatic function of attracting attention and maintaining a turn.

Topic Change (28) 你得有粮票，同时在有粮食剩余的时候才能买到。如果票用完了，就算有钱也

没办法。什么东西都要票——食物、布、收音机。不过我记得我家一直都有电视。（《梦》） Nǐ děi yǒu liángpiào, tóngshí zài yǒu liángshi shèngyú de shíhou cái néng mǎi dào. Rúguǒ piào yòng wán le, jiùsuàn yǒu qián yě méi bànfa. Shéme dōngxi dōu yào piào ——shíwù, bù, shōuyīnjī. Búguò wǒ jìde wǒ jiā yìzhí dōu yǒu diànshì. Only when you have food coupons and there is surplus food at the same time, then you can buy it. If the food coupons run out, there is no way even you have money. Everything needs coupons --food, cloth, radio. But (buguo) I remember that there is always a TV in my home. (Dream) (29) 这使他感到惶恐不安——润生他二爸是县革委会的副主任，在县上可是一个大人物。有时他二爸路过回村子，坐的都是吉普车呢。记得当时他常常想走近去看看停在公路边的小车，都吓得不敢去，何况现在要叫他去他们家吃饭呢！不过，他对润生的姐姐润叶倒怀有一种亲切的感情。（《平》第三章） Zhè shǐ tā gǎndào huángkǒngbùān ——Rùnshēng tā èrbà shì xiàn Géwěihuì de fù zhǔrèn, zài xiàn shang kě shì yí ge dà rénwù. Yǒushí tā èrbà lùguò huí cūnzi, zuò de dōu shì jípǔchē ne. Jìde dāngshí tā chángcháng xiǎng zǒu jìn qù kànkan tíng zài gōnglù biān de xiǎochē, dōu xià de bùgǎn qù, hékuàng xiànzài yào jiào tā qù tāmen jiā chīfàn ne! Búguò, tā duì Rùnshēng de jiějie Rùnyè dào huáiyǒu yìzhǒng qīnqiè de gǎnqíng. Runsheng’s uncle is the deputy director of the Revolutionary Committee of County and he is a big shot in the county, which makes him jittery. Sometimes his uncle passed by the village by jeep. I remember that he was so sacred to close the car parked by the road although he often wanted to see it. Let alone he is invited to have dinner with them now! But (buguo) he has a cordial feeling to Runsheng’s big sister Runye.(Ping, Chapter3) (30) 假何：这没错儿。一个人的智慧是有限的嘛。红花儿还要绿叶儿扶呢。铝合金可比什么都结实。李：噢。有道理。不过你们胆儿也太大了。（《编》） Jiǎ Hé: zhè méi cuòr. Yígè rén de zhìhuì shì yǒuxiàn de ma.Hóng huār háiyào lǜyèr fú ne. Lǚhéjīn kě bǐ shéme dōu jiēshi. Lǐ: Ō. Yǒu dàoli. Búguò nǐmen dǎnr yě tài dà le. Jiahe: This is right. Person’s wisdom is limited. Even the safflower needs greenery’s help. Aluminum alloy is more solid than anything. Li: Ah. It’s reasonable. But (buguo) you are too bold. (Bian) The example (28) indicates the turn-taking of sentence groups in the same turn and convert largely. In example (29), “buguo” is located between the two paragraphs. Besides the textual cohesive function, it shows the topic switching from the high background and status of Runsheng to the good feeling to his sister. Example (30) shows that speaker firstly agreed previous topic of the other in the conversation, then changed the topic and demonstrated his own opinion.

Attracting Attention. In the following example, “buguo” is used to attract attention by explaining the reason why Mrs. Li helps her to cope with Fang Hongjian is her lonely situation. (31) 柔嘉笑道：“我劝她好几次了，她要帮我，我有什么办法？她说女人全吃丈

夫的亏，她自己吃老李的亏——吃生米粽子。不过，我在你家里孤掌难鸣，现在也教你尝尝味道。”（钱钟书《围城》） Róujiā xiào dào: “Wǒ quàn tā hǎo jǐ cì le, tā yào bāng wǒ, wǒ yǒu shéme bànfa? Tā shuō nǚrén quán chī zhàngfu de kuī, tā zìji chī Lǎolǐ de kuī ——chī shēng mǐ zòngzi. Búguò, wǒ zài nǐ jiā li gūzhǎngnánmíng, xiànzài yě jiào nǐ chángchang wèidao.” Roujia smiled and said: “I have tried to persuade her several times. But she still wants to help me, then what should I do? She said that women suffer from her husband, and herself suffers from Mr. Li. But (buguo) in your home, I’m alone without any support, now you are in the same situation. (Qian Zhongshu, Fortress Besieged)

Turn Maintaining. (32) 反正一般的人认为北京人就是讲究吃，是啊，讲究吃啊，这个礼节挺多的，是啊，这也，这也不见得都是那样儿，不见得都是那样儿。不过北京人吃饭什么的是有点儿，是有点儿爱考究。我，我的感觉。现在一般的人来讲，那条件都好了嘛，是不是啊，都要讲吃比较好一点儿的。（1982:傅婉真） Fǎnzhèng yìbān de rén rènwéi Běijīng rén jiùshì jiǎngjiu chī, shì a, jiǎngjiu chī a, zhè ge lǐjié tǐng duō de, shì a, zhè yě, zhè yě bújiànde dōu shì nà yàngr, bújiànde dōu shì nà yàngr. Búguò Běijīngrén chīfàn shénme de shì yǒudiǎnr, shì yǒudiǎnr ài kǎojiu. Wǒ, wǒ de gǎnjué. Xiànzài yìbān de rén lái jiǎng, nà tiáojiàn dōu hǎo le ma, shì bú shì a, dōu yào jiǎng chī bǐjiào hǎo yìdiǎnr de. Anyway, most people think that Beijingers are very particular about eating. Yes, that’s true. And they have lots of etiquette. But it’s not all like this. But (buguo) Beijing people are a little exquisite about eating. It’s just my feeling. Nowadays, for most people, living conditions have improved. So they are fussier about food than before. (Fu Wanzhen, 1982) (33) “捷轩，你说的道理很是，不过，不过，法是死的，用是活的。十二几次受重伤，都是我亲手救活了他的命。这次请你看个面子，还让我救他一命行不行？”（姚雪垠《李自成》） “Jiéxuān, nǐ shuō de dàoli hěn shì, búguò, búguò, fǎ shì sǐ de, yòng shì huó de. Shí èr jǐ cì shòu zhòngshāng, dōu shì wǒ qīnshǒu jiù huó le tā de mìng. Zhè cì qǐng nǐ kàn ge miànzi, hái ràng wǒ jiù tā yímìng xíng bu xíng?” “Jiexuan, what you said makes sense, but (buguo) law is law while usage can be changed. He has been severely injured for more than 12 times, and every time I saved him by myself. This time, please do me a favor and let me save him again, okay? ” (Yao Xueyin, Li Zicheng) In example (32), “buguo (but)” has no disjunctive meaning. This kind of “buguo” which looks like superfluous but appears many times in oral speech has a pragmatic function of maintaining a turn without being interrupted. In example (33), the speaker agrees with the other’s idea at first, then he tries to get the turn. Because of his eager to express opinion, he uses two “buguo (but)” to maintain a turn and keep his right to speak. In conclusion, discourse organization function of “buguo”mainly composes of changing the topic and maintaining the turn, and its interpersonal interaction function mainly consists in attracting attention. 45

3. The Formation Mechanism and Cognitive Basis. 3.1. The Formation Mechanism. In this paper, it’s believed that the formation mechanisms of discourse marks like “danshi”, “keshi” and “buguo” mainly consists of high reused frequency, semantic reduction, contextual absorption and reanalysis. Through the survey of spoken corpora, we find that disjunctive words have a high frequency even overused tendency in spontaneous speech, what’s more, they even become “pet phrase” in spontaneous conversation(Ma Guoyan,2010), which is the reflection of further grammaticalization. Some disjunctive words indeed express disjunctive logical semantical meaning while some of them act as arousing the other people’s attention, or striving for the speak rights, and the other words just play a cohering and linking role in the paragraphs. Because of the differences in personal language sensibility and habitual forms of expression, some writers use the disjunctive words in wide range in their works. For example, Jia Pingwa has used “dan” 400 times and “ke” over 500 times in Evening Glow of an Imperial City. Qian Zhongshu has used “keshi” 240 times in Fortress Besieged. The high frequency reused situation lays the foundation for the semantic reduction. The “automation” and “adaption” caused by repetition occur frequently in daily speaking. So the two processes can effectively explain two important features of grammar and morphemes in human language: the reduction of form, the generalization and grammaticalization of meaning (Wu Fuxiang, 2006:130). The formation of the discourse marks’ usage like “danshi”, “keshi”, “buguo” is a process that the logical true-value semantic gradually decays and discourse marks function gradually enhances. The use of disjunctive discourse marks is closely linked with context, and the context has significant impact on the formation of discourse marks. We may say that contextual absorption plays an important role in the grammaticalization of the words like “danshi” as well. For example, (34) “这头奶牛为自己的种族的屈辱而不平了，鼻孔里开始喷两股粗气、一呼一吸，竟使面前的尘土地上冲开了两个小土窝。但它仰头注视了一片空白的天空，终于平和下来，而一声长笑了。”（《都》） “Zhè tóu nǎiniú wèi zìjǐ de zhǒngzú de qūrǔ ér bùpíng le, bíkǒng li kāishǐ pēn liǎng gǔ cūqì, yì hū yì xī, jìng shǐ miànqián de chéntǔdì shang chōngkāi le liǎng ge xiǎo tǔwō. Dàn tā yǎngtóu zhùshì le yí piàn kòngbái de tiānkōng, zhōngyú pínghé xiàlai, ér yì shēng cháng xiào le.” “This cow felt injustice for its own racial humiliation and began to exhale two deep breath in his nostrils which made the dust become two small soil pits. But (dan) when it looked at the empty sky and finally calmed down, a long laugh came out of its mouth.” (City) “Dan” is in the position between “p (exhaled deep breath.)” and “q (looked up at sky)” which represent two actions successively happened. This successive relation is denoted by the sentences’ pattern instead of function words. The disjunctive relation composed by “danshi” is superfluous, but it is possible to use it as the cohesive words. If disjunctive words are often used in this context with high frequency, this kind of sentences will be reanalyzed through the contextual absorption, especially these disjunctive words’ pragmatic

function which doesn’t represent the true-value semantics are interpreted again. In other words, it makes seemingly disjunctive context absorbed as discourse marks’ procedural function. It’s the necessary condition of contextual absorption that some words in certain syntactic combination（Not only one kind of words can be put in it. So the words “danshi” can be replaced by the words like “jiezhe”, “ranhou”). The first step of contextual absorption is semantic reduction, and then it is possible to absorb the context meaning, so semantic change happens before contextual absorption. Of course, syntactic influence is also important.( Jiang Shaoyu,2013) 3From the perspective of recipients, they can obtain the most important information from context according to the principle of optimal and maximal relevance, so that can understand the intention of the speakers. In conclusion, the relationship between three main formation mechanisms of the discourse marks can be expressed as following graphic: High frequency reuse →semantic (change)reduction→contextual absorption→reanalysis →discourse marks

3.2. Cognitive Basis. Compared with the conjunctions which indicate the cohesion and result, the disjunctive conjunctions have heavier semantic load. Because in cause and effect, coherent compound sentences, sometimes coherence conjunctions and result conjunctions can be omitted and don’t affect the sentences’ true-value semantic relation. While in the disjunctive relation, “the basis of sentence patterns is contradictions and differences of things” (Xing Fuyi, 2001:292). Disjunctive words cannot be omitted because the two successive clauses have the characteristics of paradoxicality. If these words can be omitted and do not affect the semantic expression, in this condition, disjunctive words’ semantic meaning is fairly reduced, even grammaticalize into relevant discourse marks. In view of cognition, the position that disjunctive marker occurs is where the attention focus. And it is related to “disjunctive” logical relation which contains internal psychological mechanism. In numerous logical relations, disjunctive relation is most surprising. It can give listener high psychological expectations, and can easily attract their attention. When these marks no longer indicate disjunctive semantic relation, but act as pragmatic function, they’re still the attention focus of speakers and listeners. The grammaticalization procedure can be expressed as: Disjunctive words express the true-value semantic> correlatives with semantic reduction> relevant discourse markers

3.3. Subjectivity. Context is important because it is added the human subjective perception and subjective consciousness. This kind of discourse markers have strong subjectivity and have the function of reflecting the subjective point of view. Subjectivity is the speaker who shows his stands, attitudes and feelings in his speech. So that he leave a mark in the discourse. The subjectivity of language is mainly manifested in three aspects: the speaker’s

3 The theory of contextual absorption introduced by Jiang Shaoyu (2013) is detailed in Bybee，Joan，Revere Perkins & William Pagliuca（1994）. 47

feeling, perspective and understanding. (Shen Jiaxuan, 2001) Mr. Lv Shuxiang (1942) pointed out that the two clauses are disharmony, the meaning is opposite. Both of them belong to the disjunctive compound sentences. The so-called disharmony and opposite is that, probably because A causes an expectation in our mind, while B is beyond our expectation. Please look at the following examples, (35) 馍小饭可稀。 Mó xiǎo fàn kě xī. The steamed bread is small but (ke) the porridge is thin. (35)’ a. 馍小饭可稠。b. 馍小但好吃。 a. Mó xiǎo fàn kě chóu. b. Mó xiǎo dàn hǎo chī. a. The steamed bread is small but (ke) the porridge is thick. b. The steamed bread is small but (ke) delicious. This sentence does not need disjunctive correlatives and express dissatisfaction with the cafeteria’s “small steamed bread”, “thin porridge”. When it’s added “ke”, the sentence becomes “Steamed bread is small, but porridge is thin” which reveals a kind of attitude to ridicule canteen and the subjective emotion is very obvious. In example (35)’, there are just general disjunctive contracted sentences. “Steamed bread is small, but porridge is thick”, the first clause causes an expectation of “Steamed bread is small, probably not enough to eat”, and the following clause “porridge is thick” beyond the expectation. The example (35) shows the speaker’s specific subjective perspective and understanding, which has surprising rhetorical effect. The other transformation proposition expressions such as “rice is poor but (ke) dish is very expensive”, “rice is poor but (que) dish is very light” have the same pragmatic function . The other examples as follows: (36) 她很瘦，但是不漂亮。 Tā hěn shòu, dànshì bú piàoliang. She is very thin but (danshi) not beautiful. (37) 我很丑，可是我不温柔。 Wǒ hěn chǒu, kěshì wǒ bù wēnróu. I am very ugly, but (keshi) not gentle. In the eyes of someone who believe “thin is beautiful”, “thin” is the cause and “beautiful” is the effect. In general, “She is very thin and beautiful.” But here “very thin” is not the cause of beautiful, so disjunctive words is used. In the views of average people, there is no inevitable connection between ugly and gentle. But because of a famous pop song, the lyrics, “I am very ugly, but I am very gentle”, became well-known. According to the first part “I am ugly”, the listener will expect the sentence like “but I am very gentle”. It is presupposition implied out of the sentence that makes the sentence has surprising rhetorical effect.

4. Conclusion. The distribution of disjunctive words’ semantic reduction and grammaticalization to discourse markers is not symmetrical. For example, the semantic reduction of the disjunctive adverb “que” has not been seen in writer’s investigation of

corpus. Take the example of the novel The Ordinary World, in this book, disjunctive adverb appears 9 times with true value semantics. We surveyed the usages of disjunctive words and discourse markers that grammaticalized by these words in the three books（The Ordinary World, Evening Glow of an Imperial City, Fortress besieged）. The result as follows: Works Evening Glow of The Ordinary World Fortress besieged an Imperial City Disjunctive words Discourse Markers Discourse Markers Discourse Markers Occurrence Occurrence Occurrence Proportion Proportion Proportion

Danshi 1 1 100% 38 7 18.4% 11 3 27%

Dan 25 1 4% 400 25 6.3% 54 4 7.4% Keshi 5 0 0 9 2 11% 240 11 4.6% Buguo 4 1 25% 0 0 0 85 5 5.9%

Directions: In order to express briefly, disjunctive adverbs, conjunction and correlative discourse markers that appeared in the novels are called Disjunctive words. From the table, we can find that in the certain surveyed corpus, the proportion of “danshi” as discourse marker is relatively high, followed by “buguo”and “dan”, then “keshi”. If we add the usages which are just semantic weakening but not totally grammaticalize to discourse markers, the number of proportion will be larger. We believe that this proportion is even larger in the spoken language. Fang Mei (2000:462) did a statistics about recording material, the proportions of their (“danshi”,”keshi”,and”buguo”) non-truth value semantic expressions respectively reach to 33.3％,32.4％,and 40％. This paper discussed several pragmatic function of discourse markers “danshi”, “keshi” and “buguo” etc, such as discourse organization and cohension and coherence, transformation of topic or turn, attracting attention, helping to affirm views and so on. Because of the limitations of the surveyed corpus, the above data remains to be further verified. We hope that there will be more extensive and in-depth investigation and analysis in future studies. In addition, from the perspective of Rhetoric, when these words express the usage of non-truth-value semantics, the rhetorical function is obvious, which is also worthy of further investigation.

REFERENCES

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