Concession expression and evaluative stancetaking: the discourse features of gùrán-utterances in Chinese dialogues
-
Yang Qi
Yang Qi is a Doctoral Candidate in the School of Chinese Language and Literature at Xinjiang University, Urumqi, China. His current research interests include social pragmatics, discourse analysis, pragmatic makers and language change (from the synchronic and diachronic perspectives).
und
Xiaojun Zhu
Xiaojun Zhu received her PhD in linguistics and applied linguistics from East China Normal University and is currently a professor at Xinjiang University and dean of the College of Foreign Languages at Xinjiang University. Her research interests include sociolinguistics, language education, cross-cultural language studies and cognitive pragmatics.
Abstract
In modern Chinese, gùrán serves to confirm a certain fact or a viewpoint, while subtly introducing the speaker’s actual intention through a concessive transition. Gùrán shows a versatility in utterance placement, either positioning itself at the beginning of an utterance or following the subject. This paper builds on the previous findings on the usage of gùrán and utilizes oral language from the Media Language Corpus (MLC) to explore the features of gùrán-utterances in dialogues. Guided by the stance framework, the analysis focuses on the personal evaluative stance conveyed by speakers employing gùrán in dialogues. It is observed that utterances containing gùrán align with two distinct modes of discourse correlation: a) the direct correlative mode and b) the indirect correlative mode. Additionally, these utterances are characterized by predictability and directionality, enhancing conversational flow. In accordance with the Politeness Principle, gùrán-utterances often adopt an “agreeing and then disagreeing” strategy in conversation, aiming to preserve the interlocutor’s face while articulating a subjective evaluative stance that merges the speaker’s intention with their standpoint.
Funding source: Xinjiang University
Award Identifier / Grant number: XJU2024BS031
Funding source: Department of Education of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region
Award Identifier / Grant number: XJ2025G012
About the authors
Yang Qi is a Doctoral Candidate in the School of Chinese Language and Literature at Xinjiang University, Urumqi, China. His current research interests include social pragmatics, discourse analysis, pragmatic makers and language change (from the synchronic and diachronic perspectives).
Xiaojun Zhu received her PhD in linguistics and applied linguistics from East China Normal University and is currently a professor at Xinjiang University and dean of the College of Foreign Languages at Xinjiang University. Her research interests include sociolinguistics, language education, cross-cultural language studies and cognitive pragmatics.
-
Research funding: This work was supported by the Xinjiang University (XJU2024BS031) and Department of Education of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XJ2025G012).
-
Data availability: Data will be made available on request.
Appendix: Gloss symbols
| BA | bǎ 把 |
| CL | classifier |
| COMP | comparative marker |
| COP | copular |
| LOC | localizer |
| MP | modal particle |
| NEG | negative element |
| PEF | perfective marker |
| PL | plural marker |
| SP | structural particle |
References
Agha, Asif. 2003. The social life of a cultural value. Language & Communication 23. 231–273. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0271-5309(03)00012-0.Suche in Google Scholar
Benveniste, Emile. 1971. Subjectivity in language. In Emile Benveniste (ed.), Problems in general linguistics, 223–230. Miami: University of Miami Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Biber, Douglas & Edward Finegan. 1988. Adverbial stance types in English. Discourse Processes 11(1). 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1080/01638538809544689.Suche in Google Scholar
Biber, Douglas, Stig Johansson, Geoffrey Leech, Susan Conrad & Edward Finegan. 1999. Longman grammar of spoken and written English. London: Longman Publications Group.Suche in Google Scholar
Cao, Xiuling. 2016. Hanyu huayu biaoji duoshijiao yanjiu [A Multi-dimensional approach to Chinese discourse Marker]. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth & Margret Selting. 2018. Interactional linguistics: Studying language in social interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781139507318Suche in Google Scholar
Du Bois, John W. 2007. The stance triangle. In Robert Englebretson (ed.), Stancetaking in discourse: Subjectivity, evaluation, interaction, 139–182. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/pbns.164.07duSuche in Google Scholar
Englebretson, Robert (ed.). 2007. Stancetaking in discourse: Subjectivity, evaluation, interaction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/pbns.164Suche in Google Scholar
Fang, Mei & Yao Yue. 2017. Guiyuehua yu lichang biaoda [Conventionalization and stancetaking in Chinese discourse]. Beijing: Peking University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Freeman, Valerie. 2014. Hyperarticulation as a signal of stance. Journal of Phonetics 45. 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2014.03.002.Suche in Google Scholar
Gershman, Samuel. 2021. What makes us smart. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.10.23943/princeton/9780691205717.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Goodwin, Charles. 1981. Conversational organization: Interaction between speakers and hearers. New York: Academic Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Gumperz, John J. 1982. Discourse strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511611834Suche in Google Scholar
Haddington, Pentti. 2006. The organization of gaze and assessments as resources for stance taking. Text & Talk 26(3). 281–328. https://doi.org/10.1515/text.2006.012.Suche in Google Scholar
Han, Han. 2014. San chong men [Doors]. Tianjin: Tianjin People’s Publishing House.Suche in Google Scholar
Haselow, Alexander. 2020. Expressing stance in spoken political discourse: The function of parenthetical inserts. Language Sciences 82. 101334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2020.101334.Suche in Google Scholar
Hunston, Susan. 2000. Evaluation: An introduction. In Susan Hunston & Geoffrey Thompson (eds.), Evaluation in text: Authorial stance and the construction of discourse, 1–27. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780198238546.003.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Irvine, Judith T. 1982. Language and affect: Some cross-cultural issues. In Heidi Byrnes (ed.), Contemporary perceptions of language: Interdisciplinary dimensions, 31–47. Washington: Georgetown University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Iwasaki, Shoichi. 2023. Stancetaking in motion: Stance triangle and double dialogicality. Text & Talk 43(5). 575–598. https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2020-0222.Suche in Google Scholar
Johnstone, Barbara. 2017. Characterological figures and expressive style in the enregisterment of linguistic variety. In Chris Montgomery & Emma Moore (eds.), Language and a sense of place: Studies in language and region, 283–300. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781316162477.015Suche in Google Scholar
Kaltenböck, Gunther, María José López-Couso & Belén Méndez-Naya. 2020. The dynamics of stance constructions. Language Sciences 82. 101330. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2020.101330.Suche in Google Scholar
Kärkkäinen, Elise. 2003. Epistemic stance in English conversation. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/pbns.115Suche in Google Scholar
Kärkkäinen, Elise. 2006. Stance taking in conversation: From subjectivity to intersubjectivity. Text & Talk 26(6). 699–731. https://doi.org/10.1515/text.2006.029.Suche in Google Scholar
Keizer, Evelien. 2020. Modelling stance adverbs in grammatical theory: Tackling heterogeneity with functional discourse grammar. Language Sciences 82. 101273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2020.101273.Suche in Google Scholar
Kiesling, Scott F. 2004. Dude. American Speech 79(3). 281–305. https://doi.org/10.1215/00031283-79-3-281.Suche in Google Scholar
Kiesling, Scott F. 2017. Youtube Yinzers: Stancetaking and the performance of ‘Pittsburghese’. In Reem Bassiouney (ed.), Identity and dialect performance: A study of communities and dialects, 245–264. London: Routledge.10.4324/9781315279732-15Suche in Google Scholar
Kiesling, Scott F. 2020. Investment in a model of stancetaking: I mean and just sayin. Language Sciences 82. 101333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2020.101333.Suche in Google Scholar
Kiesling, Scott F. 2022. Stance and stancetaking. Annual Review of Linguistics 8(1). 409–426. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031120-121256.Suche in Google Scholar
Kockelman, Paul. 2004. Stance and subjectivity. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 14(2). 127–150. https://doi.org/10.1525/jlin.2004.14.2.127.Suche in Google Scholar
Leech, Geoffrey N. 1983. Principles of pragmatics. London: Routledge.Suche in Google Scholar
Lewis, Diana. 2020. Speaker stance and evaluative -ly adverbs in the modern English period. Language Sciences 82. 101332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2020.101332.Suche in Google Scholar
Li, Pu. 2009. Mianxiang yingyong de gùrán ju san ge pingmian yanjiu [An application-oriented study on gùrán sentence from three linguistic aspects]. Studies in Language and Linguistics 29(4). 102–106.Suche in Google Scholar
Li, Xueying & Hailing Yu. 2021. Parataxis or hypotaxis? Choices of taxis in Chinese–English translation. Lingua 251. 103023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2020.103026.Suche in Google Scholar
Liu, Yuehua. 1999. Yi gùrán, yúshì wei li tan xuci de yongfa yanjiu [A study of the usage of function words with the example of gùrán and yúsh]. Chinese Language Learning 2. 35–38.Suche in Google Scholar
Liu, Haitao. 2017. Jiliang yuyanxue daolun [An introduction to quantitative linguistics]. Beijing: The Commercial Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Lü, Shuxiang. 1980. Xiandai hanyu babaici [Eight hundred words in modern Chinese]. Beijing: The Commercial Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Lyons, John. 1995. Linguistic semantics: An introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511810213Suche in Google Scholar
Mao, Dun. 2017. Maodun xiaosuo [Mao Dun’s short stories]. Hangzhou: Zhejiang Literature & Art Publishing House.Suche in Google Scholar
Michel, Christian & Guido Löhr. 2024. A cognitive psychological model of linguistic intuitions: Polysemy and predicate order effects in copredication sentences. Lingua 301. 103694. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2024.103694.Suche in Google Scholar
National Language Resources Monitoring and Research Center for Audio Media, Communication University of China. 2005. Media Language Corpus (MLC). https://ling.cuc.edu.cn/RawPub/ (accessed 28 August 2024).Suche in Google Scholar
Ochs, Elinor & Bambi Schieffelin. 1989. Language has a heart. Text & Talk 9(1). 7–26. https://doi.org/10.1515/text.1.1989.9.1.7.Suche in Google Scholar
Ochs, Elinor, Emanuel A. Schegloff & Sandra A. Thompson (eds.). 1996. Interaction and grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511620874Suche in Google Scholar
Pickering, Martin J. & Chiara Gambi. 2018. Predicting while comprehending language: A theory and review. Psychological Bulletin 144(10). 1002–1044. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000158.Suche in Google Scholar
Pickering, Martin J. & Simon Garrod. 2013. An integrated theory of language production and comprehension. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 36(04). 329–347. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x12001495.Suche in Google Scholar
Pouncy, Thomas & Samuel J. Gershman. 2022. Inductive biases in theory-based reinforcement learning. Cognitive Psychology 138. 101509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2022.101509.Suche in Google Scholar
Pushkarev, Evgeny A. & Julia S. Rastvorova. 2022. States of idiosyncratic idealized cognitive models in acts of pragmatic meaning. Language Sciences 93. 101498. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2022.101498.Suche in Google Scholar
Ro, Eunseok & Hanbyul Jung. 2022. “Aratda!”: Intersubjectivity-in-action in a multilingual Korean reality TV show. Journal of Pragmatics 201. 89–117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pragma.2022.09.008.Suche in Google Scholar
Selting, Margret & Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen. 2001. Studies in interactional linguistics. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/sidag.10Suche in Google Scholar
Shao, Hongliang & Jianfeng Hu. 2015. Gùrán de lian, fu zhi bian: jian ji lianci he fuci de fenjie wenti [A debate about the part of speech of gùrán: Also on the division between conjunction and adverb]. Chinese Teaching in the World 29(4). 503–512.Suche in Google Scholar
Silverstein, Michael. 2003. Indexical order and the dialectics of sociolinguistic life. Language & Communication 23(3–4). 193–229. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0271-5309(03)00013-2.Suche in Google Scholar
Simaki, Vasiliki, Carita Paradis, Maria Skeppstedt, Magnus Sahlgren, Kostiantyn Kucher & Andreas Kerren. 2017. Annotating speaker stance in discourse: The Brexit Blog corpus. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory 16(2). 215–248. https://doi.org/10.1515/cllt-2016-0060.Suche in Google Scholar
Sorjonen, Marja-Leena, Anssi Peräkylä, Ritva Laury & Jan Lindström. 2021. Intersubjectivity in action: An introduction. In Jan Lindström, Ritva Laury, Anssi Peräkylä & Marja-Leena Sorjonen (eds.), Intersubjectivity in action, 1–22. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/pbns.326.01sorSuche in Google Scholar
Stubbs, Michael. 1986. A matter of prolonged field work: Notes towards a modal grammar of English. Applied Linguistics 7(1). 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/7.1.1.Suche in Google Scholar
Thompson, Sandra A., Barbara A. Fox & Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen. 2015. Grammar in everyday talk: Building responsive actions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139381154Suche in Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs. 1999. The rhetoric of counter-expectation in semantic change: A study in subjectification. In Andreas Blank & Peter Koch (eds.), Historical semantics and cognition, 177–196. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110804195.177Suche in Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs. 2003. From subjectification to intersubjectification. In Raymond Hickey (ed.), Motives for language change, 124–139. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511486937.009Suche in Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs. 2020. Expressions of stance-to-text: Discourse management markers as stance markers. Language Sciences 82. 101329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2020.101329.Suche in Google Scholar
Traugott, Elizabeth Closs & Richard B. Dasher. 2002. Regularity in semantic change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511486500Suche in Google Scholar
Van Linden, An. 2020. The diachrony of stance constructions with ‘no’ chance and ‘no’ wonder. Language Sciences 82. 101288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2020.101288.Suche in Google Scholar
Wang, Hongying. 2010. Lun rangbu lianjie chengfen gùrán [Concerning concessive connection ingredient gùrán]. Nanchang: Nanchang University MA thesis.Suche in Google Scholar
Ward, Nigel G., Jason C. Carlson, Olac Fuentes, Diego Castan, Elizabeth E. Shriberg & Andreas Tsiartas. 2017. Inferring stance from prosody. Interspeech. 1447–1451. https://doi.org/10.21437/Interspeech.2017-159.Suche in Google Scholar
Wu, Tingyan. 2015. Cong quexin lei pingzhu fuci dao zhuanzhe guanxi lianci: Yi gùrán, chéngrán, yu dāngrán wei li [From the convinced and expositive adverbs to the adversative conjunction: On the evolution of gùrán, chéngrán and dāngrán]. International Journal of Chinese Studies 6(1). 223–233.Suche in Google Scholar
Xing, Fuyi. 2001. Hanyu fuju yanjiu [Modern Chinese complex sentence]. Beijing: The Commercial Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Xing, Fuyi. 2016. Modern Chinese grammar: A clause-pivot approach. Yong Wang & Fangfeng Dong (Trans.), 1st edn. London: Routledge.10.4324/9781315720470Suche in Google Scholar
Xing, Xin, Yunjing Jin & An Guo. 2013. Qishi biaojiyu de yuanhuayu gongneng tantao [The metadiscourse functions of initial markers]. Contemporary Rhetoric 6. 36–44.Suche in Google Scholar
Zhang, Zeshun. 2011. Gùrán de duojiaodu fenxi ji jiaoxue tantao [An analysis of gùrán from the multi-perspective and its teaching in TCSL]. Journal of Yunnan Normal University (Teaching & Studying Chinese as a Foreign Language Edition) 9(5). 23–28.Suche in Google Scholar
Zipf, George K. 1949. Human behavior and the principle of least effort: An introduction to human ecology. Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Press.Suche in Google Scholar
© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
