Pragmatic Marker Combinations: An Investigation of the Co-Occurrence with the Pragmatic Marker Well

Abstract

This research examined the use of pragmatic marker combinations (PMCs) that co-occurred with the pragmatic marker (PM) well by both Chinese and Thai advanced-level learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). In total, 40 Chinese and 40 Thai participants were involved in this research. Dyadic English conversations were collected for the analysis. The results first illustrated that nine PMs co-occurred with the PM well. The Chinese and Thai participants used five of them, namely I think, because, I mean, OK, and um. The Chinese participants also used the PMs yeah and yes with the PM well, whereas the Thai participants used the PMs like, actually, and if with the PM well. The PM well mainly functioned as a planner, either in combination with another PM that had the same function or with another PM that had a different function to facilitate turn-taking in conversation. The research findings revealed the patterns of using the PMCs co-occurred with the PM well by both Chinese and Thai participants.