A Cognitive-Pragmaic Account Of Topic Constructions In Mandarin Chinese

Since the introduction of the concept "topic-comment" to research on Mandarin Chinese, abundant research has focused on referential features of topic or syntactic and semantic properties of topic-comment structures at the sentence level, whereas the features and functions of topic constructions in authentic language interaction are still underspecified.With a cognitive-pragmatic approach, this dissertation attempts to make a comprehensive description of topic constructions in spoken discourse of Mandarin Chinese. In this study, I use conversational data from a self-built corpus composed of TV interviews to investigate the information status and discourse functions of topic constructions in naturally occurring spoken discourses, to conclude the pragmatic motivations and strategies involved in the use of such constructions, and on the basis of that to provide a unified cognitive account of topic constructions.The work done in this study consists of the following parts.First of all, "topic construction" in this study is defined as the non-canonical construction which displays a marked topic. Topic constructions are classified into 3 types, namely, Left-dislocation, Topicalization and Chinese-style topic construction. Their internal structural and semantic features are expounded on.Second, topic constructions' contribution to information flow in spoken discourse is examined. With both textual and situational context taken into account, the cognitive statuses of topics are carefully recorded and classified with a framework adapted from a combination of Givenness Hierarchy (Gundel et al.,1993) and Familiarity Scale (Prince,1981). Statistics indicate that most topics rank high in cognitive status hierarchy with different sources of activation. Based on the correlation between cognitive statuses and linguistic forms of topics, the thesis proposes a modification of Givenness Hierarchy in terms of a continuum.As to topic continutiy, a high percentage of topics persist in the ensuing utterance, mainly in the form of pronouns and noun phrases. Three types of topic constructions display different features in cognitive statuses and topic persistence. Among them, Topicalizations tend to be closely related to previous discourse, while Left-dislocations show the highest frequency of introducing new information to the discourse.Third, to investigate the discourse functions of topic constructions, a clear distinction is drawn between two domains:discourse structure and discourse content. In the domain of discourse structure management, topic constructions can function in two moves, opening moves and sustaining moves. Topic constructions in opening moves play a role in segmentation of discourse, marking the start of a new unit of talks, while in sustaining moves, they continue the current discourse topic. Again, three types of topic constructions differ in distribution pattern. But the distribution patterns show consistency with their information statuses observed in the previous chapter. For example, Left-dislocations, relatively frequent in introducing new information, are also found to locate in opening moves more often than the other two.As to discourse content, topic constructions can highlight the logical relations between topics and other discourse entities, such as contrast, similarity, inclusion and so on.Fourth, this thesis argues that the motivation of topic constructions is perceptual prominence. The prominence of topic manifests itself in the heaviness of this unit, heaviness in both stress and theme. It abides by the principle of economy in cognitive processing to place the heavy part in a separate unit, hence the marked topic.The use of topic constructions also embodies the employment of pragmatic strategies in utterance, including strategies of interaction and politeness. In the proceeding of utterances, topics are observed to serve as discourse scaffolds, helping speakers convey cooperative intentions and buy time for the construction of ensuing utterance. Topic constructions are also observed to enable speakers to register control over the interaction in a flexible manner. On some occasions, speakers use topic constructions as a means of tactfully avoiding sensitive topics, expressing disagreement etc. with an indication of politeness. These pragmatic strategies can be woven into the use of topic constructions thanks to their distinct feature--the relatively loose relation between topic and comment. Finally, the thesis proposes a unified cognitive account of topic constructions. In topic constructions, topic is coded as the conceptual reference point for the target--comment. Based on this unified account, the differences among the three types of topic constructions can be explained with trajector-landmark theory. In Left-dislocations, topic, as the reference point, establishes connection with the trajector or landmark or other entities in the target comment. In Topicalizations, topic assumes dual roles and becomes the reference point and the trajectory/landmark in the target at the same time. The construal of Chinese-style topic constructions involves inference of the non-ostensive relations between topic and comment. Based on generalizations of the information status and discourse functions of topic constructions, the thesis finally proposes a schematic model indicative of topic constructions'contribution in the updating of current discourse spaces.