1. Textual CA and pragmatic CA are macro-contrastive analysis (宏观对比分析) and fall within the domain of macrolinguistics (宏观语言学). How does the goal of macrolinguistics differ from microlinguistics?
2. What defining features (i.e. essential characteristics) does a text have? What will happen if a piece of spoken or written language fails to comply with any of those defining features?
3. What is cohesion? Through what semantic connections is semantic cohesion (语义接应) realized? Through what structural devices is structural cohesion (结构接应) achieved?
4. Backward reference is called anaphoric reference (前指) while forward or anticipatory reference is known as cataphoric reference (后指). Analyze the linguistic basis of the following humor from the point of view of anaphoric reference and cataphoric reference:
Co-worker: So you’re the father of twins. Who do they look like?”
Excited father: Each other.
5. The use of formal markers as and, besides, however, instead; so, because, then, lastly, now, anyway, etc. to link sentences and constructions together is known as “conjunction” (连接). Related to conjunction (连接) is a remarkable contrast between English and Chinese in their textual structure. While hypotaxis (形合 [式连接]) (using connecting words to link up related clauses and constructions) is a norm governing English texts, parataxis (意合 [式连接]) (using no connecting words to link up related clauses and constructions) characterizes many Chinese texts. Translate the following sentences into Chinese or English, paying regard to the paratactic feature of Chinese textual structure and the hypotactic feature of English textual structure:
吃水不忘打井人。
前途是光明的，道路是曲折的。
水能载舟，亦能覆舟。
天气寒冷，河水都结冰了。
他不来， 我不走。
“If winter comes, can spring be far behind?” (Shelley)
He had to take a long rest from work.
Urgent business prevented me form coming to class.
We give 10% discount for cash payment.
It is evident that he lied.
6. In textual CA, information structure (信息结构) refers to the use of word order, intonation (语调), stress (重音), and other devices to indicate how the message expressed by a sentence is to be understood. Two pairs of key notions related to information structure are Theme (主位) vs. Rheme (述位), and Topic (话题) vs. Comment (议论). Use examples to illustrate these notions.
7. Is there anything wrong with B’s answer to A’s question in the following dialog? Analyze the problem from the point of view of thematic progression:
A: Who switched off the lights?
B: What Mary did was switch off the lights.
8. The process by which the normal sequence of Theme-Rheme (主述位) in a sentence is reversed and hence a marked Theme effect achieved is known as topicalization (话题化) or thematic fronting. A sentence structure characterized by thematically fronted rheme is called topic structure (话题结构). Topicalization is allowed in both English and Chinese and both the two languages have devices for fronting rhemes to form topic structures. However, English is generally asserted to be a subject-prominent language (主语突出语言) while Chinese a topic-prominent language (话题突出语言)? Explain why this is so.
9. What is textual coherence (连贯统一)? Why does a text need to be coherent as well as cohesive?
10. Different languages conventionally use different ways to organize concepts and propositions into an organic whole (i.e. a text) to convey a specific meaning. While English texts are characterized by linear organization and development, texts produced by Chinese and other Eastern peoples (e.g. Korean and Japanese) are characteristically circuitous in their way of expressing ideas. What implications does this fact may have for rendition between and writing in English and Chinese?