Dramatized Discourse

The Mandarin Chinese ba-construction

Author

Zhuo Jing-Schmidt | University of Cologne

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027215659 | EUR 130.00 | USD 195.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027294289 | EUR 130.00 | USD 195.00

Language is a symbolic system of meanings evoked by linguistic forms. The choice of forms in communication is non-arbitrary. Rather, speakers pick those forms whose meanings best convey their discourse intention. The meaning of the Mandarin ba-construction, argues Jing-Schmidt, is discourse dramaticity, a concept that includes high conceptual salience and subjectivity. The ba-construction and its "syntactic variations" are never interchangeable because contrast in their meanings determines difference in their functions. Quantitative analyses based on authentic data validate the postulation of discourse dramaticity. By taking discourse pragmatics seriously, the dramaticity hypothesis enables a unitary explanation that transcends sentence grammar.

The diachronic treatment reveals the syntactic change of the ba-construction as an adaptive process of pragmatization, which raises the issue of linguistic evolution as a result of socio-cultural development.

This book will be of particular value to readers interested in the interaction between grammar and pragmatics and to teachers confronting the controversy of the ba-construction in foreign language pedagogy.

[Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics, 56] 2005. xxii, 337 pp.

Publishing status: Available

https://doi.org/10.1075/sfsl.56

Table of Contents

Preface | pp. xi–xii

Acknowledgements | pp. xiii–xv

List of Figures and Tables | pp. xvii–xviii

Notational Conventions | p. xix

Abbreviations | pp. xxi–xxii

1. Introduction | pp. 1–11

2. Database | pp. 13–15

3. The syntax of the ba -construction: Overview | pp. 17–66

4. Previous approaches | pp. 67–112

5. The hypothesis of discourse dramaticity | pp. 113–124

6. Cognitive salience as discourse dramaticity | pp. 125–210

7. Subjectivity and emotionality as discourse dramaticity | pp. 211–240

8. An interim conclusion | pp. 241–244

9 The pragmatization of the ba -construction: An adaptive change | pp. 245–295

10. Final remarks | pp. 297–300

Notes | pp. 301–307

Text material | p. 327

Author index | pp. 329–331

Subject index | pp. 333–337

Cited by

Cited by 13 other publications

Ai, Haiyang

2021. A Concept-based Approach to the Instruction of the Chinese ba-construction. Language and Sociocultural Theory 7:1 ► pp. 1 ff.

Du, Hang

2016. A corpus linguistics approach to the research and teaching of Chinese as a second language. In Integrating Chinese Linguistic Research and Language Teaching and Learning [Studies in Chinese Language and Discourse, 7], ► pp. 13 ff.

HOU, XIAOMING

2021. Learning two syntactic constructions simultaneously: a case of overshadowing. Language and Cognition 13:3 ► pp. 467 ff.

Kinginger, Celeste, Sheng-Hsun Lee, Qian Wu & Dali Tan

2016. Contextualized Language Practices as Sites for Learning: Mealtime Talk in Short-Term Chinese Homestays. Applied Linguistics 37:5 ► pp. 716 ff.

Lang, Jun

2018. “I am not criticizing you”. Chinese Language and Discourse. An International and Interdisciplinary Journal 9:2 ► pp. 184 ff.

Li, Yen-Hui Audrey

2017. ChineseBa. In The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Syntax, Second Edition, ► pp. 1 ff.

Lin, Jingxia & Yao Yao

2016. Encoding emotion in Chinese: a database of Chinese emotion words with information of emotion type, intensity, and valence. Lingua Sinica 2:1

Lin, Lin

2020. Demonstratives. In The German Demonstratives [Peking University Linguistics Research, 2], ► pp. 23 ff.

Liu, Xiaoyu, Shi, Heidi H. & Zhuo, Jing-Schmidt

2020. Manual Action Metaphors in Chinese A Usage-Based Constructionist Study. In Corpus-Based Research on Chinese Language and Linguistics [Sinica venetiana, 6],

Peng, Xinjia

2018. The emergence of a discourse construction in the internet. Chinese Language and Discourse. An International and Interdisciplinary Journal 9:2 ► pp. 209 ff.

Su, Danjie

2022. Factuality lens. Chinese Language and Discourse. An International and Interdisciplinary Journal 13:2 ► pp. 242 ff.

Yu, Shuo

2020. Chapter 5. The acceptability of 把 ba+subject-oriented resultatives in Mandarin Chinese. In Analysing Chinese Language and Discourse across Layers and Genres [Studies in Chinese Language and Discourse, 13], ► pp. 74 ff.

Zhang, Shenglan

2017. Applying research-based multimedia design principles in designing and teaching beginning CFL learners the ba construction online. Chinese as a Second Language (漢語教學研究—美國中文教師學會學報). The journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, USA 52:3 ► pp. 255 ff.

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Subjects & Metadata