Acknowledgements 1
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 The Definition of Abstract Entity Anaphora 2
1.2 Differences between Abstract Entity Anaphora and Other Kinds of Anaphora 6
1.2.1 Abstract Entity Anaphora and Concrete Individual Anaphora 6
1.2.2 Abstract Entity Anaphora,Extended Reference and Text Reference 8
1.2.3 Abstract Entity Anaphora and Deep Anaphora 9
1.2.4 Abstract Entity Anaphora and Associative Anaphora 10
1.3 The Necessity of the Study of Abstract Entity Anaphora in Argumentative Texts 12
1.3.1 The Limitations of the Previous Study of Abstract Entity Anaphora 12
1.3.2 Characteristics of Argumentative Text 14
1.3.3 Argumentative Text and Abstract Entity Anaphora 15
1.4 Research Purpose and Significance 17
1.5 Organization of the Study 18
Chapter 2 Pragmatic Features of Abstract Entity Anaphora 21
2.1 Introduction 21
2.2 The Written Argumentative Data 22
2.2.1 The Sources of the Argumentative Texts 22
2.2.2 The Criteria of Data Collection and the Content of Data Analyses 23
2.2.2.1 The Criteria of the Data Collection 23
2.2.2.1.1 Anaphors 23
2.2.2.1.2 Antecedents 25
2.2.2.2 The Content of Data Analyses 26
2.3 Pragmatic Functions of Abstract Entity Anaphors 27
2.3.1 Recapitulation 27
2.3.2 Obscuration 34
2.3.3 Demarcation 36
2.4 Text Environment of Abstract Entity Anaphora 38
2.4.1 Background 38
2.4.2 Text Environment of English Abstract Entity Anaphora 41
2.4.2.1 Ariel's Work on English Concrete Individual Anaphora 41
2.4.2.2 The Present Study of English Abstract Entity Anaphora 43
2.4.3 Text Environment of Chinese Abstract Entity Anaphora 49
2.4.3.1 The Study of Chinese Concrete Individual Anaphora by许余龙 49
2.4.3.2 The Present Study of Chinese Abstract Entity Anaphora 50
2.4.4 Comparisons between English and Chinese Abstract Entity Anaphora 52
2.5 Pragmatic Tendency of Abstract Entity Anaphora 53
2.6 Backwards Anaphora 58
2.7 Summary 62
Chapter 3 Discourse Structure and Discourse Anaphora 64
3.1 Introduction 64
3.2 Rhetorical Structure Theory(RST)by Mann and Thompson 65
3.2.1 Main Idea 65
3.2.2 Comment 69
3.3 Rhetorical Structure by Fox 70
3.3.1 Main Idea 70
3.3.1.1 Basic Units 70
3.3.1.2 Rhetorical Relations 71
3.3.1.3 Anaphora 72
3.3.2 Comment 75
3.4 Linguistic Discourse Model(LDM)by Polanyi 76
3.4.1 Main Idea 76
3.4.2 Comment 80
3.5 Other Related Studies 83
3.6 Discourse Representation Theory 86
3.6.1 Main Idea 86
3.6.1.1 DRS Construction 86
3.6.1.2 DRT and Anaphora Resolution 89
3.6.2 Comment 91
3.7 Taking Stock 93
Chapter 4 SDRT and Abstract Entity Anaphora 95
4.1 Introduction 95
4.2 Discourse Relations and Topic 96
4.2.1 Discourse Relations 96
4.2.2 Topic 98
4.3 SDRS Construction 100
4.3.1 Determining the Basic Constituents 100
4.3.2 Constraints on Possible Sites for Constituent Attachment 101
4.3.3 SDRS Updating 103
4.3.4 Constituent Revision 107
4.4 SDRT and Abstract Entity Anaphora 110
4.4.1 Constraints on Abstract Entity Anaphora 110
4.4.2 AVAILABILITY and Constituent Revision 114
4.4.2.1 AVAILABILITY and Topic Revision 114
4.4.2.2 AVAILABILITY and Discourse Relation-based Revision 116
4.4.3 More Application to Abstract Entity Anaphora 118
4.4.3.1 Event and Propositional Anaphora 118
4.4.3.2 Concept Anaphora 121
4.4.3.3 Discourse Subordination 124
4.5 Application of SDRT to Chinese Abstract Entity Anaphora 128
4.6 SDRT and Backwards Anaphora 134
4.7 Support from Cognitive Psychology 138
4.7.1 Situation Model 139
4.7.2 Resonance Model 141
4.8 Summary 143
Chapter 5 Inadequacies of SDRT and Suggested Solutions 146
5.1 Introduction 146
5.2 Inadequacies 147
5.2.1 Discourse Relations 147
5.2.2 Topic Construction 148
5.2.3 The Role of the Topic 150
5.2.4 Explicit Referent Identification 151
5.2.5 Implicit Referent Identification 152
5.2.6 Reference Ambiguity Resulting from Double Attachment Sites 153
5.2.7 Long-distance Anaphora 154
5.3 Suggested Solutions 156
5.3.1 Simplification of the Discourse Relations in SDRT 156
5.3.1.1 Background 156
5.3.1.2 Proposed Categorization 160
5.3.1.3 Effect of the Simplification 164
5.3.2 Topic Construction of Binary Structures 166
5.3.3 Topic Dominating Role 172
5.3.4 Explicit Referent Interpretation 174
5.3.4.1 Semantic Information in Anaphoric Sentence 175
5.3.4.2 Semantic Information in the Sentences before the Anaphoric Sentence 180
5.3.4.3 Semantic Information in the Anaphor 181
5.3.5 Proposition Abstraction for Implicit Referent 183
5.3.5.1 Indirectness,Inference and Proposition Abstraction 184
5.3.5.2 Antecedent Types for Proposition Abstraction 186
5.3.5.3 Triggers for Proposition Abstraction 189
5.4 Summary 190
Chapter 6 Processing of Reference Ambiguity and Long-distance Anaphora 192
6.1 Introduction 192
6.2 Solutions to Reference Ambiguity 193
6.2.1 Context and Intension 193
6.2.2 Tendency Investigation 194
6.2.2.1 Background 195
6.2.2.2 Processing Strategies in Three Types of Discourse 197
6.2.2.3 Questionnaire and Procedure 199
6.2.2.4 Results 203
6.2.2.5 Discussion 208
6.2.2.6 Conclusion 211
6.3 Long-distance Anaphora 211
6.3.1 Background 211
6.3.2 Theoretical Bases 213
6.3.2.1 Van Dijk's Superstructure 213
6.3.2.2 Van Eemeren et al.'s Argumentation Structures and Reconstruction 215
6.3.3 Hypothesis Formulation 218
6.3.3.1 Proposed Superstructure of Argumentative Texts 218
6.3.3.2 Hypothesis about the Resolution of Long-distance Anaphora 220
6.3.4 Instances of Application 224
6.3.4.1 Standpoint as the Antecedent 224
6.3.4.2 Question or Background as the Antecedent 227
6.3.4.3 Arguments as the Antecedents 233
6.3.5 The Role of Semantic Chains in Referent Interpretation 239
6.3.5.1 The Role of Semantic Chains 239
6.3.5.2 Psychological Warrant 240
6.4 Summary 242
Chapter 7 Conclusion 245
7.1 Achievements of This Study 245
7.2 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research 250
Appendix 252
Bibliography 257