The Integration Functions of Topic Chains in Chinese Discourse
2019
The
topic
chain, one of the essential organization devices in Chinese discourse, is highlighted by the use of many co-referential zero forms. Although the
topic
chainhas been realized to play an important role in organizing discourse, few attempts have been made to explore how the
topic
chainforms an integrated and meaningful unit and facilitates discourse organization, which are called the “integration functions” of the
topic
chainin this paper. This study, based on a comprehensive review of
topic
chainstudies, re-examines the core characteristics of the
topic
chain. After this, the integration functions of the
topic
chainare analysed from internal and external levels. The
topic
chainitself can manage its internally different clauses to form a cohesive, meaningful and unified unit. At this stage, this paper clearly demonstrates why so much information within a
topic
chainis assembled into such a compact structure. At the discourse level, one
topic
chaincan associate with other
topic
chainsor non-
chainconstructions to establish textual coherence. Making use of zero anaphora, co-reference, cognitive orders and other non-morph-syntactic devices, the
topic
chaincan combine different discourse units together to construct Chinese discourse. The study provides a systematic and well-developed account of the integration functions for the
topic
chain, which is significant for a deeper understanding of the nature of the
topic
chainand how discourse coherence is established in Chinese.
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