Indirect Responses to Information Seeking in Chinese Verbal Interaction

Li Feng; Yang Fan

doi:10.19979/j.cnki.issn10082689.2024030110

Volume 43 Issue 4

Aug. 2026

Turn off MathJax

Article Contents

Article Navigation > Journal of University of Science and Technology Beijing ( Social Sciences Edition) > 2026 > 42(4): 127-134

Li Feng, Yang Fan. Indirect Responses to Information Seeking in Chinese Verbal Interaction[J]. Journal of University of Science and Technology Beijing ( Social Sciences Edition), 2026, 42(4): 127-134. doi: 10.19979/j.cnki.issn10082689.2024030110

Citation:

Li Feng, Yang Fan. Indirect Responses to Information Seeking in Chinese Verbal Interaction[J]. Journal of University of Science and Technology Beijing ( Social Sciences Edition), 2026, 42(4): 127-134. doi: 10.19979/j.cnki.issn10082689.2024030110

Citation:

PDF( 782 KB)

Indirect Responses to Information Seeking in Chinese Verbal Interaction

doi: 10.19979/j.cnki.issn10082689.2024030110

Li Feng¹,
Yang Fan²

1.
School of Foreign Languages, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, China
2.
School of Foreign Languages, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China

Received Date: 2024-03-20
Available Online: 2026-05-15
Publish Date: 2026-08-25

Abstract

Abstract

Hearers frequently respond indirectly to speakers in Chinese verbal interaction. Adopting Conversation Analysis (CA), this study takes authentic talk-in-interaction as the corpus to explore the turn design of indirect responses, the interactional import, and the social norms behind them. The study finds that as the second pair part, the indirect responses reflect interactants’ resistance to the first pair part, viz. the information-seeking in terms of action agenda or topic agenda. However, the indirect responses do not violate or deviate from the social norms of the adjacency pairs, but display the hearer’s close orientation to and rigorous reasoning about the sequence position and the communicative context, which is a further embodiment of interactants’ cooperativeness and agency in conversation.
- indirect responses,
- information seeking,
- social norms,
- Conversation Analysis

FullText(HTML)

References(34)

References

[1]	Pomerantz A. Offering a candidate answer: an information seeking strategy [J]. Communication Monographs, 1988, 55(4): 360-373. doi: 10.1080/03637758809376177
[2]	Heritage J. Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology [M]. Cambridge: Polity press, 1984.
[3]	于国栋, 郭慧. 相邻对结构的社会规范性[J]. 现代外语, 2020, 43(1): 18-31.
[4]	Heritage J, Clayman S. Talk in Action: Interactions, Identities, and Institutions [M]. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
[5]	Shannon C E, Weaver W. A Mathematical Model of Communication [M]. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1949.
[6]	李枫, 李珍. 会话分析视域下的“知识论”研究[J]. 科学技术哲学研究, 2022, 39(3): 20-26.
[7]	Quirk R, Greenbaum S, Leench G N, et al. A Grammar of Contemporary English [M]. London: Longman Group Ltd, 1972.
[8]	Greenbaum S. The Oxford English Grammar [M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
[9]	于国栋. 言语行为的会话分析研究[M]. 北京: 外语教学与研究出版社, 2021.
[10]	Stivers T, Enfield N J, Levinson S C. Question-response sequences in conversation across ten languages [J]. Journal of Pragmatics, 2010, 42(10): 2615-2619.
[11]	Schegloff E A. On some questions and ambiguities in conversation [C] // Atkinson J M, Heritage J. Structures of Social Action: Studies in Conversation Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984: 28-52.
[12]	Pomerantz A. Telling my side: “limited access as a fishing device” [J]. Sociological Inquiry, 1980(50): 186-198.
[13]	Li Z, Li F. When one question is not enough: the import of a second question in information seeking [J]. East Asian Pragmatics, 2020, 5(3): 373-394. doi: 10.1558/eap.40997
[14]	Raymond G. Grammar and social organization: yes/no interrogatives and the structure of responding [J]. American Sociological Review, 2003, 68(6): 939-967. doi: 10.1177/000312240306800607
[15]	Stivers T, Hayashi M. Transformative answers: one way to resist a question’s constraints [J]. Language in Society, 2010, 39(1): 1-25. doi: 10.1017/S0047404509990637
[16]	Walker T, Drew P, Local J. Responding indirectly [J]. Journal of Pragmatics, 2011, 43(9): 2434-2451. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2011.02.012
[17]	谢心阳. 问与答: 形式和功能的不对称[M]. 北京: 社会科学文献出版社, 2021.
[18]	Drew P. Conversation analysis and social action [J]. 外国语(上海外国语大学学报), 2013, 36(3): 2-19.
[19]	陈新仁, 何刚, 毛延生, 等. 语用学研究前瞻[J]. 北京第二外国语学院学报, 2023, 45(2): 137-148, 159.
[20]	Schegloff E A, Sacks H. Opening up closings [J]. Semiotica, 1973, 8(4): 289-327. doi: 10.1515/semi.1973.8.4.289
[21]	李枫, 于国栋. 介入: 会话分析应用研究的新视角[J]. 外国语(上海外国语大学学报), 2017, 40(2): 39-50.
[22]	Schegloff E A. Sequence Organization in Interaction: A Primer in Conversation Analysis [M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
[23]	于国栋. 什么是会话分析[M]. 上海: 上海外语教育出版社, 2022.
[24]	刘钦宇, 吴亚欣. 多模态会话分析视角下儿童发起的亲子间指令性互动[J]. 北京科技大学学报(社会科学版), 2023, 39(3): 289-298. doi: 10.19979/j.cnki.issn10082689.2022110091
[25]	董博宇. 亲子互动中儿童指称类修正的会话分析研究[J]. 北京科技大学学报(社会科学版), 2023, 39(3): 277-288. doi: 10.19979/j.cnki.issn10082689.2022110093
[26]	Ten Have P. Doing Conversation Analysis: A Practical Guide: 2nd ed. [M]. London: Sage, 2007.
[27]	Hepburn A, Bolden G. Transcribing for Social Research [M]. London: Sage, 2017.
[28]	何兆熊. 新编语用学概要[M]. 上海: 上海外语教育出版社, 2000.
[29]	于国栋, 吴亚欣. 知识论视角下的“提问”[J]. 外语教学理论与实践, 2019(1): 39-47.
[30]	李珍. 汉语言语交际中提问—应答序列的问题设计[J]. 教育界: 高等教育, 2019(11): 60-61. doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-9510.2019.43.028
[31]	樊平. 社会规范[EB/OL]. 《中国大百科全书》第三版网络版(2022-12-23)[2023-12-28]. https://www.zgbk.com/ecph/words?SiteID=1&ID=395598&Type=bkzyb&SubID=96348.
[32]	于国栋. 提问对回答的话题约束——抗击新冠肺炎与新闻发言人答记者问的会话分析[J]. 天津外国语大学学报, 2020, 27(2): 100-113, 160-161.
[33]	Grice H P. Logic and Conversation [M]. New York: Academic Press, 1975.
[34]	Martinet A. A Functional View of Language [M]. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1962.