Dan as a discourse marker, metadiscourse device and metapragmatic marker: Examples from the evaluation reports of Taiwan's higher education sector

This study explores the Chinese contrastive marker dan in order to better understand how and why it is used to imply a contrast in discourse. It analyzes the marker as used in the evaluation reports on Taiwan's university programs, including their curriculum designs and teaching quality. The data consist of eighteen paragraphs selected from the evaluation reports on nine English Departments. The study shows that dan may be used as a discourse marker to indicate one of five potential relationships between the two discourse segments it conjoins. Based on an experiment, it examines whether such segments have an “inherent” contrastive relationship or contrast is better treated as related to perception and stance. The results support the latter. The study then considers dan as a metadiscourse marker, which has the interpersonal function of engaging and persuading the reader and the textual function of organizing the text. Next, the study proposes to view dan or its equivalent in Mandarin (e.g. wei, danshi, or ran) as a metapragmatic marker inasmuch as it indexes the writer's main concern. Overall, the study shows how dan can be used in the discourse to (i) mark contrast, (ii) mark the presence of the writer's voice, (iii) help the reader interpret two information segments, (iv) counteract a potential face-threatening act, (v) help the writer perform the act of evaluation, and (vi) signal the act of “pre-advice”.

► This study explores the Chinese contrastive marker dan used in higher-education evaluation reports.
► The analysis suggests five types of contrastive relationships exemplified by the marker.
► Dan is treated as a discourse marker, metadiscourse device, and metapragmatic marker.
► Dan is more than a marker of contrast and can do various things in discourse.