From a conversation-analytic perspective, this study examines how the Korean connective ‘-nuntey’ is used in interactions between children and caregivers. The ‘nuntey’-clause occurs not only in utterance-medial positions as a clausal connective but also in utterance-final positions without accompanying main clauses in actual conversations. Previous studies have identified two primary functions of ‘-nuntey’: a ‘background provider’ and a ‘contrast marker’. In this study, the analysis of conversations between children and caregivers shows that caregivers often use the ‘nuntey’-clause to explain why they cannot comply with a child's request or to repremand them for their behavior, which frequently leads to changes in the child’s behavior or intentions. In contrast, children use the ‘nuntey’-clause in "telling-my-side" utterances to describe their own actions or observations, often eliciting responses or praise from caregivers. This pattern refelct the nature of child-caregiver interactions, where the caregiver's primary role is to manage the child’s behavior, while the child’s main goal is to attract the caregiver’s attention.

Lee, Jee Won. 2017. “The Use and Discourse-Pragmatic Function of wo buzhidao in Naturally Occurring Mandarin Chinese Conversation”. The Sociolinguistic Journal of Korea 25(1). 167~192. This study investigates several aspects of Chinese (wo) buzhidao using both qualitative and quantitative methods, including its distributional properties and discourse-pragmatic functions in conversational contexts. This study has found that (wo) buzhidao occurs in conversational environments other than in reply to information questions and carries more interactive and social implications than had been previously proposed by previous studies. First, (wo) buzhidao marks the speaker’s uncertainty and concerns about the truth of the proposition expressed. Second, (wo) buzhidao constructs the speaker’s neutral position by disattending opinions, assessments, or troubles. Third, (wo) buzhidao avoids an explicit disagreement. The use of (wo) buzhidao as a stance marker allows the speaker to convey his/her consideration for the hearer’s face, and it can help to achieve a range of interactional goals. Native speakers of Mandarin Chinese employ (wo) buzhidao in conjunction with other interactive strategies to organize their speech via their recipient enabling mutual intersubjectivity.