This article explores Name(那么)in interactive communications,and finds that Name(那么)in conversation not only has the functions of pronouns and conjunctions,but also has some typical characteristics such as non-truth-conditionality,optionality,and connectivity.Therefore,Name(那 么)can serve as a discourse marker whose basic function is to draw the listener's attention to the content of the follow-up utterance,and this basic function can be classified into three types:conveying information,that is,the speaker reminds the listener that the follow-up utterance is the focus to be introduced by Name(那么)in the same subtopic;shifting subtopics,that is,the speaker advances the former subtopic and activates a new subtopics for the listener,and reminds the listener to realize the transition between the two related subtopics;maintaining the turn,that is,the speaker uses Name(那 么)for filling his thinking gap and maintaining the utterance floor,and at the same time prompting the listener to continue to pay attention to the coming utterance.Also,this article finds that the discourse marker Name(那 么)is produced by the grammaticalization of conjunctions in conditional adverbial clauses,in which the interactive nature,its high-frequency in conversation and the syntactic position all play an important role in this process.
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