An Analysis of Recipient Activities in Mandarin Chinese Storytelling

Abstract

This study examines some ways in which storytelling recipients initiate and work through understanding or appreciation at the conclusion of a story in Mandarin Chinese conversation. Using conversation analytic frameworks, this study describes how recipients deploy various resources to end storytelling. While monitoring the recipients’ verbal and non-verbal conduct, the speaker treats the recipients’ evaluation differently from other common mid-telling response tokens. By looking at recipients’ reactions to a story and examining the ways that they propose alternative interpretations for events that a speaker describes, this study builds on previous studies of storytelling recipients as active participants in the construction of the narrative event.