A Study of Discourse Markers You Know in the English Debate: Native Chinese Speakers vs Native English Speakers

淺議英語辯論中的話語標記語You Know: 漢語和英語本族使用者的對照

A Study of Discourse Markers You Know in the English Debate: Native Chinese Speakers vs Native English Speakers

淺議英語辯論中的話語標記語You Know: 漢語和英語本族使用者的對照

楊淑華 寧波大紅鷹學院 浙江 寧波 315000

Abstract: This paper， based on Discourse Markers (DM) you know， contrast some functions that exist in the English debate， as the United State presidential debate and the 7th “FLTRP CUP” national English debating competition for example. Except some analysis about the quantity and location of DM you know in the debate， there are also some pedagogical implications. Let people have a further understanding about discourse marker you know.

Key words: discourse markers， you know， debate， contrast

作者簡介：楊淑華（1984—），女，浙江寧波人，寧波大紅鷹學院，助教，主要從事語用學的研究。作者單位：寧波大紅鷹學院外國語學院。

[中圖分類號]：H021 [文獻標識碼]：A

[文章編號]：1002-2139(2012)-02-0168-02

1. Introduction

Discourse markers (henceforth DMs) are widely used in many languages. They are defined as a class of lexical expression drawn primarily from the syntactic classes of conjunction， adverbs， and prepositional phrases[1]. As one of the top ten word categories， they play a fundamental role in spoken interaction[2] [3]. On average， an ‘utterance particle’ is found in every 1.5 seconds in continuous talk [4].

You know can serve as a meta-knowledge indicator， and its function of calling attention is evident as well， it ultimately leads to the increasing of shared knowledge or cognitive mutuality between the participants and it can be concluded that such a discourse marker appears as a result of adaptation to the context in communication[5]. Although the literal meaning of you know implies that knowledge on the part of the hearer， research agree that this DM functions to create focus on the information it frames， not express that the hearer dose in fact know what is being said[6]. Schiffin[7] suggests that you know marks information and can be used to state unknown information which the speakers hope the hearer will understand. Dong Xiaoming[8] investigates the Chinese students’ usage of DM you know from the perspective of the overall frequencies， collocation， positions， core meanings and especially pragmatics functions. The conclusion is Chinese students do not use DM you know as often as native speakers do; Chinese learners can use DM you know in a proper way most of the time even though they use less you know than native speakers.

2. Methodology

The corpora of this paper includes two sets of debates: native Chinese speakers’ English debates and native speakers’ English debate. Native Chinese speakers’ English debates (NCD) are from the seventh “FLTRP cup” National English Debating Competition， which is popular and familiar to the university students for many years in China. The total number of this corpus is 15，594. Native English speakers’ English debates(NED) are taken from the presidential debates between Obama and McCain in 2007. The transcription of the presidential debate is cited from the CNN net (www.cnn.com)， including 15，798 words.

3. Data Analysis and Discussion

The following table shows that the Chinese speakers use much less you know than the native speakers which are the same with Ran Yongping[9] and Xu Jie[10]and this issue exists in the different spoken corpus.

the comparison of you know between NED and NCD

Example 1:

Xia Tian:……and also my dear friend mentioned in his first speech that in a modern city there we have modern ways of communication， you know， you can reach anyone easily this world now by emails， phones and weather.

Example 2:

Xia Tian: Yes， we admit that the urbanization improves the living conditions， but that does not equal to living quality. You know， the living quality as you mentioned in your part， have two components.

Example 3:

Xia Tian: ……It’s because we realize that we have already done something， the damage to the environment that we cannot， you know， get them back as it was before. So that is why we find out these solutions for a back-up idea， but if you have thought about this.

Here are the only three examples of you know in the NCD.

The first you know means the next information is the common views. Xia said in his definition in his first speech have mentioned that the quality of living is more but on the human beings’ satisfaction on the certain foundation of materials. Then he memorized that in the one of the opponents’ speech that in a modern city there we have modern ways of communication. Then he used DM you know to draw the common view that you can reach anyone easily this world now by emails， phones and weather.

The second DM you know has the function of mention. At first， Xia stated that we admit that the urbanization improves the living conditions， but that does not equal to living quality. Then he wanted to mention the two components of the living quality as the opponent mentioned before. So he used DM you know to mention the opponents what he said before.

And the last you know has the same function as the first one. The DM You know let the people realized that if we have already done something， the damage to the environment that we cannot get them back as it was before which is the common view known by nearly everyone.

From the above three examples， from one person Xia Tian， no one else use it. But in the NED， the usage of you know are average and have other functions. Schiffrin[11] suggests that you know markers information state and could be used to present unknown information， which the speaker wished to have been accepted by the hearer. Look at the following examples of you know in NED:

Example 4:

OBAMA: We look at some of the underlying issues that have led to wages and incomes for ordinary Americans to go down， the -- a health care system that is broken， energy policies that are not working， because， you know， 10 days ago， John said that the fundamentals of the economy are sound.

Obama mentioned that the health care system is broken and at the same time the energy policies are not working. The reason is the fundamentals of the economy are sound which pit forwarded by John. Although the reason was known by Obama， he did not sure if McCain known or not. He hoped that McCain known it. So he used you know and stated the present unknown information and hope it will be accepted by McCain and other audiences.

Example 5:

OBAMA: …But it’s an example of this notion that the market can always solve everything and that the less regulation we have， the better off we’re going to be.

MCCAIN: Well， you know， let me just...

Example 6:

OBAMA:…And， John， I -- you’re absolutely right that presidents have to be prudent in what they say. But， you know， coming from you， who， you know， in the past has threatened extinction for North Korea and， you know， sung songs about bombing Iran， I don’t know， you know， how credible that is. I think this is the right strategy.

Every minute in the debate are so precious. But there still many discourse markers are used in the debate， such as you know， which waste a great deal of time while having no meaning. But this kind of function didn’t exist in NCD.

4. Pedagogical implication

According the discussion above， the findings of this paper have some pedagogical implications.

There still exist some differences between the native English speakers and non-native English speakers on the usage of discourse markers， especially about the location and quantity. Because of the frequent usage of DMs， the students need more knowledge about them and how to use them in language learning. According to our knowledge， there is no certain course which teaches students what discourse markers are and how to use them. And the usage of discourse markers in some degree depends on the habit of students themselves. So the teacher should give them a rough idea of DMs to them. It is suggested that students can be given more opportunities to do search and pay attention to observe how the native speakers use them and try to intimate the usage of discourse markers. And then， they could have a role play， for example， the English debate， to practice using them. We could have record about our debate， and transcript it， and then make a comparison with the native speakers， especially for the people who wanted to have an English Debate Competition. Finding the mistakes and differences with the native English speakers， the student could have a deep understanding and memory of the usage of discourse markers. Moreover， the teacher should select some main discourse marks， especially well， you know， ok to teach which are frequently used in our conversation. The students could first realize the functions of these words and then try to practice how to use the DMs correctly and efficiently.

REFERENCES：

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