文档介绍：Vincent Taohsun Chang 1
Journal of Universal Language 8
March 2007, 1-21
A Cognitive-pragmatic Approach to
Discourse Topic: A Cross-linguistic
Analysis and Universal Account
Vincent Taohsun Chang
National Chengchi University
Abstract
This paper investigates contemporary Mandarin Chinese and
English discourse topic across text genres to render plausible
interpretations based upon a relevance-theoretic approach, as
opposed to previous studies from syntactic/structural and functional/
cognitive points of view. Examining discourse topic from a
cognitive-pragmatic perspective will not merely facilitate readers
with more accessible contextual effects such as implicatures, but
also subtopics such as grounding posite topics can also be
approached layer by layer with regard to cognition and language.
This plays a crucial role in perception, comprehension and
interpretation of utterances and non-munication, and
hence the mental processes of assigning/deciding a topic. The topic
may thus vary from a word, short phrases to a sentence, and, above
all, it is the gist that inferred by the audience that eventually forms
the basis for the topic of the text/discourse.
Keywords: pronunciation, allophones, transferability, differential salience,
discourse topic
2 Cognitive-pragmatic Approach to Discourse Topic
1. Rationale
This paper presents an examination as a response to studies by
Chu (1993, 1998, 1999, 2000) regarding prototype/prototypicality of
a topic in Mandarin Chinese; it also provides English data to serve
as a cross-linguistic analysis. Chu proposed five criteria/attributes to
evaluate potential and qualified topic prototypes in Mandarin
Chinese: 1) being nominal, 2) serving as an interclausal link, 3)
being specific/referential, 4) occupying the sentence-initial/preverbal
position, and 5) bearing no selectional relations to the predicative
verb. He