| Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) is a theory of text organization, which was putforward by Mann and Thompson (1987), the original aim of which is to design computerprograms to generate texts. Rhetorical Structure Theory provides a forceful theoreticalframework for analyzing rhetorical relations in a text. This paper took Rhetorical StructureTheory as the theoretical framework, aimed to make a comparison of the rhetoricalrelations in English, Japanese and Chinese editorials, and analyzed the underlying reasonswhy the similarities and differences exist. The findings of this paper have both theoreticalsignificance and practical pedagogical values on bilingual education in China.In this study, the total text corpus consists of18editorials, six for each language, fromLos Angeles Times, Yomiuri Shimbun and Guangming Daily. The selected editorials are allcomplete ones, without being revised, adapted or deleted. The analyzing steps are as follows:first, all the tree diagrams of each text’s rhetorical relations are drawn. Next, data is collectedand analyzed according to the tree diagrams. To better present the data, six tables are listed.Then, comparison of rhetorical relations among the editorials of English, Japanese andChinese is made. Last, summaries and conclusions are presented.Based on the analysis, this study finds:(1) The English editorials tend to use deductivereasoning strategy to demonstrate standpoints directly. In English editorials almost all arrowspoint forward and the thesis statement is usually located in the beginning part of eachsegment and the detailed information, explanation and elaboration always come after thethesis statement.(2) The text structuring of Chinese and Japanese editorials are similar in thatthey both show the preference of inductive rhetorical strategy and tend to be indirect whendisplaying opinions, in which the thesis statement is usually put at the end part of theparagraph or text segment with enough preparation, background or circumstance for the realfocus of the sentence offered at the beginning.(3) The English editorials prefer to adoptlinear text progression, while the Chinese and Japanese editorials tend to choose spiralpatterning in its textual progression.(4) English editorials use more rhetorical relationContract relation than Chinese and Japanese editorials.Based on the findings, linguistic and cultural reasons causing the similarities anddifferences among Chinese, English and Japanese editorials are explored and implications areprovided for English and Japanese teaching and learning. |
