Discourse functions of word order in Chinese: A quantitative analysis of diachronic texts.

Abstract

This dissertation is an analysis of the interaction of discourse-pragmatics with syntax in Chinese. It has long been assumed that the use of different constructions is governed by the meaning and structure of these constructions, so researchers have studied syntax almost exclusively from the sentence level, using a small number of isolated sentences. Such an approach is a necessary step at the initial stage of syntactic study, but it runs into problems when dealing with the actual use of certain constructions. This study, therefore, investigates how discourse-pragmatic functions affect syntax, focusing on the conditions for patient fronting. There are two syntactic alternations involved in patient fronting in Chinese: word order alternation, and voice alternation. To demonstrate the relationship of these two syntactic alternations with discourse pragmatics, three constructions with a preverbal patient were collected from historical texts: (1) agent-ba-patient-verb, (2) patient-verb, and (3) patient-bei-(agent)-verb. All of these were studied and compared with the basic construction having a postverbal patient. The results of this study show that patient fronting in all three constructions is conditioned by discourse-pragmatics in varying degrees. The use of ba constructions is primarily associated with dynamic situations and resultative clauses; the patient-verb construction is associated with contrastive and listing functions and static situations; and the bei construction differs from the other two by promoting its patient so that the patient can form a preferred discourse topic chain. These results suggest that discourse-pragmatic factors are crucial not only in deciding whether to front a patient but also in choosing one patient fronting construction over another.