A Study On Intersubjective Construction Of Reformulation Markers In Academic Spoken English Discourse

In recent years,more and more scholars and experts pay attention to the cohesion and coherence of discourse analysis.However,reformulation marker(RM),as a subordinate category of discourse marker,has not been sufficiently explored by scholars yet.In the process of communication,reformulation marker is not only a cohesive device,but also a strategy of pragmatic adjustment.Its main function is to help the hearer activate more specific contextual assumptions.The purpose of reformulation is to reformulate an utterance in another way or from another perspective so as to facilitate the hearer's understanding and realize the interaction between the two sides in the communication,thus achieving the construction of intersubjectivity.The use of language is a process of continuous choice of language at different levels of consciousness.Language is used by our human beings to realize the purpose of communication.The use of different reformulation markers is determined by different levels of metapragmatic awareness of communicators,which reflects the intention of the language communicators.It can reflect the interaction between the speaker and the hearer and reveal the speaker's understanding of himself,the discourse,and the hearer.So reformulation marker is not only the external expression of intersubjectivity,but also the main symbolic resource to show intersubjectivity of the discourse.With Del Saz's(2007)classification of RMs as the analytical framework,and employ Verschueren's(2000)metapragmatic awareness as the theoretical foundation.Through the combination of quantitative analysis and case analysis,this study attempts to analyze features and functions of reformulation markers for constructing intersubjectivity in the Michigan Corpus of Academic Spoken English(MICASE).This study raises the following two research questions:(1)What are the distribution characteristics of reformulations markers in academic spoken English discourse?(2)How do different types of reformulation markers construct the intersubjectivity in academic spoken English discourse?The result shows that:(1)There is significant difference in the frequency of use with different types of reformulation markers.The frequently used reformulation markers include I mean,that is,for example,in other words and for instance,up to 97%.Reformulation markers that are used relatively infrequently include i.e.,to sum up,in a word,in a nutshell and or rather.(2)Based on the above findings,this study aims to analyze the functions of reformulation markers for constructing intersubjectivity at the metapragmatic level from four aspects: representing attitudes and desires,representing knowledge co-construction,creating interpersonal interaction functions,and presenting mental consensus construction,and further explore why and how reformulation markers can construct it.Through the analysis of the above results,this study provides some implications.Theoretically speaking,RM is a necessary part of a reformulation.It is beneficial for identifying what is a reformulation and what is not a reformulation.Meanwhile,it can enrich the metapragmatic study and deepen the understanding of reformulation markers,intersubjective epistemology,and academic spoken English discourse.In terms of practice,the findings of this study can provide certain guidance for English teachers and EFL learners to deal with the problems of using this pragmatic strategy in language learning.