Chinese Sentence Topic Chain Finds Its Meaning

This dissertation, based on a review of studies of Chinese topic chain, claims that the view that Chinese topic chain is a sentence should be clarified, because definitions of topic chain or punctuation marks such as full stop, question mark, and exclamatory mark fail to define the boundary of a sentential chain properly. Hence, the research question of this dissertation is formulated as follows:What is a Chinese sentential chain?This research is qualitative, descriptive and explanatory, conducted within the framework of relevance theory proposed by Sperber and Wilson (1986/1995/2008) with reference to researches of text linguistics and cognitive pragmatics, whose data are collected from classic literary works and monographs related.To begin with, this dissertation roughly defines the boundary of a sentential topic chain semantically within an episode, which leads to a conclusion that a sentential chain would not permit the shared topic to appear twice or even more in the form of noun.Thereafter, the studies of English conjoined clauses and juxtaposed sentences are introduced to help find what other features a Chinese sentential chain should have. They show that all English clause groups sharing the same referent, whether realized with a noun, a pronoun or an zero form, as their topic are in either conjoined or juxtaposed relation and that those conjoined are a sentence while those juxtaposed are sentences. Hence, correspondingly, the same kind of Chinese clause groups should also be divided into conjoined and juxtaposed ones. The conjoined are a sentence while the juxtaposed are sentences. That is, a Chinese sentential chain should boast the same features of English conjoined clauses, which are to be used to help identify what a Chinese sentential chain is. Taking the features into consideration, this research makes the following claims: A Chinese sentential topic chain falls into an episode, sharing an overt or covert topical form in its initial position; normally, the shared topic of a sentential chain does not appear overtly twice or even more as in juxtaposed sentences. However, it does when the repeated overtly realized form does not incur any pragmatic or cognitive effects. In other words, when any pragmatic or cognitive effects arise, the clause group should be regarded as juxtaposes sentences rather than a sentential chain.To further specify the boundary of a sentential chain, this dissertation also deals with some related issues as follows:(a) Should a presentative/existential clause be included as a link in a chain? (b) Should a chain be linked with connectives or conjunctions? (c) Should a chain be inserted into with one or more than one clause, which does not share the chain topic? It is argued that only if the topic of the presentative/existential clause is shared by the following clause(s), should it form a chain with the following as a link, and that a chain should be able to accommodate inserted clauses with a different topic, and connectives or conjunctions which are meant to help the audience understand the conveyed proposition and acquire the optimal relevance.Theoretically, this dissertation has clarified what kind of Chinese topic chain is a sentence, and hence enriched the study of topic chain. Practically, it has brought about implications for applied linguistics, such in the field of Chinese language planning, natural Chinese language processing, and Chinese language teaching and research. To be specific, a successful identification of a Chinese sentential topic chain may help Chinese users use some punctuation marks such as full stop, comma and some others properly. Alongside, the studies of Chinese disambiguation, so-called running-on sentences, natural language processing and Chinese language teaching may enjoy the benefit of the proper use of punctuation marks.Of course, this research has its limitations. Its data are only narrative. Since the topic is a sign and the topic chain is a chain of signs in text, it fails to explore its theme from the semiotic perspective, which results in an inadequate account of the significance of this research for natural Chinese language processing. Last but not least, some random use of full stop or comma under observation may have kept us from right identification of a sentential chain.