A Comparative Analysis Of Topic Continuity In Text Unfolding Between Chinese And English:from A Functional Perspective

Topic and topic construction are the important theories studied by many linguists under different approaches and from different angles. They have been studying topic construction from the perspectives of structuralism (Chao Yuanren,1968; Shi Youwei, 1995), formalism (Huang,1982; Huang & Li,1996; Xu Liejiong & Liu Danqing,2005) and functionalism (Li & Thompson,1976,1981; Chauncey C. Chu,1997; Shi Yuzhi, 2001). Nevertheless, they generally focus on the thematic and syntactic features of topic and ignore its pragmatic and discursive function.An obvious characteristic of topic, as Tsao (2005) contends, is that it is not always constrained to one sentence, but more often than not stretches its thematic meaning to several sentences, and even to a paragraph or a discourse. According to Givon (1983), a thematic paragraph is a chain of equi-topic clauses, i.e. a string of clauses whose main/primary topic remains the same. He further divides topic into chain initial topic, chain medial topic and chain final topic which leads to topic continuity.The present thesis attempts to make a comparison between the representation and function of topic continuity in Chinese and English text unfolding to find out the typological differences between the two languages. To achieve this goal, data of two contemporary novels in Chinese and English will be analyzed. Special attention will be paid to the features of chain initial topic, chain medial topic and chain finial topic in a thematic paragraph as well as how they are connected.The comparison reveals that Chinese and English vary in topic construction and that different types of anaphora are employed in the two languages. Typologically, Chinese is subject-prominent, stressing semantic coherence rather than formal cohesion, whereas English is subject-prominent. Consequently, zero anaphora is used far more frequently in Chinese, while the use of pronominal anaphora is much more common in English.This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One gives a brief account of the issues which will be addressed in the thesis, as well as the significance of the thesis. Chapter Two contributes to a general survey to the research of topic and topic construction and proposes the working definition of topic and topic continuity in this thesis. Chapter Three investigates the theoretical framework of the study:topic continuity, topic chain, zero anaphora and topic-marking devices, etc. Chapter Four analyzes topic continuity in Chinese and English respectively and probes into its function and mechanism in text unfolding. Chapter Five serves as a conclusion to the whole thesis and lands on the implications and limitation of the present study.