Relevance-theoretic Interpretation Of Bridging Reference In Chinese Discourse

Bridgingreference(henceforthBR),whichpermeatesallkindsofwritings,refersto the relationship between a linguistic expression and its intended referent notexplicitly expressed in the previous context. The interpretation of BR relies on thecorrect identification of an assumption which introduces the intended referent. Thelinguistic expression is named bridging NP, and the assumption is named bridgingassumption. Those linguistic expressions (noun, verb, adjective, etc) which help formbridgingassumptionsarecalledbridgingtriggers. BRhasbeenextensivelyresearchedin the literature and different theories have been employed to account for thisphenomenon. Although significant insights have been gained through variousapproaches, limitations of each approach in explaining BR still exist. Relevancetheoryoffers a frameworktocontain advantages ofdifferent approaches. It has strongexplanatory power in interpreting bridging reference. The thesis, mainly based onrelevance theory, absorbing advantages of other approaches, from the angle of BRinterpretation process, aims to propose a relevance-theoretic interpretation strategyofbridgingreferenceinChinesediscourse.As a pioneer in the research of BR, Clark (1977) believes that the key in BRinterpretation is the identification of appropriate bridging implicatures (bridgingassumption in the present thesis). He further argues that the appropriate implicature isthe one which requires fewest assumptions and which is consistent with Given-Newcontract. Given-New Contract is the development of Grice's (1975) conversationalmaxims.Theyfailtotakecognitiveandpsychologicalfactorsintoconsiderationwhenthey describe the bridging implicature identification process, thus the approach islimited. Sanford & Garrod (1990, 1994) take a cognitive point of view and propose ascenario-based approach to BR. Their view is that BR triggers activate a scenario inthe hearer's mind where the intended referent is to be found. The approach providespsychologicalevidenceforbridgingreference;however,itdoesnot explicatebridgingreferenceinterpretationprocessandfailstoaccountforbridgingcaseswherethereare two or more candidate referents. Sidner (1983) studies BR from the angle ofaccessibility. His idea is that the bridging trigger is the most accessible linguisticantecedent in the hearer's mind, and the identification of bridging assumption iscompleted when the BR trigger is found. The problem of the approach is that theyhold that the BR trigger refers to the linguistic entityin focus; in fact, there are manycases where the linguistic entity in focus is not the appropriate BR trigger. Hobbs(1979) approaches bridging from the angle of coherence. He argues that the hearershould accept the first interpretive hypothesis which makes the utterance coherent.This is similar to the comprehension procedure proposed within the framework ofrelevancetheory, but alackof aclear definitionofcoherenceweakens its explanatorypower. Recently,Matsui (2000)andMo Aiping(2003),from the angleofEnglish andChinese respectively, explore two factors affecting bridging reference within theframework of relevance theory, accessibility and acceptability. But they fail to give asound description of BR interpretation strategy in their researchers. The thesisattemptstofillthegap.The description of BR interpretation strategy is based on the comprehensionprocedure proposed within the framework of relevance theory in the present thesis.According to relevance theory, the hearer tests interpretive hypotheses in order ofaccessibility and accepts the first hypothesis which satisfies his expectation ofrelevance. The writer argues that readers take the similar comprehension strategy inbridging reference interpretation. But the reader will accept the first interpretivehypothesis only if it can yield cognitive effects and he will adjust his interpretationwhen the discourse proceeds. The difference is due to the fact that, unlike hearers,readers usually have no definite expectation of relevance in reading. As for bridgingreference, the accessibility of interpretative hypotheses is chiefly affected by twofactors, the accessibility of bridging assumptions and the accessibility of contextualassumptions.In the present research, we choose 167 sentences containing bridging referencefrom 150 articles in'Story Collections'in 2005 (Volume 1-12). Besides, aquestionnaire-based test is carried out among forty-four sophomores from Aviation College in National University of Defense Technology. The thesis approaches BRinterpretation strategy in Chinese discourse by attempting to answer the followingthreequestions:1) WhatisthedistributionofbridgingreferenceinChinesediscourse?2) What kind of roles do the accessibility of bridging assumptions and theaccessibility of contextual assumption play in the process of bridgingreferenceinterpretation?3) What kind of inferential routes do readers take in interpreting BR in Chinesediscourse?Inordertoanswertheabovequestions, thethesisdiscusses therelations betweenbridging reference and explicatures as well as implicatures in the first place. It claimsthat the bridging assumption is neither an explicature nor an implicature, but it worksin the derivation of both explicatures and implicatures. As a matter of fact, BRinterpretationis aresult ofmutual adjustments betweenexplicatures andimplicatures.Then the thesis explores two crucial factors affecting BR interpretation, theaccessibilityof bridging assumptions and the accessibilityof contextual assumptions,as well as their interactivity in BR interpretation. The accessibility of bridgingassumptions is further affected by syntactic and pragmatic factors, and theaccessibility of contextual assumptions affected by cultural factors and the use ofdiscourse connectives. A questionnaire is adopted in order to testify those factors'roles and interactivity in BR interpretation. Based on the comprehension procedureproposed within the framework of relevance theory, taking into consideration factorsexplored, the thesis proposes a bridgingreference interpretation strategyemployed byreaders of Chinese discourse, and describe the strategy in a formal way. The authorargues that BR interpretation goes through two stages, bridgingassumption formationstage and bridging assumption testing stage. The thesis points out that therelevance-based adequate activation principle provides a psychological account forbridgingassumption formation and the comprehension procedure proposed within theframework of relevance theory sets a standard for bridging assumption testing. Thebridging reference interpretation strategy proposed in the thesis is a combination of thesetwostagesindeed.The study is significant at least in the following three aspects: 1) the discussionofbridgingreferenceinterpretationwithinrelevance-theoreticframeworkintroducesanew angle to the study of BR on the one hand, and verifies the explanatory power ofrelevance theoryon the other; 2) data collected in the present thesis as well as resultsof the questionnaire can be reused in future studies of BR; 3) the thesis is a boldattempt to give a formal description of bridging reference interpretation strategywithin the framework of relevance theory, and it aims at shedding some light on BRstudiesinArtificialIntelligence(AI)field.