Anaphoric resolution of zero pronouns in Chinese in translation and reading comprehension
The primary aim of the thesis is to investigate some of the processes of reading Chinese text by means of comparing and analysing approximately 100 parallel translations of four texts from Chinese to English. The translations are answers to A Level examination questions. The focus of the investigation is interpretation of the zero pronoun, a common phenomenon in Chinese, which often requires explicitation when translated into English. The secondary aim is to show how translation give evidence of comprehension, as shown by the variation in interpretation of zero pronouns. The thesis reviews relevant psycholinguistic research into reading, particularly reading of Chinese text. This is followed by reviews of relevant research into translation as a reading activity, and a discussion of its role in language teaching and testing. The core of the thesis is the discussion of the zero pronoun in Chinese, including discussion of anaphoric choice - the writerâs decision on when to use zero in preference to an explicit anaphoric form - and of anaphoric resolution - how a reader decides what a zero pronoun refers to. Anaphoric resolution may be problematic for less experienced readers of Chinese owing to its lack of
Pellatt, Valerie
Anaphoric resolution of zero pronouns in Chinese in translation and reading comprehension. The primary aim of the thesis is to investigate some of the processes of reading Chinese text by means of comparing and analysing approximately 100 parallel translations of four texts from Chinese to English. The translations are answers to A Level examination questions. The focus of the investigation is interpretation of the zero pronoun, a common phenomenon in Chinese, which often requires explicitation when translated into English. The secondary aim is to show how translation give evidence of comprehension, as shown by the variation in interpretation of zero pronouns. The thesis reviews relevant psycholinguistic research into reading, particularly reading of Chinese text. This is followed by reviews of relevant research into translation as a reading activity, and a discussion of its role in language teaching and testing. The core of the thesis is the discussion of the zero pronoun in Chinese, including discussion of anaphoric choice - the writerâs decision on when to use zero in preference to an explicit anaphoric form - and of anaphoric resolution - how a reader decides what a zero pronoun refers to. Anaphoric resolution may be problematic for less experienced readers of Chinese owing to its lack of
anaphoric resolution zero pronouns chinese_translation read_comprehension primary_aim investigate process read chinese text mean compare analyse parallel translation texts chinese_english translation answer level examination question focus investigation interpretation zero pronoun common phenomenon chinese often require explicitation translate_english secondary_aim show translation give evidence comprehension show variation interpretation zero pronoun review_relevant psycholinguistic reading particularly read chinese text follow review_relevant translation reading activity discussion role language_teach test core discussion zero pronoun chinese include_discussion anaphoric choice writer decision use zero preference explicit anaphoric form anaphoric resolution reader decide zero pronoun refers anaphoric resolution may problematic less experienced reader chinese owe lack