A Schema-theretic Study Of Chinese Newspaper Editorials

Schema theory studies the structure in semantic memory that specifies the general or expected arrangement of information. The theory holds that people must correlate the new information they receive with their schemata so as to evoke understanding of the imported information. We use schemata not just to interpret information but also to decode how that information is presented. Schemata can be reflected in text structures, for example (Halliday and Hasan, 1985).Most of the schema-theoretic studies are concerned with story schema. However, there are also some studies on non-literature discourses. This thesis paper presented here is one focusing on analyzing the schemata of the editorials in an authoritative Chinese newspaper: People's Daily, published from 1998 to September, 2004. There are altogether 216 editorials and they are divided into six groups according to their subjects. The analysis starts from the editorials in each group, and based on the schema of each group, we conclude the universal schema of all these editorials.The study proves the validity of the schema theory and provides a reference for the schema comparison study between literature discourse and non-literature discourse, and between English editorials and Chinese editorials. The schemata found in this thesis paper may help people to read Chinese editorials in an effective and efficient way.This thesis paper is divided into five chapters. The author first states the purpose and significance of the study, and generally discusses the value of schema theory in psycholinguistics. Then the author discusses the evolution of schema theory and explains the reasons of adopting schema theory as the analytical tool. Some previous researches on the English editorial's schemata within different theoretical frames are also introduced.The heart of the thesis paper is Chapter 4, in which we analyze the editorials' schemata of different subjects group by group. With a lot of interesting and convincing examples, the schematic elements are revealed one by one.