The utterance-final tari site construction in interaction: a general extender as a play stance marker

Abstract Regarding the Japanese utterance-final construction tari site as a general extender, this paper discusses the innovative function of this formulaic expression, the non-final form of tari suru ‘and/or do’, to mark play stance. I argue that the sequential and interactional context where it is used provides the grounds for this construction to function as such, which contributes to building a play frame intersubjectively. General extenders such as English or something are highly pragmatic because, by offering a prototypical exemplar that precedes, the speaker invites the listener to infer the implied vague category. My analysis of tari site in naturally occurring Japanese conversations adds to the existing claim that English fixed expressions are employed to express stances in everyday conversation. Moreover, I found that the play stance marker tari site expresses the speaker’s positive self-presentation, in contrast to one of the previously claimed general extenders’ functions to convey hedges.