Taiwanese Utterance-Final Particle HoNh

Abstract

This study provides a discourse-pragmatic analysis of the Taiwanese utterance-final particle (i.e. UFP) hoNh. Based on a 16-hour recording of natural spoken data, it examines the sequential contexts in which hoNh is situated, and finds that though the UFP may permit a range of interpretations in different contexts, its core pragmatic function remains invariably as a negotiation marker. That is, hoNh is a discourse marker which signals the speaker's communicative intention for potentially necessary negotiation, which in turn is motivated by the dynamic nature of interactional communication. It is further proposed that UFPs, all of which basically serve to signal the speaker's communicative intention, should best be treated as discourse markers. Each UFP carries only some general indexical feature as its core pragmatic, while the various attitudes and emotions which are often associated with their occurrence are in fact conversational implicatures arising from the interaction between their core indexical function and the specific context in which they are used.