Discourse Functions of TOH and CHIAH in Taiwanese

• Main Authors: Lin, Min-ching, 林敏靜
• Other Authors: Cherry Ing Li
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 1996
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/03405883198290350865

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 英語學系 === 84 === This thesis investigates the Taiwanese adverbs toh and chiah from a pragmatic-discoursal perspective. The analysis is based on four hours' recording ofnatural spoken data, including a daily conversation, three TV drama series,and a radio call-in program. Unlike the previous studies on these two adverbsin Taiwanese which concern themselves mainly with the enumeration of thevarious meanings and functions that each of them is said to have, this studyfinds that toh and chiah can be used as linking and limiting elements atdifferent levels of discourse, manifesting distinct characteristics inpresuppositionality, strategies for limiting, and expectational orientations.Toh has two-tone variants functioning at different discourse levels: thethird-tone variant at a local level and the seventh-tone one at a globallevel. As a l inking element, the third-tone toh is used locally to link twopropositions with dependency relationship at the same level, while theseventh-tone toh is used more globally in relating the current proposition toa higher level of discourse, e.g. the shared world knowledge of theparticipants. As a limiting element, the third-tone toh effects an emphasisby directly singling out the focused (expected) constituent; the seventh-tonetoh, on the other hand, achieves the purpose by marking the unexpectedcandidate (the strongest claim) to highlight the really focused one (theweaker statement). In its linking uses, chiah is used to link a propositionto its preceding proposition(s) and mark it as the consequent or conclusion ofthe preceding discourse: locally, chiah is used to counter an expectation,while in its global use it is not presuppositional. In the limiting usage,chiah serves to signal a scalar contrast by asserting an unexpected, extremevalue on the opposite end of a scalar domain. The analyses also show that thedistinct discourse-pragmatic functions of the two adverbs are correlatedwith three parameters: presuppositionality, strategies for limiting, andexpectational orientations. With respect to presuppositionality, local chiahand global toh are more presuppositional or counter-expectational, whileglobal chiah and local toh are weaker in their presuppositionality. In termsof the strategies for limiting, the third-tone toh limits the scope of choicesby singling out one candidate, while chiah modifying the subsequent predicatesignals a scalar contrast by asserting an unexpected, extreme value on theopposite end of the scale. The seventh-tone toh, on the other hand, is usedto make the expected candidate stand out by including the most unexpected oneinto the modifying domain of the predicate, while chiah modifying itspreceding NP is used to deny an expectation by asserting another alternative.In terms of expectational orientations, the seventh-tone toh and chiah markthe antecedent as 'more demanding or harder to obtain', while the third-tonetoh marks a 'less demanding or easy-to- obtain' antecedent. The distinctionbetween the seventh-tone toh and chiah lies in the fact that the seventh-tonetoh usually functions more globally.