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    The sensitivity of conversational topics and vague language in Mandarin Chinese

    Access Status
    Fulltext not available
    Authors
    Zhang, Grace
    Feng, H.
    Date
    2013
    Type
    Journal Article
    
    Metadata
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    Citation
    Zhang, Grace and Feng, Hongbian. 2013. The sensitivity of conversational topics and vague language in Mandarin Chinese. Contemporary Linguistics. 15 (1): pp. 45-61.
    Source Title
    Contemporary Linguistics
    Additional URLs
    http://ddyyx.periodicals.net.cn/
    ISSN
    1007-8274
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/4520
    Collection
    • Curtin Research Publications
    Abstract

    Vagueness is an important part of language, whose research has been increasingly steadily. However, the impact of touchy conversational topics on the use of vague language has been largely overlooked. Based on the analysis of spoken interactions in Mandarin Chinese, the findings of the study show that, although the overall frequency of vague language items seems unrelated to the sensitivity of conversational topics, different topics result in differing frequencies of the six specific categories of vague language items as well as the forms of vague language-used. Moreover, the ten frequently used vague language items vary between topics. It is therefore concluded that the sensitivity of conversational topics has an influence on the choice of specific types of vague language items, in both frequency and form.

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