The sequential environments of positive assessments as responsive actions in Mandarin daily interaction

Abstract

This article, adopting conversation analysis as the research methodology, investigates the sequential environments that normally and sequentially project the occurrence of positive assessments (PAs) in Mandarin daily interactions. Based on the collected data, six different types of sequential environments are identified: they are performing the social actions of self-praise, self-deprecation, troubles-telling, self-PA-implicative conducive yes/no question, offering/granting a request, and informing respectively. When responding to one of these six social actions, interlocutors normally provide a positive assessment as a response. It is demonstrated that these six actions have different degrees of projectability for the occurrence of positive assessments. In addition, their varying degrees of projectability constitute a continuum. Self-praise, self-deprecation, and self-PA-implicative conducive yes/no questions have the highest degrees of projectability, informing has the least, with troubles-telling and offer/granting a request positioning in between. The present study contributes to our understanding of the sequential environments in which Mandarin Chinese speakers make positive assessments to support the social solidarity.