A Study of Emphatic Structures in Discourse : Relevance Theoretic and Cognitive Approach

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The aim of this study is to investigate English and Japanese emphatic structures in discourse and elucidate functional and pragmatic principles governing the behavior of them, and to build a database of English and Japanese emphatic structures in discourse. Specific results of the researches are as follows :1. After discussing inadequacies of previous literature on Japanese emphatic structures, specifically Japanese ga-clefts, I have demonstrated that foreground information and back-ground information which are stipulated in the framework of Relevance Theory, are closely related to the behavior of ga-clefts in discourse. The outcome of this study is published in Kato (1999)[International Journal of Pragmatics, vol.9].2. I have extensively examined functions of ga-clefts in discourse in the framework of relevance Theory and proposed that ga-clefts are further classified into three subcategories : (a) anterior-foreground ga-clefts, (b) posterior-foreground ga-clefts, and (c) foreground ga-clefts. The results of this research are published in Kato (2000)[UCL Working Papers in Lin-guistics, vol.12], and Kato (2001)[Interface of Meaning and Form].3. Accumulated data of ga-clefts and English clefts from Japanese and English newspapers and magazines are stored as a database of clefts constructions Japanese and English in a personal computer, which will be open to public through internet.