Topic-Related Variation in Discourse: A Sociolinguistic Analysis

摘要虽然大多数学者都认为“话题”可以被定义为“信息是关于什么的”，但话题仍然是语言学中最不被理解的概念之一。本研究的总体目标是整合不同类型和不同层次的话题：实体话题、命题话题、文本话题、说话人话题和互动话题。该方法将分析语言使用的变化如何与话题相关。重点将集中在小句顺序的变化(主从句之间)，所指术语的变化，以及这些语言变体如何在语篇和互动中定位。由于话题的实现依赖于社会性、表现性和指代性的交际过程，因此还将分析小句顺序和指称术语中与话题相关的变化如何与说话人的社会身份(社会阶层和性别)相关。本研究在以下几个方面与以往的话题分析有所不同：1)本研究旨在整合五种不同类型和层次的话题；2)本研究包括对实体和命题的信息状态以及话题状态的分析；3)语料在语篇模式方面的多样化；4)对主题编码的语篇本身进行分析；5)本研究考察了话题编码的社会差异。该项目与主题、信息状态、语言变异、句法和语篇以及语言使用中的社会差异的研究有关。它对变异理论和分析以及我们对语篇连贯的理解也有一定的启示。最后，它将提供互动和相关社会语言学之间的联系，并有助于协调形式语言学和功能语言学的关注点。

ABSTRACT Although most scholars agree that "topic" may be defined as "what a message is about", topic is still one of the least understood concepts in linguistics. The general objective of this study is to integrate different types and levels of topic: entity, proposition, text, speaker, and interactive topics. The method will be to analyze how variation in language use is related to topic. The focus will be on variation in clause order (between main and subordinate clauses), and variation in referring terms, and how such linguistic variants are situated in discourse and interaction. Because topic realization depends on communicative processes that are social and expressive, as well as referential, there will also be an analysis of how topic- related variation in clause order, and in referring terms, is related to speakers' social identity (social class and gender). The study differs from past analyses of topic in several ways: 1) the study aims to integrate five different types and levels of topic; 2) the study includes an analysis of the information status, as well as the topic status, of entities and propositions; 3) the data are diversified in terms of discourse mode; 4) the discourse in which topics are encoded is itself analyzed; 5) the study examines social differences in the encoding of topic. The project is relevant to the study of topic, information status, linguistic variation, syntax and discourse, and social differences in language use. It also has implications for variation theory and analysis, and our understanding of discourse coherence. Finally, it will provide connections between interactional and correlational sociolinguistics, and help align the concerns of formal and functional linguistics.