英汉叙事语篇中第三人称代词下指的认知功能研究

论文摘要

本研究从认知功能的视角对英汉叙事语篇中出现的第三人称代词下指现象进行了对比分析。基于此研究目的,我们从5篇英文小说和3篇中文小说中分别收集了200个第三人称代词下指实例。此外,为了对下指现象有一个更加全面的了解,我们建立了双向翻译对等语料库,即同时包括了英汉语的原文及其对应的译文。在本研究中,我们进行了四种类型的分析并得出如下分析结果:第一,基于下指的定义特点和对语料的详尽分析,我们发现形式和信息量皆为零的零形代词在英语和汉语中都可以充当下指语（cataphor）。参照许余龙、贺小聃（2007）关于下指的分类体系,我们对语料中出现的三种下指现象,即语篇下指、局部语篇下指和句内下指进行了定量分析。分析结果表明英汉两种语言中各类下指在出现频率方面呈现出相似的分布特征,即句内下指出现频率最高,而语篇下指的出现频率最小。第二,我们对英汉叙事语篇中的下指型式和典型构型进行了详尽的分析。分析结果表明,英语下指主要体现为四种型式:零形代词+名词短语,代词+名词短语,零形代词+无定词语以及代词+有定词语。汉语下指主要有两种型式:零形代词+名词短语以及零形代词+指示词语。在构型方面,英语中的下指语（包括零形代词）大多出现在非限定从句以及介词短语和状语从句结构中;汉语中的下指构型比较多样,下指语主要出现在-了小句中,出现在无标记动词小句和-着小句的下指语较少。第三,运用叙事语篇中区分前景和背景的语言学标准和内容标准,我们对英汉语料中下指实例的体标记和句法标记进行了穷尽性分析。分析结果表明叙事背景化是出现下指现象的主要动因。基于双向翻译对等语料的分析同样证明了英汉叙事语篇中下指语所在结构的背景化功能。第四,根据Chafe的激活代价理论,我们对下指的罕见性和各类下指的分布特征进行了深入的探讨。研究表明,理解各种下指的认知代价和它们的出现频率成反比。我们对语料中下指语及其下行语（postcedent）的突显的不对称性分析进一步支撑了van Hoek的参照点理论对下指现象的阐释。我们的分析表明这种不对称性提示读者出现在句首的零形代词或代词将成为当前主题或标志着当前主题的结束以及另一个新主题的开始。

论文目录

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• ABSTRACT
• 内容提要
• Chapter One Introduction
• 1.0 The Notion of Cataphora
• 1.1 A Brief Literature Review
• 1.1.1 Related studies in English
• 1.1.2 Related studies in Chinese
• 1.2 General Aims and Objectives
• 1.3 Some Methodological Preliminaries
• 1.3.1 Research methodology
• 1.3.2 Selection of English and Chinese novels for the study
• 1.3.3 Typographic conventions
• 1.4 Organization of the Dissertation
• Chapter Two Identification and Classifications of Cataphora
• 2.0 Introduction
• 2.1 Zero Pronoun as Cataphor in Chinese
• 2.2 Zero Pronoun as Cataphor in English
• 2.3 Classifications of Cataphora
• 2.3.1 Genuine cataphora Vs repeat identification by van Hoek （1997）
• 2.3.2 Classification of cataphora by 许余龙、贺小聃（2007）
• 2.4 Distribution of Referential Types in Our Chinese and English Corpora
• 2.4.1 Distribution of referential types in Chinese narrative discourse
• 2.4.2 Distribution of referential types in English narrative discourse
• 2.5 Summary
• Chapter Three Basic Patterns and Configurations of Cataphora in Chinese and English Narative Discourse
• 3.0 Introduction
• 3.1 Previous Researches on Basic Patterns and Configurations of Cataphora in English and Chinese
• 3.2 Basic Patterns and Configurations of Cataphora in English Narrative Discourse
• 3.2.1 Basic patterns
• 3.2.2 Prototypical configurations
• 3.2.2.1 Discourse cataphora and local discourse cataphora
• 3.2.2.2 Sentential cataphora
• 3.2.2.3 Overall distributional pattern of various configurations of cataphora in English narrative discourse
• 3.3 Basic Patterns and Configurations of Cataphora in Chinese Narrative Discourse
• 3.3.1 Basic patterns
• 3.3.2 Prototypical configurations
• 3.3.2.1 Local discourse cataphora
• 3.3.2.2 Sentential cataphora
• 3.4 Examination of Local Discourse Anaphora in English and Chinese Narrative Discourse
• 3.4.1 Local discourse anaphora in English narrative discourse
• 3.4.2 Local discourse anaphora in Chinese narrative discourse
• 3.5 Comparison and Discussion
• Chapter Four Pragmatic Functions of Cataphora in English and Chinese Narrative Discourse
• 4.0 Introduction
• 4.1 Foreground and Background in Narrative Discourse
• 4.1.1 The notions of foreground and background
• 4.1.2 Linguistic markers of foreground and background
• 4.1.2.1 Aspect markers
• 4.1.2.2 Syntactic markers
• 4.1.3 Content criteria for distinguishing foreground and background
• 4.2 Grounding Status of the Cataphor-containing Structures in English Narrative Discourse
• 4.2.1 Sententce initial prepositional phrases
• 4.2.2 Sententce initial adverbial clauses and non-finite clauses
• 4.3 Grounding Status of the Cataphor-containing Structures in Chinese Narrative Discourse
• 4.4 Verification of Grounding Status of the Cataphor-containing Structures in the Four Referential Types in English and Chinese Narrative Discourse
• 4.5 Summary
• Chapter Five A Cognitive Account of Cataphora in English and Chinese Narrative Discourse
• 5.0 Introduction
• 5.1 A Brief Overview of the Cognitive Processes involved in Discourse Comprehension
• 5.2 Cognitive States of Discourse Referents
• 5.2.1 The notions of identifiability and unidentifiability
• 5.2.2 Activation Cost Theory
• 5.2.3 Activation states, referential form and topic accessibility
• 5.3 Interpretation of Distributional Patterns of Cataphora in English and Chinese Narrative Discourse
• 5.3.1 Interpretation of the rarity of cataphora in general
• 5.3.2 Interpretation of occurrence frequencies of the three types of cataphora
• 5.4 Interpretation of Cataphora in terms of van Hoek’s Reference Point Model
• 5.4.1 Ariel’s Accessibility Theory
• 5.4.2 van Hoek’s Reference Point Model
• 5.4.3 Reference Point Model and cataphora in English and Chinese narrative discourse
• 5.4.3.1 The notion of topic and its identification
• 5.4.3.2 Topic status of postcedents in cataphora instances in our data
• 5.5 Cataphora as Cognitive Processing Instruction to the Reader
• 5.6 Summary
• Chapter Six Conclusion
• 6.0 Introduction
• 6.1 Summary of Major Findings
• 6.2 Theoretical Implications
• 6.3 Limitations of This Study and Suggestions for Further Research
• Appendix I
• Appendix II
• Bibliography