Challenging Western-centric Traditional Conversational Analysis: A case of Discourse Particle ‘Na’ as a Polymodal Pragmatic Operator

Abstract

This paper challenges the Western Conversation Analysis paradigm by critically examining the discourse marker ‘Na’ in Urdu conversations. Based on a qualitative study of natural Urdu interactions, the research utilizes data collected from 28 conversations lasting over 200 minutes in Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, between 2013 and 2015. The findings reveal that the Urdu discourse marker ‘Na’ questions Western-centric classifications such as Heritage's (2017) binary model and Schegloff's (2007) contiguity principle by asserting epistemic authority, guiding action trajectories, and reflecting culturally shared emotional attitudes. Following Sohail's (2010) Urdu transcription methodology, this culturally rooted approach identifies four context-dependent roles of ‘Na’ in Urdu conversations: (i) a normative accountability marker enforcing cultural obligations; (ii) an affective intensification marker promoting emotional expression; (iii) an authority legitimizer establishing unchallengeable bureaucratic actions; and (iv) a solidarity marker fostering shared sensory perspectives. The results prove that the multifunctionality of 'Na' is evidence of the syntactic flexibility of Urdu, which complies with South Asian social conventions. It therefore undermines the assumption of universality in markedness both syntactically and semantically. The work promotes decolonial methods of linguistic research within particular social and cultural contexts. By applying community- and culture-centred analysis, it contends that these approaches can fill epistemic lacunae in linguistic studies. This study focuses on the local rather than the universal and encourages ethnomethodology. Future pragmatic research could build on these results through intensive data collection.