摘要摘 要:“What are you/we talking about?”是英语口语交际中常见的习语构式，不仅具有规约意义和语境制约下的语用意义，而且用来调节和管理前述话语与交际行为，属于元语用意识指示语。本文基于元语用理论，通过分析美国当代英语语料库口语子库中构式“What are you/we talking about?”的语用意义，揭示其在不同语境下说话人的元语用意识体现。研究发现，构式“What are you/we talking about?”体现说话人对交际中语篇、信息、发话人和交际双方四个维度的元语用意识，具体表现在管理话语组织结构，为听话人提供认知解读框架，构建权威身份，管理人际亲疏关系。本研究拓展了构式研究的理论视角，对构式的元语用阐释有助于我们更全面地推理和解读说话人的交际意图。
关键词：元语用；构式“What are you/we talking about？”；元语用意识
Abstract：“What are you / we talking about?” is a frequently used idiomatic construction in verbal interaction. This idiom, which has a conventionalised construction meaning and various pragmatic meanings, tends to function as an indicator of metapragmatic awareness, monitoring and managing previous discourse and communicative action. Based on the metapragmatic theory, this paper aims to reveal the speaker’s metapragmatic awareness in different contexts by analyzing the pragmatic functions of “What are you / we talking about?” in Corpus of Contemporary American English. It is found that speakers frequently use “What are you / we talking about?” construction to indicate their metapragmatic awareness in four dimensions of communication: text, information, the speaker and the participants. Any choice of “What are you/ we talking about?” may serve such functions as managing discourse organization, providing cognitive-interpretive framework for the audience, constructing authoritative identity, and managing interpersonal relationship. The findings can offer some insights for further construction research, and the metapragmatic interpretation of construction helps us infer and interpret speaker’s communicative intention comprehensively.
Key words: metapragmatics; “What are you/we talking about?” construction; metapragmatic awareness
