Prosody and the information functions of Topic in spoken Chinese according to Language into Act Theory

This research, framed within the Language into Act Theory (L-AcT; Cresti 2000), presents an initial analysis with both qualitative and quantitative data on Topics derived from a new, spontaneous spoken Chinese corpus (C-ORAL-ZHONG). C-ORAL-ZHONG encompasses formal and informal communication exchanges and is structured to capture dia-phasic and dia-stratic variation. The recordings in the corpus are transcribed into Chinese characters and Pinyin, aligning text and sound for each utterance. They are systematically annotated according to the L-AcT tagset and translated into Italian and English. The Topic is defined as an information unit functioning as the field of application of the illocutionary force, necessarily performed through a dedicated prosodic unit. Prosodic analysis, indeed, reveals that the Topic is systematically marked through a prefix unit, signalled by prosodic reset, pauses, or sentence-final particles. The methodology enables the provision of quantitative data. Topics play a crucial role in information structuring, occurring in nearly 20% of the reference units. This finding aligns with the traditional assumption that Chinese is a Topic-prominent language, as posited in earlier studies (Li & Thompson 1976). Examining the morphosyntactic constituents filling the Topics indicates a predominance of noun phrases (58%) and clauses (over 20%), confirming previous findings (Morbiato 2020). Considering the semantic nature of Topics, the distinctions between referential (87.8%) and modal (12.2%) Topics, and the Given (71.2%)/ New (28.8%) Topics, reveal quantitative correlations. The semantic complexity of Topics in Chinese spontaneous speech contributes to a more nuanced understanding of discourse structure and meaning.