Dramatized Discourse
The Mandarin Chinese ba-construction
| University of Cologne
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
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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Preface
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xi–xii
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Acknowledgements
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xiii–xv
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List of Figures and Tables
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xvii–xviii
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Notational Conventions
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xix
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Abbreviations
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xxi–xxii
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1. Introduction
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1–11
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2. Database
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13–15
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3. The syntax of the ba -construction: Overview
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17–66
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4. Previous approaches
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67–112
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5. The hypothesis of discourse dramaticity
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113–124
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6. Cognitive salience as discourse dramaticity
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125–210
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7. Subjectivity and emotionality as discourse dramaticity
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211–240
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8. An interim conclusion
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241–244
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9 The pragmatization of the ba -construction: An adaptive change
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245–295
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10. Final remarks
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297–300
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Notes
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301–307
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References
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309–326
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Text material
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327
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Author index
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329–331
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Subject index
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333–337
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Li, Yen-Hui Audrey
2017.
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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.
In The German Demonstratives [Peking University Linguistics Research, 2],
► pp. 23 ff.
Peng, Xinjia
2018. The emergence of a discourse construction in the internet.
Chinese Language and Discourse 9:2 ► pp. 209 ff.
Zhang, Shenglan
2017. Applying research-based multimedia design principles in designing and teaching beginning CFL learners the ba construction online.
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This list is based on CrossRef data as of 01 may 2020. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.
Subjects
Linguistics
BIC Subject: CF – Linguistics
BISAC Subject: LAN009000 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General
U.S. Library of Congress Control Number: 2005050298