Epistemic downgrading in Cantonese conversations

Foong Ha Yap, Winnie Chor*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to conferenceConference paperpeer-review

Abstract

Recent works on epistemicity have focused on how speakers negotiate their epistemic stance in a conversation, i.e. how they can convey neutrality, engagement or detachment toward an utterance (see Fox 2001; Kim 2005, 2011).
This study focuses on how native speakers of Cantonese use different strategies to modulate, in particular downgrade, the epistemic strength of their claims in response to the disaffiliative responses from their addressee(s).
This study also shows that these strategies are used for politeness reasons – to address the “face” of both the speaker and the addresses.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 29 Aug 2012
Event2012 The 20th Annual Conference of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics (IACL-20) - , Hong Kong
Duration: 29 Aug 201231 Aug 2012

Conference

Conference2012 The 20th Annual Conference of the International Association of Chinese Linguistics (IACL-20)
Country/TerritoryHong Kong
Period29/08/1231/08/12

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