Chinese Rhetoric and Writing - An Introduction for Language Teachers, 2012a

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Chapter 7 Inductive-Deductive Reasoning (yangui xing) 1 General statement (zonglun) 2 Individual arguments (fenlun) Conclusion (jielun) In his summing up of methods of reasoning and textual organisation in Chinese, Wu concludes, using a typical “because-therefore” sequence (135), “Because in real life cause precedes effect, therefore to place the reason at the front (of the argument) also accords with logic.” This statement nicely encapsulates the main point we have been making, which is that Chinese prefers to follow this frame-main or because-therefore sequence in a wide range of texts, from the sentence level through complex clauses and to the level of discourse and text. This principle of rhetorical organisation is fundamental to Chinese rhetoric and writing, although it by no means excludes other types of rhetorical organisation. SUMMARY The following principles of rhetorical organisation have been identified and illustrated in this chapter. (i) (ii) The “because-therefore” sequence operates at levels of discourse as well as at sentence level. It represents an important sequencing principle in MSC. For example, when MSC speakers are justifying a claim, they commonly posit the reasons for the claim before making it, following a “frame-main” sequence. The “because-therefore” sequence can be recursive. This rhetorical structure is more likely to occur in planned speech than in spontaneous speech. Although, in more planned speech, the use of the because and therefore connectors is comparatively uncommon, a therefore connector, either suoyi or yinci is common, but not obligatory, when its communicative purpose is to signal a summary statement. 140
Principles of Sequencing and Rhetorical Organisation This rhetorical structure is represented in the diagram. BECAUSE x n +THEREFORE x n THEREFORE. (iii) In more spontaneous speech, enveloping is likely. When this occurs a “because-therefore” unit can act as a “pregnant” unit and contain a number of lower level units within it. These lower level units can themselves be lower level “because-therefore” units. In more spontaneous speech, where there is enveloping, connectors are more common. This structure is represented in the diagram. BECAUSE [LOWER LEVEL UNITS] THEREFORE (iv) (v) (vi) The structures in (ii) and (iii) can be used in combination. In addition to acting as sentence level connectors, both the “because” and the “therefore” connectors can act as discourse markers. They can introduce and control a series so that “because x n” and “therefore x n” are possible sequences. The presence of explicit “because” and “therefore” discourse markers is less likely in formal planned speech than in informal and more unplanned discourse. To date, we have suggested that Chinese traditionally followed a logical or natural order and that this is a fundamental principle of rhetorical organisation in Chinese. This logical order is contrasted with the preference English shows for salient ordering, where the important part of the message is presented early. This principle results in Chinese preferring sequences such as topic-comment, whole-part, big-small, modifier-modified, subordinate–main, and frame-main. We have called these the unmarked or preferred sequences in Chinese. This is not to say, however, that classical Chinese did not allow marked sequences in certain circumstances. A significant increase in the use of marked sequences, such as main–subordinate in modern Chinese is, nevertheless, largely the result of the influence upon Chinese of the rhetorical organisation and clause structure present in Western languages. 141
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CHINESE RHETORIC AND WRITING AN INT
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PERSPECTIVES ON WRITING Series Edit
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The WAC Clearinghouse, Fort Collins
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CHINESE RHETORIC AND WRITING: AN IN
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Introduction that there are more sp
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Introduction in Beijing, where he a
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Introduction Chapter 1 also demonst
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Introduction common, along with the
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Chapter 1 called various branches o
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Chapter 1 plea, or speech, into eit
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Chapter 1 the temple and the hall,
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Chapter 1 were used to successively
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Chapter 1 from Emperor to subject,
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Chapter 1 getting confused, who soa
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Chapter 1 similarities of the advic
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Chapter 1 to create an environment
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2 THE LITERARY BACKGROUND AND RHETO
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Literary Background and Rhetorical
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3 THE RULES OF WRITING 9 IN MEDIEVA
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The Rules of Writing In Medieval Ch
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Chapter 4 we shall argue, using con
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Chapter 4 The baguwen has been call
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Chapter 4 The Baguwen: A Traditiona
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Chapter 4 Way at the right time; th
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Chapter 4 pianwen and guwen styles.
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Chapter 4 he has written himself in
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Chapter 4 Links between a computer
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Chapter 10 UNIVERSITY WRITING COURS
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Chapter 10 but a weak and incompati
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Chapter 10 writing process, for exa
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Chapter 10 and task for 2000 was a
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Chapter 10 writing compositions] is
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Chapter 10 common for non-Chinese m
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Conclusion BECAUSE x n +THEREFORE x
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Conclusion current lack of an accep
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Works Cited Chafe, Wallace L. “Gi
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Works Cited “Four Examination Ess
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Works Cited Kirkpatrick, Andy. “A
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Works Cited Ma, Zhengping. Advanced
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Works Cited Sun, Shaozhen. “Prefa
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Works Cited Yang, Ling, and David C
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NOTES This chronological division
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Chinese Rhetoric and Writing (biogr
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