The present study analyzes and discusses the functions of Taiwanese inui and soyi in spoken discourse through the approach of Conversation Analysis (CA). The analysis is based on seven and a half hours’ recording of natural spoken data, including native speakers’ conversation in soap opera on TV, telephone dialogues, TV interviews, as well as daily conversations among family members and friends. While the canonical functions of inui and soyi are used to mark cause and consequence respectively in a causal-consequential relation, their discourse functions are asymmetric. The various functions that evolve from these two markers serve different interactional purposes.
The functions of inui are highly interactional and mostly other-attentive. These functions are first categorized into causal-marking and non-causal marking. The uses of causal-marking inui are further classified into four, including (1) pure-cause marking, (2) explanation marking, (3) justification marking, and (4) understanding display. The justification-marking inui is further categorized into three types: (1) justifying conflicting statement, (2) justifying FTA and (3) mitigating embarrassment. The non-causal inuis perform the function of information-insertion marking. It is found that in most cases where a cause is to be expressed in a narrative, inui is not used. Although most of the inuis still signal a certain type of causal-relation, inui is under a speaker’s disposal for significant conversational situations. Inui is called for when a speaker recognizes the need to provide the addressee with a better and friendlier ground for conversation as particularly significant and as meriting special emphasis. The employment of inui is sensitive to serious topics, the distant social relation between interlocutors and a speaker’s attitude to the information introduced by inui.
In contrast, the functions of soyi are less other-attentive and more content-based. The various functions of soyi are categorized into two major groups: consequential and non-consequential. The consequential uses of soyi can be further classified into local level and global level. The global consequential soyi includes functions of (1) conclusion marking and (2) comment marking. The functions of non-consequential soyi include (1) topic transition marking and (2) framing. Although over eighty percent of the instances of soyi carry a canonical reading—the consequential function, soyi is used more as a rhetoric or a structuring device, rather than a grammatical one, for a speaker to add the tone of seriousness to a speech situation, and to structure the discourse for the speaker’s various expressive purposes. Soyi is only used when a speaker has a specific goal for the talk and is eager to achieve the goal through the talk.
The functional distinction between inui and soyi is further discussed and the markedness and unmarkedness of inui and soyi are also addressed to reveal the discourse-pragmatic factors that motivate the use of these two markers. In addition, the study also compares their discourse functions with their English and Taiwan Mandarin equivalents. Most of the functions of Taiwanese inui have corresponding uses of its English and Taiwan Mandarin equivalent. The difference lies in the overall frequency, the motivation of use and the functional distribution. The functions of soyi have similar uses with its English equivalent but wider application for interactional needs. While soyi is closely associated with serious and purposeful talk, its English equivalent does not exhibit such an association. The motivations that trigger the employment of inui and soyi are salient with the comparison.
ABSTRCT (Chinese)………………………………………………………………..…i
ABSTRCT (English)……………………………………………………………….…iii
ACNOWLEDGEMENT………………………………………………………………v
TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………….vii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………………….…x
TRANSCRIPTION CONVENTIONS……………………………………………..…xi
LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………xii


Chapter 1 Introduction………………………………………………………………...1
1.1 Motivation and Aims……………………………… ………………………….1
1.2 Data and Methodology………………………………………………………...9
1.2.1 Data Collection.……………………………………………………………9
1.2.2 Methodology..……………………………………………..……………...10
1.3 Organization of the Thesis……………………………………………………10

Chapter 2 Literature Review…………………………………………………………11
2.0 Introduction…………………………………………………………………..11
2.1 Previous Studies on English Because…………… ……………..……………11
2.1.1 Schiffrin (1987): Five Planes of Discourse..…………………..…………11
2.1.2 Sweetser (1990): Three Domains of Interpretation……..………………..16
2.1.3 Ford (1993): Three Types of Intonation Contour………………………...18
2.1.4 Schleppegrell (1991, 1996): Paratactic Uses of Because………………...20
2.1.5 Interim Summary…………………………………………………………27
2.2 Previous Studies on Mandarin Yinwei…..…………………...…….................28
2.2.1 Biq (1995): Five Functions of Yinwei…………….……………....…........28
2.2.2 Wang (1998): Three Types of Intonation Contour……………….………30
2.2.3 Interim Summary…………………………………………………………34
2.3 Previous Studies on English So ..………………………...……….………….35
2.3.1 Schiffrin (1987): Five Planes of Discourse……………………………....35
2.3.2 Blakemore (1988): A Constraint on Relevance…………………………..37
2.3.3 Interim Summary…………………………………………………………39
2.4 Previous Study on Mandarin Suoyi: Tsai (2002)….………………...………..41
2.5 Summary………………………………………………..…………………....42

Chapter 3 Discourse Functions of Inui……………………………………………….43
3.0 Introduction ………………………………………………………………….43
3.1 Inui as a Causal Connective…………………………..………………..…….44
3.1.1 Pure-cause Marking ……………………..……….….…….……………..44
3.1.2 Explanation Marking ……………………..…….…….………………….46
3.1.3 Justification Marking………………………..….…….…………………..73
3.1.3.1 Justifying Conflicting Statement………….………………………..74
3.1.3.2 Justifying FTA………………………………….…………………..84
3.1.3.3 Mitigating Embarrassment………………………….……………...89
3.1.4 Understanding-display Marking …………………….…………………95
3.2 Inui as a Non-causal Marker: Information-insertion Marking ……………..101
3.3 Summary ……….…………………………………………………………...111

Chapter 4 Discourse Functions of Soyi……………..………………………………115
4.0 Introduction ………………………………………………………………...115
4.1 Soyi as a Consequential Connective ………………………………………..116
4.1.1 Soyi as a Local Consequential Connective ………………………...…...112
4.1.2 Soyi as a Global Consequential Connective ……………………………136
4.1.2.1 Conclusion Marking ……………………………………………...136
4.1.2.2 Comment Marking…….………………………………………….158
4.2 Soyi as a Non-consequential Marker ……………………………………….169
4.2.1. Topic-transition Marking ………………………………………………169
4.2.2 Framing ………………………………………………………………...186
4.3 Summary …………………………………………………………………...194

Chapter 5 General Discussion …….……………………………………………….198
5.1 Markedness and Unmarkedness of Inui and Soyi ………………………….198
5.1.1 Marked Inui vs. Unmarked Inui ………………………………………..199
5.1.2 Marked Soyi vs. Unmarked Soyi ……………………………………….205
5.1.2.1 Consequential Soyi …………………………………………………206
5.1.2.2 Non-consequential Soyi……………………………………………..208
5.1.2.3 Discussion and Summary…………………………………………...209
5.2. Different Interactional Purposes of Inui and Soyi …………………………210
5.3 Comparison between Inui and Soyi and Their English and Mandarin Equivalents …………………………………………………………………213
5.3.1 Comparison between Taiwanese Inui and English Because ……………213
5.3.2 Comparison between Taiwanese Inui and Mandarin Yinwei.…………...217
5.3.3 Comparison between Soyi and So ……………………………………...221
5.4. Summary …………………………………………………………………..223

Chapter 6 Conclusion ….…………………………………..……………………….226
6.1 Summary of Findings ………………………………………………………226
6.2 Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research …………...……………231

References ………………………………………………………………...………..233
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