The Compairson Of The Models Of Theme-Rheme Progression In Classical And Contemporary Chinese Discources

The aim of this project is to investigate the principles of theme-rheme analyzingof discourses written in the archaic and contemporary Chinese languages; is to ravelwhich models of theme-rheme progression can be met in archaic Chinese discoursesand which models of theme-rheme progression are suitable for describing thestructure of contemporary Chinese discourses; is to classify the main models oftheme-rheme progression (namely, free pattern; linear thematic progression andmixed pattern); and is to compare the structure and cohesive devices of discourseswritten in ancient and contemporary Chinese languages.As for ancient Chinese language materials, the majority of the examples is takenfrom 《Mencius》,《The great learning》,《The Doctrine of the Mean》,《Classic ofthe Virtue and Tao》,《Analects of Confucius》,《Chuang Tzu》. The majority ofmodern Chinese discourses is taken from《Xiao Ai》 written by Eileen Chang.The theoretical foundation of this project is Theme-Rheme progression theory.Its priority belongs to Czech linguists—Mathesius, Firbas and Danes. According tothis theory, the first step of discourse analysis is to resolve all simple sentences thatbelong to the discourse into two parts: theme and rheme; the second step is todetermine the model of theme-rheme progression that complies with the structure ofthe analyzed discourse.Chapter1deals with following aspects: the purpose and significance of theresearch; the description of language materials and methods, used for the research;the train of thoughts and the content of the research and literature review on this topic.Chapter2investigates the structure of discourses written in Archaic Chinese.The first step is to definite the principles of decomposing various types of simple andcomplex sentences into theme and rheme. After that the paper deals with analyzingthe main models of theme-rheme progression, namely: free pattern, alternatingprogression, progression with constant rheme, the pattern with the omission of theabove theme, the pattern with the omission of the rheme, symmetry pattern,intersecting pattern, question and answer pattern, linear thematic progression andmixed pattern. Three models of theme-rheme progression are classified.Chapter3analyses the structure of discourses written in modern Chinese. Firstly,the principles of decomposing various types of simple and complex sentences arediscussed. Then various models of theme-rheme progression are analyzed. Threemodels are classified.Chapter4compares characteristic features of discourses written in ancient andmodern Chinese. Apart from the symmetry pattern, that is characteristic only forancient Chinese, all other models can be found in discourses written in both the abovelanguages.The following text discusses the phenomenon that is characteristic for three typesof sentenses written in both languages. The phenomenon is that these sentences aremade by using one of three models of theme-rheme progression. The principles ofconnecting simple sentences into discourse are used to connect theme and rhemewhich belong to simple sentence. This phenomenon is characteristic for both ancientand modern Chinese languages and is not characteristic for Indo-European languages.The main characteristic feature of the discourses written in Archaic Chinese ishorizontal, vertical and diagonal symmetry. Symmetry means that theme-rhemeelements have the same grammatical structure in horizontal (vertical, diagonal)orientations. The majority of discourses has both vertical and horizontal symmetry or only vertical symmetry or at the same time has vertical, horizontal and diagonalsymmetry or only diagonal symmetry. In a word, horizontal, vertical and diagonalsymmetry is the chief method of organizing ancient Chinese discourses.Discourses written in contemporary Chinese partly reserve vertical symmetry orare not symmetric entirely. The chief method of organizing modern Chinesediscourses is to use lexical and grammatical cohesive devices (reiteration, synonymy,antonymy; omission of theme, reference ets.).Chapter4also discusses similarities and differences between cohesive devicesused in both discourses (oneness of cohesive devices and their variety; associativecohesion; the frequency of using synonyms as cohesive device; the omission oftheme).Chapter5deals with applying Theme-Rheme progression theory to the process ofteaching russian students classical and contemporary Chinese. This theory can beused to explain grammatical phenomena; to improve students’ skills in Chinesewriting and reading; to explain the algorithm of putting in order sentences that shouldconstruct a discourse and to make the process of learning ancient Chinese prose byheart easier for students.Chapter6includes the conclusions of this project, its innovative points, theinsufficient respects and a look forward to the future research.The appendix contains a correlation table which compares the models oftheme-rheme progression used in discourses written in ancient and modern Chinese,English and Russian languages. The significance of this table is that Theme-Rhemeprogression theory lets us compare and contrast cohesive devices and structures ofdiscourses written in languages that do not only have different types but also belongto different historical stages.The main creating points of the project1) Theme-rheme progression theory is used to analyze the structure and cohesive devices of discourses written in Pre-Qin Chinese.2) The project compares the structure and cohesive devices of discourses writtenin archaic and modern Chinese.3) The chief models of Theme-Rheme progression in ancient and modernChinese discourses are classified.4) The project demonstrates that Theme-Rheme progression theory is suitablenot only for describing the structure of discourses written in languagesheaving different types, but is also suitable for describing languages, thatbelong to different historical stages.The scientific significance of the project1) Theme-Rheme progression theory is suitable for describing the structure ofarchaic Chinese discourses.2)The chief method of organizing Archaic Chinese discourses is vertical,horizontal and diagonal symmetry of Theme-Rheme elements; while the chiefmethod of creating ancient Chinese discourses is to use lexical and grammaticalcohesive devices.The practical value of the project is that the achievements of the investigation canbe used in the process of teaching ancient and modern Chinese languages and in theprocess of translating ancient and modern Chinese texts.