A Study Of Modern Chinese Contracted Sentences Under The Perspective Of Prosodic Grammar And Stylistic-register Grammar

This dissertation takes modern Chinese contracted sentences as the research object.Based on previous studies,we adopting the research methods of the minimal pairs,a combination of description and interpretation,and a combination of prediction and verification,explore the function of transforming the sentence pattern which includes the prosodic requirement of“one sentence,one predicate,one intoneme(句调)”in colloquial Chinese grammar and the theorem of“one sentence,one intoneme”as a register atomic.That is to shorten the standard length of compound sentences(deleting the phrasal intonation(语调)boundary between the two clauses prosodically and deleting the Conj P layer syntactically)in colloquial Chinese grammar to transform them into contracted sentences.In Chapter 3,we first put forward a contracting rule of modern Chinese contracted sentences,including the changes in sentence structure before and after the contracting and three conditions which must be followed about prosody,size and semantics.In Chapter 4,we prove that the primary mechanical conditions for contracted sentences’ generation are “one sentence,one predicate,one intoneme” and the theorem of “one sentence,one intoneme” : based on the theory of prosodic grammar,we demonstrate the inevitability of using contracted sentences in Chinese colloquial communication;based on the theory of Stylistic-register Grammar,we demonstrate the correspondence of contracted sentences as one of the linguistic distance forms and the function of the colloquial stylistic-register,as well as the correspondence of compound sentences as one of the linguistic distance forms and the function of the formal stylistic-register,from which we prove the proposed contracting rules and the stylistic-register distribution of the contracted sentences.In Chapter 5,we point out the synchronous relationship between the contracting continuum and the derivation of contracted sentences,distinguish two kinds of contracted sentences with the standard of the same and different clausal subjects and point out the limitation of the latter’s contracting degree.Then we diagram the syntactic derivation process from compound sentences to contracted sentences.Finally,in Chapter 6,we verify the mismatched situations between contracted sentences-compound sentences and their stylistic-register distribution,and it is confirmed that they conforms to the theoretical predictions of the proposed contracting rules and stylistic-register grammar.This dissertation points out the root causes and contracting rules of contracted sentences,confirms the restriction of “one sentence,one predicate,one intoneme” in colloquial communication,and the role of the theorem of “one sentence,one intoneme” in creating linguistic distance forms and stylistic-register grammar.It provides evidence to prove that the “three-legged grammar” including prosodic phonology,stylistic-register grammar and formal syntax is the universal grammatical framework in human languages.We also discuss how the derivation of contracted sentences answer the question of dividing single sentences and compound sentences,and its significance of constructing a Chinese sentence pattern system.