A pragmatic analysis of V+yixia in Mandarin Chinese

The construction of V+yixia in Mandarin Chinese has long been held as a strategy for softening tones. However, this paper, which addresses V+yixia as a vague duration adverbial, has found that V+yixia carries more contextual implications than had been previously proposed by other studies. The communicational assumptions which V+yixia conveys are closely related to speech acts types. First, it may serve as a politeness strategy in directives. Second, in assertives, V+yixia may imply the speaker's personal attitude towards the activity presented; showing that the activity is not one of great importance but rather a casual one of little significance. With this meaning, V+yixia may enable the speaker to avoid communication discord, express his/her uncertain commitment to the statement, or introduce a negative view of the activity. Third, in offers, V+yixia may function to show politeness. Moreover, it may also carry the speaker's modest evaluation of his/her own ability or may carry his/her pessimistic estimate of the probability of the desired result. In this sense, V+yixia appears to help the speaker keep him/herself from taking full responsibility and allows the speaker to protect him/herself from potential criticism. Finally, in blamings V+yixia allows the speaker to convey his/her consideration for the hearer's face.

► Provides a complete picture of the roles and meanings of V+yixia in communications. ► Reveals that speech act types have an impact on the interpretation of V+yixia. ► Identifies how V+yixia fulfills its functions as a vague duration adverbial. ► Shows that different types of speech acts may activate different contextual meanings of vague forms. ► Suggests which functions a vague adverbial with low-duration values may serve.