Pragmatic Adjustments In The Production Of Chinese Lexical Repetitions

With its multifaceted and pervasive presence in verbal communication, repetition relates to the fundamental nature of language use, in particular how people interact with each other. However, it has drawn less attention from the scholars at home and abroad, and thus stirs up our curiosity for the present study.Aiming to propose a particular model of lexico-pragmatic processes of lexical repetition, this dissertation focuses its attention on the properties of ad hoc lexical repetition and how the speaker of the repetition (the second speaker in this study?) makes pragmatic adjustments in Chinese utterance production within the framework of the adaptation-relevance model, which helps to elucidate the dynamic producing-process of our lexical repetition. Relevant studies have neglected both pragmatic factors and the dynamic process of repetition in interaction, this study will therefore explore the targeted lexical repetition from the perspectives of cognitive pragmatics and lexical pragmatics. Since most of the previous studies have mainly concentrated on the functions of repetition, but such functions are only the results or symptoms, not the causes, thus this study will explore the underlying nature and give a panorama of the producing process of lexical repetition. The data for the above purposes are collected from all kinds of Chinese fields, such as daily communication, TV interviews and plays, novels and radio programs.This study has six main findings. Firstly, it is about the pragmatic deviation of lexical repetition, which indicates that the ad hoc concept of lexical repetition is deviated from that of its source although their semantic meanings are identical. The targeted lexical repetition can therefore be considered as a new kind.Secondly, this study manifests the echoic property of lexical repetition. Distinctive from normal echoic utterances, the second speaker employs the lexical repetition to inform the first speaker that he has in mind what the first speaker has said, and uses the lexical repetition not only to convey his attitude towards the first speaker's thought, but also to exchange his own ideas. Hence, the echoic repetition achieves high interpersonal involvement to safeguard the rapport management by controlling the topical focus of its utterance(s). Therefore, our lexical repetition study provides a unitary explanation about separate studies of echoic utterances, high involvement and the topic by recasting the involvement and topical focus.Thirdly, this dissertation makes evident that there are two kinds of cognitive-pragmatic constraints at least inhering in the producing process of lexical repetition: relevance constraints and adaptation constraints. They are striking findings. By considering the relations between the second speaker's relevance expectation and relevance presumption including agreement with relevance expectation, partial agreement with relevance expectation and disagreement with relevance expectation, and by granting the multi-functions of our lexical repetition, such as showing agreement, changing topics, egocentric correcting, expressing dissension, deliberate misinterpretation, etc., evidences for the underlying constraints are brought to light. Seeing the significant relationships between the relevance property and adaptation property, such as the dynamics in verbal communication, mind in society and concordance between contextual adaptation and relevance selection, this study advocates that we must envisage intrinsic property—the adaptation property, during producing the lexical repetition.To observe the various contextual correlates further, and characterize more of a balance between self and other, two orientations of data are examined: rapport-neglect orientation and rapport-maintenance orientation. Both relevance constraints and adaptation constraints leave indelible traces in the producing process and contribute important insights into it. This study hence explores the producing process from perspective of interpretation, extends the relevance theory to the producing process without losing sight of the adaptation property and proves that the lexical repetition is the concrete proof of the agreement between the relevance selection and the contextual adaptation. Accordingly, it experiences another perspective of studying the producing process of interactive communication and unveils its pragmatic and social factors comprehensively.Fourthly, a particular model of producing lexical repetition has been developed from the basic adaptation-relevance model. This particular model, considering the contextual correlates, tries to describe the dynamic interaction between the interlocutors vividly and manifest the specific key steps of the process from the cognitive-pragmatic perspective. It also owns some unique characteristics, such as revealing the underlying cognitive-pragmatic constraints, justifying the consistent relations between relevance selection and contextual adaptation, and exhibiting some sensible balancing between the relevance constraints and relevance presumption of the second speaker, etc. This significant finding might not only contribute to illuminate the producing process of the lexical repetition in the interaction systematically and dynamically, but also contribute to disclose the producing process of other lexical repetitions, such as partial lexical repetition, intrapersonal repetition and repetitions in English.Fifthly, the key finding is about the pragmatic adjustments in producing lexical repetition ranging from the adjustment between the cognitive contextual assumption and the choice of linguistic structures, the tune-up between the considerations of relevance and adaptation properties, to the rectification among the encyclopedic entry, the lexical entry and the logical entry within a concept. In light of the particular model, these adjustments take shape in the dynamic producing process and are essential embodiments of the dynamic communication of lexical repetition. Accordingly, this study verifies the universality of lexical narrowing and broadening of lexical pragmatics and enriches people's ideas of them by extending their perspectives from the interpreting process to the producing process.Finally, the study displays the lexical repetitions also yield poetic effects. Enlightened by the previous repetition studies on the poetic effects, we point out that this special kind of repetition may also prompt the first speaker to seek implicit meaning and bring about peculiar effects. Through examining three kinds of lexical repetition, this dissertation further advocates that the repeated lexical units would reactivate the initial assumptions of the first speaker, would achieve extra contextual effects by saving his or her processing efforts and encouraging him or her to extend the context of the source word, and thereby would add further weak implicature. Based on the exploration of lexical repetition, this study further demonstrates the poetic property is part of our communicative competence. It enriches the poetic effect studies about both the repetition and other interactive communication.