School of Languages and Linguistics - Theses
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ItemOn some uses of the conversational token Mm( 1995)This thesis examines the conversational token Mm, using a core corpus of one hour each of seven Australian couples' conversation. Mm is a common conversational object in the Australian data set, with over 700 instances in the core corpus. Despite its frequent occurrence, it has been little studied in the past. It is a highly indexical, interactional token, as well as being one of the semantically most empty tokens of conversation. Mm belongs to what is probably a closed set of receipt tokens of various kinds in English, which are objects that claim some kind of attention from their producer, who is in a primarily listener role at the time of their utterance. Related tokens include Mm hm, Uh huh, Yeah, Oh, Okay, Right, and probably No. Mm was also found to be flexible and multifunctional, with seven uses found: as a lapse repair token, a degustatory token, a repair initiator, a hesitation marker, a 'quotatory' token, an answer token and a receipt token, the last with three subtypes: as an acknowledger, as a continuer, and as an assessment. The last two are intonational adaptations, from the more typical acknowledging function. By far the most frequent use found in the Australian data set was the acknowledging use, which is one of its uses as a receipt token. Mm in this role was found to be rare in American data examined, but common in British data. As a receipt token (as well as in its other uses), Mm was found to be distinctive from related tokens, most notably in its use as a retrospective, sequence closing item showing weak commitment to the talk to which it is oriented; in many instances it is a weaker version of Yeah. Most typically it is a free-standing token in second position in the sequence. It is quite often followed in the same turn by other brief response objects such as agreement tokens, assessments, collaborative completions, clarification sequences, or topic boundary marking objects. It typically says that its producer has nothing substantial to add to the topic of the talk to which it is oriented, most obviously when the Mm is followed by substantial same speaker talk. Such talk is almost invariably on a topic other than the topic of the talk to which the Mm that precedes it is oriented. The handful of cases where Mm is followed by same speaker on-topic talk show an illocutionary rather than the more usual topical distancing from the talk. Both topical and illocutionary distancing support the interpretation that Mm is a token indicating weak commitment to the talk to which it is oriented. The effect of intonational mappings on Mm is also shown in this thesis. Typically, the receipt token Mm has falling intonation, in which case it is a weak acknowledging or affirming object. If it takes a fall-rising contour, it becomes a continuer similar to Mm hm and Uh huh. If it takes a rise-falling contour, it becomes a relatively weak assessment token, showing heightened involvement in the talk. This thesis goes some way to positioning Mm as a member of a set of receipt tokens, including Mm hm and Yeah. Further work is required to show how these and other related tokens, notably Uh huh, Oh, Okay, and Right can be differentiated more thoroughly, and how they may constitute membership of an interactional, recipiency paradigm in conversation.