Earticle

This paper investigates the functions of discourse markers yeah and yes used in the Buckeye Corpus and the interaction between these markers and speakers' stance. Firstly, the ambiguous stance discourse functions of yeah and yes are examined based on speakers' stance. Six common functions are identified, including Agreement(AGR), Backchannel(BC), Discourse Boundary(DB), Disagreement(DIS), Ending Discourse(ED), and Solicit(SOL). Secondly, six functions of yeah and yes are analyzed, and the main and non-main stance functions that are commonly found in both yeah and yes are identified. Thirdly, the most frequently used stance functions of yeah and yes are explored in various discourse contexts, namely AGR, BC and DB. There was no example where English marker yes was used as a SOL function. To confirm the significant differences in functions based on speakers' stance, chi-square tests and standardized residuals are conducted, revealing significant differences in the functions of yeah and yes based on speakers' stance.

This study analyzed the prosodic features of the frequently observed English yeah in the Buckeye Corpus in order to demonstrate the utility of decision tree analysis in determining the stance types. The speaker can convey a positive or negative stance using the prosodic information of yeah without changing the words. To analyze the prosodic features indicating the speaker's positive or negative stance, the pitch, intensity, and duration were analyzed. The decision tree statistical technique was used to identify which factor contributes the most to distinguishing the speaker's stance among the prosodic factors used. This is a separation method to determine which factor discriminates the speaker's stance the best by combining pitch, intensity, and duration factors. The analysis showed that the length of utterance was the primary factor determining the positive or negative stance. Intensity was used to emphasize the speaker's negative stance. The pitch determined whether the first boundary tone was in a high or low pitch, which determined the positive stance. This study is the first to analyze the positivity and negativity of speaker’s utterance using prosodic features, which provides more specific classifications through detailed numerical data and statistical significance, which is different from previous studies.

This paper examines the systematic use of “yeah” in ordinary conversation by employing the method of conversation analysis. Focusing on “yeah” that occurs in the third turn following a question-answer sequence, the paper presents an analysis of “yeah” largely in two aspects: a sequence-closing action and epistemics. In terms of the sequence-closing action, the third-turn “yeah” following a question-answer sequence can bring the sequence in progress to completion by receiving its prior-turn answer and treating the answer as complete. Epistemically, the third-turn “yeah” indicates that the speaker?the questioner?had already expected the given answer when initially producing the prior question. Thus, questioners who indicate a knowing epistemic stance in the design of their question tend to receive an answer with “yeah” in the third turn. The findings show that the small word “yeah” accomplishes its own complicated actions while systematically composing a finely organized conversation. It is also demonstrated that interlocutors themselves carefully keep track of the minute details of talk-in-interaction.

This study aims to analyze the token yeah observed in Chinese learners of English. Using LINDSEI data, I discuss the functions of yeah at various positions. The token yeah/yes is found to mark boundaries of talk, such as opening and closing of topics, indicating sequences, topic continuation, and summarizing opinions. In a similar vein, yeah is also found in bracketing the repair sequences; it marks the beginning or the end of a repair sequence, which in turn indicates the resumption of the story line, which was halted due to the repair sequence. Second language learners are found to make efforts to delineate action boundaries when starting the turn, marking the coherent relation between utterances, the end of turn, or even the repair sequences. Such learners need to be assured each time and get confirmation to move on whenever they make some contribution. It stands to reason that the affirmative particle (with its affirmative meaning) is deployed by NNS to carry all these functions. As such, the use of the affirmative particle yeah may be part of L2 learners’ unique stylistic repertoire. The use of yeah in this context is not something that reveals the learner's linguistic deficiency; rather it demonstrates NNS's endeavor to participate in the social interaction as a competent member. (225)

Existing studies have shown that in dialogues involving native speakers of English, yeah serves multifunctional roles and thus, from its word information alone, is in principle ambiguous. In this regard, a substantial body of research efforts has investigated the role of prosody of yeah in potentially disambiguating its diverse conversational meanings. Little is known, however, about nonnative English speakers' use of yeah, in particular the prosodic characteristics of yeah as a function of their conversational meanings in nonnative-nonnative interactions. The primary goal of this study is thus to examine the prosodic aspects of yeah in spontaneous speech of Korean learners of English. To this end, data are drawn from collaborative English dialogues performed by multiple dyads of Korean learners of English, paired according to their general English proficiency. Three broad types of yeah were observed from the current participants' English dialogues and measurements of their mean F0, Max F0, mean duration and intensity indicate the potential role of Max F0. Other than this, conversational meanings of yeah seem not to be prosodically marked differently among each other in the current nonnatives' conversations, suggesting a potentially markedly different prosodic pattern of yeah in native vs. nonnative English dialogues.

Previous work on “yeah” has shown that it can be used as a continuer, to claim agreement (Schegloff 1982), to indicate speakership incipiency (Jefferson 1993), or to withhold treating the prior as informative (Heritage 1984). On the other hand, Stivers (2004) has shown that multiple sayings (e.g., “No no no,” “wait wait wait,” etc.) are used to express one's stance that the prior speaker has persisted unnecessarily and should properly halt his/her course of action. Using the methodology of conversation analysis, the current paper extends this body of research by accounting for the use of multiple-yeah in academic contexts, and in particular, its use as a resource for managing competence negotiation in graduate peer-tutoring and graduate seminar discussions. Findings of this study also contribute to the work on talk and identity, and in particular, on competence negotiation in academic settings.

This paper examines two English discourse markers, "yeah" and "kin'of," in two nonnative speakers' turns of voluntary corrective actions. From a conversation analytic perspective, the two items are examined in terms of their functional properties during the nonnative speakers' turns. Two nonnative English speaking graduate students, working as teaching assistants in an engineering lab of an American university, participated in the study. The analysis of the dyadic interaction between the nonnative speakers and the native English speaking undergraduate students revealed that the nonnative speakers used "yeah" and "kin'of" in a significantly different manner from the target language norms. In their endeavor to create a shared meaning with their students they often engaged in word- and structure searches, during which they used the discourse markers as the fillers to a possible void in talk. An examination of the spatial location and functional properties of the items also revealed that the markers were more rule-governed in the nonnative speakers’ talk than other hesitation markers. The findings indicate the importance of examining the discourse functions of the markers in the discussion of nonnativeness.

This study explores nonnative speakers' interactional practices through their use of yeah in English native speaker (NS)/nonnative speaker (NNS) interaction within the framework of conversation analysis. The data for the study include 200 minutes of interviews and 150 minutes of tutoring sessions. The locus of yeah to be focused on is after the NS's use of continuer such as uh huh. More specifically, after the NS yields his/her turn with a continuer, the NNS does not continue but provides yeah first and the talk may or may not go on. Four interactional environments of yeah were identified and analyzed and the results show that yeah in those contexts seems to be used to mark the prior turn to be complete and to acknowledge the continuer before proceeding any further. These uses of yeah reflect the NNS's "doing being nonnative" (Wong 2000b) and at the same time demonstrate how NNSs are able to manage and fully participate in interaction with their limited linguistic competence.

Informed by Conversation Analysis (CA), this paper examines the use of the token yeah observed in adult ESL learners’ discourse by analyzing video-recorded small group interaction data collected from an English as a Second Language (ESL) class. The analysis results are discussed in two parts. The first part addresses how yeah is used to close down a turn constructional unit (TCU) before a possible completion in a way that surrenders, withdraws an action invoked, or adumbrates a stance displayed. It is speculated that this recurrent turn constructional pattern lies in learners’ lack of ability to retrieve a word(s) or overuse of certain lexical items. The second part discusses how yeah is used to mark the completion of a possibly complete turn, and frequently that of an extended turn, in the absence of a substantial uptake from a recipient. Based on this observation, I explore the possibility that ESL learners draw on interactional resources that are available to them, which may deviate from native speakers’ choice of resources in a comparable situation. Overall, this research shows that yeah is utilized as a strategic resource for dealing with various interactional exigencies, which often arise from learners’ linguistic difficulties. This line of research provides pedagogical implications for teaching English for interactional skills.