1887
  1. Home
  2. e-Journals
  3. Applied Pragmatics
  4. Volume 2, Issue 2
  5. Article
Volume 2, Issue 2
  • ISSN 2589-109X
  • E-ISSN: 2589-1103
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

This study compared Mandarin phone closings among familiars in natural conversations with those in Chinese learning textbooks. The natural data was drawn from the CALLFRIEND Mandarin Chinese Corpus (Canavan & Zipperlen, 1996a1996b), while the textbook dialogues were extracted from 20 series published in the United States, China, and Taiwan. Based on Button’s (1987) framework, this article adopted corpus-based research to analyze the structural pattern and the linguistic features of closings. It found that Chinese phone closings generally consisted of much repetition and thus were more complex than the archetype Button proposed, which suggests that reaching a mutual agreement is essential in Chinese telephone closings. The pattern of a closing depends on whether the caller is calling to catch up with the recipient or if they have a specific purpose. Common tokens for initiating closings such as , and and relation-enhancing expressions were also identified. However, the current research revealed that most textbook dialogues except for unscripted dialogues do not reflect these characteristics. Therefore, this study argues for the inclusion of unscripted dialogues and instructions that direct learners’ attention to the conversational management of phone closings in Chinese learning textbooks.

© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/ap.19017.hua
2020-08-17
2025-04-24

  • From This Site

    /content/journals/10.1075/ap.19017.hua
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Bardovi-Harling, K., Hartford, B. A., Mahan-Taylor, R., Morgan, M. J., & Reynolds, D. W.
    (1991) Developing pragmatic awareness: Closing the conversation. ELT Journal, 45(1), 4–15. 10.1093/elt/45.1.4
     https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/45.1.4 [Google Scholar]
  2. Bolden, G.
    (2008) Reopening Russian conversations: The discourse particle –to and the negotiation of interpersonal accountability in closings. Human Communication Research, 34(1), 99–136. 10.1111/j.1468‑2958.2007.00315.x
     https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.2007.00315.x [Google Scholar]
  3. Boxer, D., & Pickering, L.
    (1995) Problems in the presentation of speech acts in ELT materials: The case of complaints. ELT Journal, 49(1), 44–58. 10.1093/elt/49.1.44
     https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/49.1.44 [Google Scholar]
  4. Button, G.
    (1987) Moving out of closings. InG. Button & J. R. Lee (Eds.), Talk and social organization (pp.101–151). Multilingual Matters.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Byrnes, H.
    (1989) Whither foreign language pedagogy: Reflections in textbooks, reflections on textbooks. Unterrichtspraxis /Teaching German, 21(1), 29–36. 10.2307/3530741
     https://doi.org/10.2307/3530741 [Google Scholar]
  6. Cameron, D.
    (2001) Working with spoken discourse. Sage.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Canavan, A., & Zipperlen, G.
    (1996a) CALLFRIEND Mandarin Chinese-Mainland Dialect LDC96S55. Linguistic Data Consortium.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. (1996b) CALLFRIEND Mandarin Chinese-Taiwan Dialect LDC96S56. Linguistic Data Consortium.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. (1996c) CALLHOME Mandarin Chinese Speech LDC96S34. Linguistic Data Consortium.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Clark, H., & French, W.
    (1981) Telephone goodbyes. Language in Society, 10(1), 1–19. 10.1017/S0047404500008393
     https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500008393 [Google Scholar]
  11. Crandall, E., & Basturkmen, H.
    (2004) Evaluating pragmatics-focused materials. ELT Journal, 58(1), 38–49. 10.1093/elt/58.1.38
     https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/58.1.38 [Google Scholar]
  12. Ekin, M. T. Y.
    (2013) Do current EFL coursebooks work for the development of L2 pragmatic competence? The case of suggestions. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 93, 1306–1310. 10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.033
     https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.10.033 [Google Scholar]
  13. Hartford, B., & Bardovi-Harlig, K.
    (1992) Closing the conversation: Evidence from the academic advising session. Discourse Processes, 15(1), 93–116. 10.1080/01638539209544803
     https://doi.org/10.1080/01638539209544803 [Google Scholar]
  14. Kasper, G.
    (1997) Can pragmatic competence be taught? (Network #6). University of Hawai’i, Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center. Retrieved fromnflrc.hawaii.edu/NetWorks/NW06/default.html
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Levinson, S.
    (1983) Pragmatics. Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511813313
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511813313 [Google Scholar]
  16. Li, C., & Thompson, S.
    (1981) A functional reference grammar of Mandarin Chinese. University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Li, D.
    (2008) Issues in Chinese language curriculum and materials development. InP. Duff & P. Lester (Eds.), Issues in Chinese language education and teacher development (pp.49–69). Centre for Research in Chinese Language and Literacy Education.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Li, S.
    (2016) Pragmatics information in selected Business Chinese (BC) textbooks in the US. Chinese as a Second Language. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, 51(2), 191–217.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Li, Y., Wen, X., & Xie, T.
    (2014) CLTA 2012 survey of college-level Chinese language programs in North America. Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, 49(1), 1–49.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Lim, N. E., & Hong, H.
    (2012) Intensifiers as stance markers: A corpus study on genre variations in Mandarin Chinese. Chinese Language and Discourse, 3(2), 129–166. 10.1075/cld.3.2.01lim
     https://doi.org/10.1075/cld.3.2.01lim [Google Scholar]
  21. Mandarin Training Center at National Taiwan Normal University
    Mandarin Training Center at National Taiwan Normal University (2008) Practical audio-visual Chinese (2nd ed.). Zheng Zhong Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. McGrath, I.
    (2013) Teaching materials and the roles of EFL/ESL teachers: Practice and theory. Bloomsbury Academic.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Ministry of Education of People’s Republic of China
    Ministry of Education of People’s Republic of China (2007) The language situation in China. The Commercial Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Nguyen, M.
    (2011) Learning to communicate in a globalized world: To what extent do school textbooks facilitate the development of intercultural pragmatic competence?RELC Journal, 42(1), 17–30. 10.1177/0033688210390265
     https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688210390265 [Google Scholar]
  25. Pavlidou, T.
    (1997) The last five turns: Preliminary remarks on closings in Greek and German telephone calls. International Journal of the Sociology of Language, 126(1), 145–162. 10.1515/ijsl.1997.126.145
     https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.1997.126.145 [Google Scholar]
  26. (1998) Greek and German telephone closings. Pragmatics: Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA), 8(1), 79–94. 10.1075/prag.8.1.03pav
     https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.8.1.03pav [Google Scholar]
  27. Richards, J. C.
    (1998) Beyond training: Perspectives on language teacher education. Cambridge University Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Schegloff, E., & Sacks, H.
    (1973) Opening up closings. Semiotica, 8(4), 289–327. 10.1515/semi.1973.8.4.289
     https://doi.org/10.1515/semi.1973.8.4.289 [Google Scholar]
  29. Sun, H.
    (2005) Collaborative strategies in Chinese telephone conversation closings. Pragmatics: Quarterly Publication of the International Pragmatics Association (IPrA), 15(1), 109–128. 10.1075/prag.15.1.05sun
     https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.15.1.05sun [Google Scholar]
  30. Takami, T.
    (2002) A study on closing sections of Japanese telephone conversations. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 18(1), 66–85.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Tannen, D.
    (1989) Talking voices: Repetition, dialogue, and imagery in conversational discourse. Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511618987
     https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511618987 [Google Scholar]
  32. Thomas, J.
    (1983) Cross-cultural pragmatic failure. Applied Linguistics, 4(2), 91–112. 10.1093/applin/4.2.91
     https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/4.2.91 [Google Scholar]
  33. Vellenga, H.
    (2004) Learning pragmatics from ESL & EFL textbooks: How likely?TESL-EJ, 8(2), 1–18.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Wei, H., Li, B., & Wang, C.
    (2014) Duiwai hanyu jiaoxue kecheng shezhi ji jiaocai shiyong xianzhuang yanjiu [Research of curriculum design and the current use of textbooks for Chinese as a second language]. Sichuan University Press.
  35. Wolfson, N.
    (1983) An empirically based analysis of complimenting in American English. InN. Wolfson & E. Jodd (Eds.), Sociolinguistics and language acquisition (82–95). Newbury House.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Yin, S.
    (1999) Regarding the modal particle “ha” and “ha”-sentences. Fangyan, 2, 95–103.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Zhang, D.
    (2014) More than “Hello” and “Bye-bye”: Opening and closing the online chats in Mandarin Chinese. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 27(6), 528–544. 10.1080/09588221.2013.776966
     https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2013.776966 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/ap.19017.hua
Loading
Mandarin telephone closings among familiars
Applied Pragmatics 2, 199 (2020); https://doi.org/10.1075/ap.19017.hua
/content/journals/10.1075/ap.19017.hua
/content/journals/10.1075/ap.19017.hua
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Chinese textbook analysis; Conversation Analysis; corpus-based research; Mandarin telephone closings

Most Cited

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error