(Inter)subjectivity and information structure: The pragmatics of left and right peripheries in spoken Mandarin

This study provides a novel data-driven analytic model for the study of the utterance peripheries. The model operationalises the relationship between information structure and (inter)subjectivity, uncovering how speakers simultaneously manage cognitive and social aspects of communication. Using a sample of 21 spontaneous telephone conversations between Mandarin native speakers (CallFriend Mandarin Corpus), all aboutness and framing topics (Lambrecht, 1994; Frascarelli, 2017) occurring at the utterance right periphery were identified and compared with an equivalent number of topics produced at the left periphery. The study provides a multifactorial analysis including referent activation (Chafe, 1987), subjectivity (Du Bois, 2007) and intersubjectivity (Tantucci and Wang, 2018), demonstrating that multiple dimensions must be taken into account to grasp the differences between the two peripheries of the utterance. In fact, rather than differing in activation profiles or presence of (inter)subjectivity, they are characterized by distinct combinations of these dimensions. Specifically, right-peripheral topics frequently display the simultaneous presence of active referents, a subjective stance conveyed by the speaker – most frequently negative – and a peripheral marker of intersubjectivity. The complex interaction between these dimensions suggests that right peripheries serve as a key site for negotiating social relationships, aligning perspectives, and managing politeness.