On Referring Expressions In Chinese Conversation

In everyday speaking, we constantly refer to objects and people in an almost automatic way. However, there is a complex mechanism underlying our daily referring behaviour, which is carefully explored in the present dissertation. This paper, drawing on current insights and empirical data from Chinese TV talk show programs, proposes a unified approach in the interpretation of referring expressions in Chinese conversation. It is further claimed that conversation structure, such as turn construction and anaphoric repair, also exerts influence on the choice of referring expressions in Chinese conversation.The present paper is composed of six chapters.Being a miniature of the paper, Chapter One briefly introduces the studies on referring expressions both past and present, home and abroad. Chapter Two is a brief survey of the previous literature on referring expression, which proves the necessity of the present research. The unified approach is, thereafter, proposed in Chapter Three. This approach consists of two modules or levels, the general pragmatic rule and specific linguistic model. The former refers to Bach (1987) and Farmer & Harnish'es (1985) referential intention; while the latter refers to Gundel et al's (1993) Givenness Hierarchy.It is argued that various degrees of referential intention correspond to different degrees of accessibility or givenness of the referents which are further instantiated by different categories of referring forms. The Givenness Hierarchy quantifies various degrees...