| The management and distribution of knowledge is a fundamental concern both for participants in social interaction, who routinely claim and disclaim knowledge in the production and coordination of social action, and for analysts of social interaction, who seek to develop accounts of the linguistic resources and interactional practices that participants employ. Through the analysis of video-recorded interactions between speakers of Mandarin Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan, the dissertation examines three linguistic practices that speakers use to manage the relative distribution of knowledge in the formation of recognizable social actions: the final particles ba and ma and the A-not-A question format. The investigation thus explores the intersections between three types of phenomena: (i) grammatical practices of turn-construction in Mandarin Chinese; (ii) the abstract epistemic claims that these practice embody; and (iii) the social actions that the turns and turn-units in which the practices occur can be understood to perform. The analysis of the ba particle demonstrates that speakers use the particle to disclaim complete and unproblematic access to knowledge in the production of answers to questions, informings, and assessments. The analysis of ma particle reveals two prosodic variants, both of which embody the same basic epistemic claim, namely that the recipient of the turn has or should have access to the domain of knowledge in question. The A-not-A question format has different uses that depend on the position of the question within a sequence of action. In initial positions, the format conveys an even-handed stance, which speakers use in the formation of offers and requests. In subsequent positions, the format displays a heavy-handed insistence as speakers pursue a response to a previous action. The analyses in the dissertation provide evidence that epistemics, understood as the management of basic self-other relations vis-a-vis rights, obligations, and access to knowledge, constitutes a dimension of action formation that runs through virtually all forms of social action at the level of the turn. |
