Thematic Structure And Information Structure Of Cleft And Pseudo-cleft Sentences In Chinese

As constructions with special properties, cleft and pseudo-cleft sentences have been the focus of discussion. Many researchers in linguistics have done research into the thematic structure and information structure of cleft and pseudo-cleft sentences in English based on Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar. However, the author hasn't found a systemic study on thematic structure and information structure of cleft and pseudo-cleft sentences in Chinese. Based on data collected from real texts, this dissertation attempts to present a study on thematic structure and information structure of cleft and pseudo-cleft sentences in Chinese. According to Chen's (2003) classification, cleft sentences are classified into two types: marked and unmarked in this dissertation. A qualitative study of the data gets the following conclusions. In Chinese pseudo-cleft sentences, it is always a nominalization that functions as Theme, and the remainder of the sentence functions as Rheme. Information in Chinese pseudo-cleft sentences always flows from given to new. In Chinese unmarked cleft sentences, Theme is either a predicated Theme or a topical Theme. Information does not always start from given. Focus either functions as predicated Theme or falls within Rheme. Two types of unmarked cleft sentences are observed: sentences with given focus and those with new focus. The former usually occurs at places other than the beginning of a paragraph. It either serves as a linking device in the middle of a paragraph or as a concluding remark at the end of a paragraph. The latter usually occurs at the beginning of a paragraph serving as an opener. In Chinese marked cleft sentences, Theme is a topical Theme, and in most cases is the object of the verb, which explains why most marked cleft sentences are passive. Information always stars from given, but new information always occurs in the middle of the sentence, and then followed by given information. One thing in common of all these types is that in some cleft and pseudo-cleft sentences there seems no constituent conveying new information. In fact, there is still something new in these sentences: the new instantiation of the variable in the presupposition with the focus. The findings of the present study have some applications in research work related to the Chinese language and contrastive linguistics.