Analysing Chinese language and discourse across layers and genres/ edited by Wei Wang.

Includes bibliographical references and index."Aspirational and expanding, this book examines contemporary Chinese language and discourse across a spectrum of linguistic layers and genres in diverse social contexts. Addressing issues ranging from the usual focus on language per se, or language use in reaction to the immediate settings, to the connections between properties of texts and social practices (ideologies, stancetaking, power relations, etc.), the updated and exemplary research projects presented in the volume demonstrates a developing trajectory of research in Chinese language and discourse. With its empirical focus and stress on the role of language and discourse in social practice, this important new book discusses various language features as well as gender, stancetaking, and identity in Chinese discourse. This is a vital discussion for anyone interested in contemporary Chinese language and discourse studies. In examination of different layers of language (i.e. from lexical items and sentence structures to discourse features and discursive practices) across different genres of texts, the research projects have drawn on a variety of linguistic approaches and methodologies, including functional linguistics, applied linguistics, sociolinguistics and various approaches to discourse analysis. Researchers and students of Chinese linguistics, sociolinguistics, discourse studies, translation studies, and China studies in general will find this volume an indispensable reference and an enjoyable read"--Intro -- Analysing Chinese Language and Discourse across Layers and Genres -- Editorial page -- Title page' -- Copyright page -- Table of contents -- Acknowledgements -- List of contributors -- Chapter 1. Researching the Chinese language and discourse: Past and present -- Structure of the book -- The first section 'Chinese language studies' (Chapters 2-6) -- The second section 'Chinese discourse studies' (Chapters 7-9) -- The third section 'Chinese translation studies' (Chapters 10-12) -- References -- Chapter 2. The distribution of null subjects in Chinese discourse: A centering approachIntroduction -- The typology of null subjects in Chinese -- Referential null subject -- Non-referential null subject -- Overview of centering theory -- Centers -- Transitions -- Constraints and rules -- Specifying centering parameters in Chinese -- Utterance -- Discourse segment -- Cf ranking -- Rule 1 -- Rule 2 -- Corpus and method -- Results and analysis: The distributions of null subjects and their antecedents -- The distribution of null subjects -- The distribution of antecedents -- The distribution of null subjects by transition types -- Conclusions -- ReferencesConclusion -- References -- Chapter 7. Understanding stancetaking through gestures and linguistic practices in a public political debate in Hong Kong -- Background of the study -- Methodology -- Gesture analysis -- Stancetaking and the stance triangle -- Data -- Findings -- Individual speech -- Analyzing the individual speech with the Stance Triangle -- Interim summary for stancetaking in individual speech -- The debate between Alvin Yeung and Holden Chow -- Analyzing the debate with the Stance Triangle -- Interim summary for the debate -- Conclusion -- Acknowledgements -- References1 online resourc