Zero Anaphora In Chinese Prose

This thesis discusses zero anaphora in Chinese prose from the perspective of syntax and semantics. As to intrasentential zero subjects, the semantics of the first verb determines the choice of the referents of zero forms. The syntactic structure of each clause and the semantic layers of the clauses within the discourse matter a lot in the choice of referents of intersentential zero subjects and zero objects. It also studies zero attributives and finds that"frame noun"is an important concept which will determine the prediction and recovery of zero attributives.Introduction raises the research questions and elaborates the motivation for this topic. Chapter one reviews the major previous studies on zero anaphora in Chinese. Chapter two explores the prediction and recovery of zero subjects. We find that the previous approaches to explain intrasentential zero subjects from syntactic and pragmatic perspectives can not convincingly account for many cases appearing in our database. We tentatively propose the prediction and recovery principles of intersentential zero subjects. Chapter three demonstrates the prediction and recovery of zero objects. Chapter four illustrates the prediction and recovery of zero attributives, and also tentatively puts forward the principles of predicting and recovering zero attributives. Conclusion summarizes the major findings and limitations of the thesis.By investigating zero anaphora in Chinese prose, we find that zero anaphora in Chinese is an extremely complicated phenomenon. Syntax and semantics provide the basis for the readers and hearers to understand a discourse, so the prediction and recovery of zero anaphora is also based on syntax and semantics. Hopefully, this study could make some contribution to the understanding of zero anaphora in Chinese.