Information load and discourse anaphora: a comparison between Spanish and mandarin Chinese

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35622/j.ro.2024.02.001

Keywords:

discursive anaphora, informational load, Mandarin Chinese, competition, Spanish

Abstract

The referential nature of noun phrases is a subject that has been widely discussed in linguistic circles, an issue that is also controversial. This paper analyzes the information load and discourse anaphora using the competition approach and makes a comparison between Spanish and Mandarin. The cross-language comparison confirms that although there are some differences in referential forms, nominal syntagma with incomplete description is often anaphoric in the two languages, because they are expressions with less information and are more dependent on context. In discourse anaphora, people have a natural preference for these less burdened expressions because they can restore the attributes contained in the referents in a more economical way.

Author Biographies

  • Yufei Cao, Shanghai International Studies University

    Yufei Cao is a Professor and Coordinator of the Department of Spanish of the School of European and Latin American Studies at Shanghai International Studies University. She obtained her PhD in 2012 through the joint doctoral programme between Shanghai International Studies University and the University of Alcalá. Her main research interests are Spanish linguistics and language policies in Spanish-speaking countries. In recent years, Dr Cao has edited five textbooks and monographs and published more than 30 papers at home and abroad, many of which have been indexed in SSCI and A&HCI.

  • Yiwen Ding, Shanghai International Studies University

    Yiwen Ding is a PhD student in Applied Linguistics and Foreign Language Linguistics at Shanghai International Studies University. She completed her Master's degree in Hispanic Philology at the same university with a thesis on the acquisition of pragmatic competence by Chinese students of Spanish. With a special focus on comparative linguistics, her research interests include the syntax-semantics interface, pragmatics and language acquisition.

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Published

2024-06-17

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 2 (2024)

Section

Original articles (linguistics)

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Yufei Cao, Yiwen Ding (Autor/a)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Cao, Y., & Ding, Y. (2024). Information load and discourse anaphora: a comparison between Spanish and mandarin Chinese. Orkopata. Revista De Lingüística, Literatura Y Arte, 3(2), 7-22. https://doi.org/10.35622/j.ro.2024.02.001

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