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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Cited by
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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.
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.
In The German Demonstratives [Peking University Linguistics Research, 2],
► pp. 23 ff.
Liu, Xiaoyu, Shi, Heidi H. & Zhuo, Jing-Schmidt
2020.
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.
Yu, Shuo
2020.
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
Linguistics
BIC Subject: CF – Linguistics
BISAC Subject: LAN009000 – LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General