A Study Of The Modern Chinese Discourse Marker "Zhe Me Shuo Lai"

“Zhe me shuo lai” is a frequently used expression in modern Chinese with obvious discourse markers characteristics.In previous studies,“zhe me shuo lai” has been regarded as a discourse marker of ostensive inference or a connective component composed of referential components to carry out overall category investigation,and its individual characteristics and differences have rarely been paid attention to.Taking the discourse marker “zhe me shuo lai” as the research object and using theories such as conversational analysis,text linguistics and interactive linguistics,this paper analyzes and examines this discourse marker from the perspectives of its characteristics,synchronic distribution,semantic and pragmatic functions,and comparative analysis with similar formats.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,the paper has four parts.The first part describes the linguistic features of “zhe me shuo lai” based on the academic criteria of discourse markers,and makes it clear that “zhe mo shuo lai” is a discourse marker.The syntactic,turn and style distribution of “zhe me shuo lai” at the synchronic level,and its co-occurrence with other syntactic elements are discussed.The second part,guided by the theory of text linguistics,mainly analyzes the semantic relations and semantic functions of the terms before and after “zhe me shuo lai”.It’s believed that “zhe me shuo lai” is a kind of inferential discourse marker,which has the function of semantic relation marker.The semantic relations before and after the expression are not only speculative,but can be summarized into five kinds: inference,conclusion,causality,explanation and transition.The third part,based on interactive linguistics and positioning triangle theories,summarizes the pragmatic functions of the discourse marker “zhe me shuo lai” in communicative context from four aspects: subjectivity,discourse coherence,interpersonal interaction and conversational position expression.We believe that “zhe me shuo lai” is a discourse marker with multiple functions.It is characterized by subjectivity and intersubjectivity and has the functions of discourse turn construction and topic organization.In terms of interpersonal interaction,it can promote understanding,reduce “face” threat,delay speech flow,enhance speech momentum,draw attention,and promote cooperation of conversational positioning or indicating separation of positioning.The fourth part compares the similarities and differences in the use of "zhe me shuo lai" and other discourse markers in speculative discourse markers,such as "zhe yang shuo lai","ru ci shuo lai","zhe me shuo" and "an shuo".Through the analysis of differences,it is clear that as a speculative discourse marker,“zhe me shuo lai” has unique linguistic features in specific cases.