作为汉语言语交际话题过渡讯号的“唉”

Ai(唉)as a Topic Transition Signal in Mandarin Conversations

自然会话的内容或主题通常被定义为交流的话题,与话题紧密相关的话题过渡在会话分析研究视角下被理解为由交际参与者共同完成的一项社会、互动成就,而“唉”就是汉语言语交际中能够执行话题过渡的一种会话常规。从新话题与前话题之间的关系出发,我们把话题过渡细分为话题转换和话题改变;根据话题过渡出现的序列位置,我们把话题过渡划分为断裂性与非断裂性话题过渡。本研究所涉及的双人会话中的话题过渡通常由话题过渡者单方面发起,因此“唉”除了执行话题过渡讯号这一互动功能外,还在一定程度上缓解甚至避免话题过渡突发性可能给交际对方带来的困扰。

The topic of a conversation is the subject or theme of the conversation, and topic transition from the perspective of conversation analysis is understood as a collaboratively constructed social and interactional achievement.Ai in Mandarin is a conversational practice functioning as a topic transition signal.In this study, topic transition is an umbrella term which covers both topic shift and topic change, in accordance with the relationship that exists between the new and previous topics.Furthermore, topic transition is classified as either non-disruptive or disruptive transition in agreement with the sequential position at which a topic transition occurs.Topic transition in two-party Mandarin conversations collected for this study is self-attentive in nature.To compensate for the suddenness of a transition, the interactant implementing the transition might use a free-standing interjection ai as a signal to indicate that a topic transition is about to take place, meanwhile downgrading or even avoiding the suddenness of the transition.