The aim of this thesis is to investigate the discourse function of connectives in Chinese narratives. It is found that connectives , being a kind of cohesive ties , operate at different levels of discourse as boundary markers. The present study also

points out that the occurrences of Chinese connectives are governed by semantic relatedness and discourse structure of the connected discourse units.

Chinese connectives are classified on the basis of their meanings into four categories. In describing the positions of the four types of connectives in discourse , the author asserts that Chinese discourse is hierarchically composed of recursive micro-structures and macro-structures , with units occuring at a lower level exhibiting tighter connection. The four categories of connectives occur in discourse to link units at different levels.

Additives , with the meaning of “in addition” , generally occur within topic chain to link micro-structures. Causals, which serve to connect expressions bearing causal relations , are mostly used at the connections of micro-structures and less

frequently to link macro-structures. Adversatives, which mean "contrast" or "contrariness" , occur at the connections of macrostructures where discourse usually shifts to a different view point. Temporals , indicating temporal sequence , may be used either to link micro-structural expressions of events or actions or to mark shifts of the temporal settings at macro-structural level.

The above findings are verified with a quantitive analysis of topic continuity which is proposed to be the indicator of semantic relatedness. The quantative analysis reveals that additives are associated with high topic continuity , and causals , adversatives and temporals are related to low continuity.

The thesis also includes an experiment on empirical validity of the findings. The results of the test show that the conclusion proposed in this study adequately describes the native speakers ' competence in using Chinese connectives to organize

discourse.

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