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Information to Users INFORMATION TO USERS 7 1 Ü S manuscript has been reproduced from the microfihn master. UMÎ fHrnq the text directly £rom the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of conqniter printer. The quali^ of this reproduction is détendent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quali^ illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard Tnargin»»^ and inqtroper alignment can adverse^ afreet reproductioiL In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note win indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., m^ps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continaing from left to right in equal sections with small overl^)s. £adi original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photogr^hs included in the original manuscrit have been reproduced xerographicaUy in this copy. Higher qualiQr 6” x 9" black and white photogr^hic prints are available for aigr photographs or illustrations appealing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI direct^ to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 9516972 Variation in spoken and written Mandarin narrative discourse Christensen, Matthew Bruce, Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 1994 UMI 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor. MI 48106 VARIATION IN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN MANDARIN NARRATIVE DISCOURSE DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By Matthew Bruce Christensen, B.A., M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 1994 Dissertation Committee: Approved by James H-Y Tai Maqoiie K.M. Chan Advisor Galal L. Walker ^ )epartment of Easfc Asian 'Languages and Literatures To the memory of my parents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I first want to thank my parents for instilling in me the desire to learn and pursue an education. Without their examples and advice I would not have attempted to pursue a college education. I am sincerely grateful for the members of my dissertation committee. Professors James Tai, Maijorie Chan, and Galal Walker. I am grateful for Professor James Tai for years of instruction, guidance, and encouragement. I thank Professor Maijorie Chan for getting me started in aspect studies, and for her valuable comments and suggestions. I thank Professor Galal Walker for his insight and suggestions, as well as his sound advice and encouragement over the years. I am also grateful for the members of my general examination committee. Professors James Tai, Timothy Wong, Frank Hsueh, and Robert Sanders, as well as Professor Kirk Denton, for teaching and encouraging me so much throughout my years as a graduate student. I am grateful for two friends and colleagues who have helped in this dissertation; Chen Huimin for interviewing my informants and preparing the initial transcripts and Wu Xiaoqi for preparing the typed versions. Finally I want to thank my family. I am deeply grateful for my wife Sharon, who for the last eight years, has constantly stood by my side with encouragement, devotion, and faith in me. Without her I could not have come this far. I also thank my wonderful children, Natalie, Kai, and Niels for their cheerfulness and love. m VTTA December 25, 1963 .......................................... Bora - Los Gatos, California 1988 ................................................................... B.A., Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah 1990 ................................................................... M.A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1988-1993 ......................................................... Teaching Associate, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures, The OMo State University, Columbus, Ohio 1993-Present .................................................... Assistant Project Director, Cantonese Language Project, Foreign Language Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio PUBLICATIONS (co-author, Xiaoqi Wu) "An Individualized Approach for Teaching False Beginners." Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association, vol. XXVni: no. 2 May 1993, pp 91-100. (contributing author with Xiaobin Jian) Spoken Cantonese: Context and Performance. Columbus: The Ohio State University, Foreign Language Publications. 1994. FIELD OF STUDY Major Field: East Asian Languages and Literatures IV TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION......................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...................................................................................... iii VITA........................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES.................................................................................................... ix LIST OF HGURES.................................................................................................. x CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................... 1 1.1 Defining Discourse .............................................................................. 6 1.2 The Genres of Discourse ...................................................................... 9 1.3 The Rationale for a Discourse-based Approach .................................. 12 1.3.1 Context .............................................................................................. 15 1.3.2 Pedagogical Implications .................................................................. 18 1.4 Spoken versus Written Discourse ...................................................... 20 1.4.1 Integration vs. Involvement ................................................................ 23 1.4.2 Other Contributions .......................................................................... 27 1.4.3 Opposing Views .............................................................................. 29 1.5 Outline of this Study ....................................................................... 31 II. DATA AND THEORETICAL BASE........................................................ 33 2.1 Source of Data ................................................................................. 33 2.1.1 The Pear Film................................................................................ 34 2.1.2 Description of the Pear Film ....................................................... 35 V 2.2 Data Collection ............................................................................... 36 2.2.1 The Informants ................................................................................ 36 2.2.2 The Experiment ................................................................................ 38 2.3 Theoretical Background ................................................................. 40 2.3.1 The Nature of Narrative Discourse ................................................ 40 2.3.1.1 Foregrounding and Backgrounding .............................................. 41 2.3.1.2 The Perfective and Imperfective Aspect in Narrative Discourse... 42 2.3.2 Aspect in Chinese .......................................................................... 44 2.3.2.1 Inchoativity and Perfectivity.......................................................... 49 2.3.3 A Broader View of Aspect in Mandarin ........................................... 52 2.3.3.1 The Viewpoint Aspect ................................................................... 53 2.3.3.2 The Zero Aspect ............................................................................. 60 2.3.3.3 Other Aspectual Marking in Mandarin ........................................... 62 2.4 Summary.......................................................................................... 63 m . VARIATION IN ORAL AND WRTTTBN MANDARIN NARRATIVE DISCOURSE.............................................................................................. 66 3.1 Oral and Written Chinese Discourse in Historical Perspective 68 3.2 General Features of Oral and Written Narrative Discourse 71 3.3 Narrative Length ............................................................................. 74 3.4 Length of Idea Units ........................................................................ 82 3.5 Amount of Detail in Narratives ...................................................... 88 3.6 Narrative vs. Evaluative I.U .'s........................................................ 92 3.7 Lexical Variation ............................................................................... 97 3.7.1 Coordination ..................................................................................... 98 vi 3.7.2 Literary Vocabulary ....................................................................... 101 3.8 Syntactic Variation ............................................................................. 104 3.8.1 Third-Person Pronouns and Zero Anaphora ................................... 110 3.8.2 DE Modification .............................................................................. 122 3.9 Summary ...........................................................................................
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