Nishuo In Rhetorical Questions As A Causal Marker And Its Translation:Syntactico-pragmatic Interface

The definition of Chinese second-person form??(nishuo,you say)as a pragmatic marker is still very much a subject for debate.Therefore,with a qualitative and quantitative mixed method,this thesis is designed to illustrate the role of nishuo in rhetorical questions as a causal marker from the perspectives of syntax and pragmatics.And,in this thesis,the following five questions will be answered:(1)Now that the rhetorical question is a pseudo-questioning form,how can the construction of nishuo with an illocutionary force of directive realize its coexistence with the rhetorical question?(2)What are the syntactic features of nishuo in rhetorical questions?(3)What are the pragmatic functions of nishuo in rhetorical questions?(4)What are the differences between nishuo in rhetorical questions as a causal marker and such traditional or conventionalized causal markers as yinwei and suoyi?(5)When the construction of nishuo embeds itself in a rhetorical question,the speaker combines his/her personal attitude or opinion with a pseudo-imperative force.Then,what desirable translation can ensure a relatively harmonious communication?According to the five questions above,my research comes to the following conclusions:(1)The grammaticalization of nishuo assigns itself with a pseudo-asking force,thus allowing the co-existence of nishuo with the rhetorical question to achieve a pragmatic balance;(2)The syntactic features of nishuo in rhetorical questions are comprised of co-occurrence with rhetorical questions,syntactic detachability,structural independence and syntactic markedness;(3)Nishuo enjoys the pragmatic functions of subjectivity reduction,clear manifestation of attitudinal bias and the resultative clause foregrounding;(4)The differences between marked causal marker nishuo and unmarked Chinese causal markers include lower subjectivity,higher paratactic prominence and marked propositional attitude;(5)From the perspective of equivalent translation and markedness,the present study discusses the syntactic and pragmatic desirability of nishuo in its target text and comes to the conclusion that so tell me and so you know would be the most desirable equivalent in different contexts.With the research into nishuo in rhetorical questions,this thesis aims to provide a new perspective of exploring Chinese causal markers.It also can boost a harmonious communication,strengthen the internalization of Chinese culture and make a contribution to exploring language universals.