This study follows the interdisciplinary work spearheaded by Ochs et al. (1996). It draws upon three interrelated research traditions: functional linguistics – concerned with the role of language in communication and cognition, linguistic anthropology – focusing on cultural underpinnings of language, and conversation analysis – examining the interactional matrix of language structure and use. Specifically, this study focuses on how participants’ deontic stances emerge, unfold and shift through conversational mechanisms such as repair organisation (Schegloff 1992, 1996; Schegloff et al. 1977) in naturally occurring interaction. It investigates how modal meanings such as obligation (最好 zuihao, 应该 yinggai, (非)得 ( fei)dei, 必须 bixu, 要 yao) or permission (可以 keyi, 能 neng) in Chinese are elucidated, affirmed, modified, or negotiated through moment-by-moment interaction.