Understanding Chinese Ci-Poetry In The Light Of Adaptation Theory

Since the 1970s, there has appeared the trend to combine the studies of literature with studies of language in the field of language and literature teaching. It seems that language and literature should no longer behold each other in hostile opposition, even if they remain separate disciplines taught in different departments of a university. Attempts to carry out inter-disciplinary studies are indeed desirable. Thus inspired, the author of this thesis tries to utilize a linguistic theory, the adaptation theory, to examine the various aspects of Chinese Ci-poetry (henceforth abbreviated as Ci) as a particular usage of language.The adaptation theory proposed by Verschueren takes pragmatics to be a perspective on language use, which is on the whole a choice-making process. Exploiting the variable, negotiable and adaptable properties of language, the theory also takes into account the physical, social and mental worlds of both the utterer and the interpreter. The process, in which the factors of the three worlds, the language users, and the language itself interact with each other, is dynamic and is mediated with different degrees of salience in the mind of the language users. The adaptation theory thus stresses the interaction of language users, the dynamicity of language use and also roles of the cognitive and social factors involved. It is comprehensive in scope and humanistic in approach, thus a very appealing theory to be applied to the studies of Ci.This thesis hence examines Ci in the light of the adaptation theory. We inspect how the major concepts of the adaptation theory—choice-making and the three properties of language manifest themselves in Ci. Then we look at Ci from the four angles of investigation proposed by the theory. We find that the adaptation theory enjoys great flexibility in accommodating the linguistic data of Ci. Besides, it adequately does justice to the social and cultural complexities of literary works. Although it is lacking in specific formulations, the theory points out new directions in the investigation of literary language and literary works.