Where Centering Meets Chinese Discourse

This book addresses the question: What can close discourse analysis contribute to the understanding of language? To do so, it presents a centering theory-based computational approach to discourse analysis concerning Chinese bei passive sentences, disposal ba constructions, ditransitive gei sentences, and locative fang sentences. The book first discusses the use of discourse analysis in the context of bei and ba constructions and then demonstrates how discourse analysis can contribute to the syntactic and semantic studies of these sentences. It also examines the various thematic roles differentiated in these four special sentence patterns, namely agent, recipient, theme/patient, and locative, and reveals the various degrees of discourse accessibility of these thematic roles. Exploring the correlation between centering theory and Chinese discourse, the book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in discourse analysis and Chinese special sentential structures, especially the formalapproaches to these issues.

Addresses the question: What can close discourse analysis contribute to the understanding of language? Presents a computational approach to Chinese discourse analysis Shows how discourse analysis contributes to syntactic and semantic studies of bei and ba sentences Offers a comprehensive portrait of the Chinese languageits discourse, syntax, and semantics Serves as inspiration for those interested in discourse analysis and Chinese special sentences

Autorentext

Dr. Saina Wuyun received her doctoral degree in Linguistics from the City University of Hong Kong. She is an Associate Professor at the School of Chinese Language and Literature at Shaanxi Normal University and is currently researching in the field of formal discourse analysis and the syntax of archaic Chinese. She has published papers in journals such as Lingua, Language and Linguistics, and Chinese Language and Discourse. She is an executive member of the council for Associação de Caracteres Chineses de Macau.

Inhalt
Chapter 1. An introduction to the book.- Chapter 2. A refined Centering Theory.- Chapter 3. A Centering analysis of discourse with Chinese bei passive.- Chapter 4. A centering analysis of Chinese disposal ba construction.- Chapter 5. Ranking of forward-looking centers in Chinese.- Chapter 6. The influence of temporality interpretation on discourse coherence.- Chapter 7. Concluding remarks.