本专著是作者在其博士论文的基础上修改而成的。该书的创新之处在于确定了抽象实体回指是一种独立于其他回指的形式。她将这种现象作为一种特殊类别的回指处理，研究其语用特征及理解规律，研究方式在采用实证与思辨的有机结合的基础上也有创新，不仅对英语中的抽象实体回指和具体事物回指进行定性与定量分析和比较，而且对汉语中的回指现象也进行了系统的分析比较，侧重思辨，辅以实证，并基于语料中对SDRT理论进行质疑与改进，提出新的解决办法。该书可供各大专院校作为教材使用，也可供从事相关工作的人员作为参考用书使用。

序

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 Introduction

 1.1 The Definition of Abstract Entity Anaphora

 1.2 Differences between Abstract Entity .Anaphora and Other Kinds of Anaphora

1.2.1 Abstract Entity Anaphora and Concrete Individual Anaphora

1.2.2 Abstract Entity Anaphora, Extended Reference and Text Reference

1.2.3 Abstract Entity Anaphora and Deep Anaphora

1.2.4 Abstract Entity Anaphora and Associative Anaphora

 1.3 The Necessity of the Study of Abstract Entity Anaphora in Argumentative Texts

1.3.1 The Limitations of the Previous Study of Abstract Entity Anaphora

1.3.2 Characteristics of Argumentative Text

1.3.3 Argumentative Text and Abstract Entity Anaphora

 1.4 Research Purpose and Significance

 1.5 Organization of the Study

Chapter 2 Pragmatic Features of Abstract Entity Anaphora

 2.1 Introduction

 2.2 The Written Argumentative Data

2.2.1 The Sources of the Argumentative Texts

2.2.2 The Criteria of Data Collection and the Content of Data Analyses

 2.2.2.1 The Criteria of the Data Collection

  2.2.2.1.1 Anaphors

  2.2.2.1.2 Antecedents

 2.2.2.2 The Content of Data Analyses

 2.3 Pragmatic Functions of Abstract Entity Anaphors

2.3.1 Recapitulation

2.3.2 Obscuration

2.3.3 Demarcation

 2.4 Text Environment of Abstract Entity Anaphora

2.4.1 Background

2.4.2 Text Environment of English Abstract Entity Anaphora

 2.4.2.1 Ariel's Work on English Concrete Individual Anaphora

 2.4.2.2 The Present Study of English Abstract Entity Anaphora

2.4.3 Text Environment of Chinese Abstract Entity Anaphora

 2.4.3.1 The Study of Chinese Concrete Individual Anaphora by 许余龙

 2.4.3.2 The Present Study of Chinese Abstract Entity Anaphora

2.4.4 Comparisons between English and Chinese Abstract Entity Anaphora

 2.5 Pragmatic Tendency of Abstract Entity Anaphora

 2.6 Backwards Anaphora

 2.7 Summary

Chapter 3 Discourse Structure and Discourse Anaphora

 3.1 Introduction

 3.2 Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) by Mann and Thompson

3.2.1 Main Idea

3.2.2 Comment

 3.3 Rhetorical Structure by Fox

3.3.1 Main Idea

 3.3.1.1 Basic Units

 3.3.1.2 Rhetorical Relations

 3.3.1.3 Anaphora

3.3.2 Comment

 3.4 Linguistic Discourse Model (LDM) by Polanyi

3.4.1 Main Idea

3.4.2 Comment

 3.5 Other Related Studies

 3.6 Discourse Representation Theory

3.6.1 Main Idea

 3.6.1.1 DRS Construction

 3.6.1.2 DRT and Anaphora Resolution

3.6.2 Comment

 3.7 Taking Stock

Chapter 4 SDRT and Abstract Entity Anaphora

 4.1 Introduction

 4.2 Discourse Relations and Topic

4.2.1 Discourse Relations

4.2.2 Topic

 4.3 SDRS Construction

4.3.1 Determining the Basic Constituents

4.3.2 Constraints on Possible Sites for Constituent Attachment

4.3.3 SDRS Updating

4.3.4 Constituent Revision

 4.4 SDRT and Abstract Entity Anaphora

4.4.1 Constraints on Abstract Entity Anaphora

4.4.2 AVAILABILITY and Constituent Revision

 4.4.2.1 AVAILABILITY and Topic Revision

 4.4.2.2 AVAILABILITY and Discourse Relation-based Revision

4.4.3 More Application to Abstract Entity Anaphora

 4.4.3.1 Event and Propositional Anaphora

 4.4.3.2 Concept Anaphora

 4.4.3.3 Discourse Subordination

 4.5 Application of SDRT to Chinese Abstract Entity Anaphora

 4.6 SDRT and Backwards Anaphora

 4.7 Support from Cognitive Psychology

4.7.1 Situation Model

4.7.2 Resonance Model

 4.8 Summary

Chapter 5 Inadequacies of SDRT and Suggested Solutions

 5.1 Introduction

 5.2 Inadequacies

5.2.1 Discourse Relations

5.2.2 Topic Construction

5.2.3 The Role of the Topic

5.2.4 Explicit Referent Identification

5.2.5 Implicit Referent Identification

5.2.6 Reference Ambiguity Resulting from Double Attachment Sites

5.2.7 Long-distance Anaphora

 5.3 Suggested Solutions

5.3.1 Simplification of the Discourse Relations in SDRT

 5.3.1.1 Background

 5.3.1.2 Proposed Categorization

 5.3.1.3 Effect of the Simplification

5.3.2 Topic Construction of Binary Structures

5.3.3 Topic Dominating Role

5.3.4 Explicit Referent Interpretation

 5.3.4.1 Semantic Information in Anaphoric Sentence

 5.3.4.2 Semantic Information in the Sentences before the Anaphoric Sentence

 5.3.4.3 Semantic Information in the Anaphor

5.3.5 Proposition Abstraction for Implicit Referent

 5.3.5.1 Indirectness, Inference and Proposition Abstraction

 5.3.5.2 Antecedent Types for Proposition Abstraction

 5.3.5.3 Triggers for Proposition Abstraction

 5.4 Summary

Chapter 6 Processing of Reference Ambiguity and Long-distance Anaphora

 6.1 Introduction

 6.2 Solutions to Reference Ambiguity

6.2.1 Context and Intension

6.2.2 Tendency Investigation

 6.2.2.1 Background

 6.2.2.2 Processing Strategies in Three Types of Discourse

 6.2.2.3 Questionnaire and Procedure

 6.2.2.4 Results

 6.2.2.5 Discussion

 6.2.2.6 Conclusion

 6.3 Long-distance Anaphora

6.3.1 Background

6.3.2 Theoretical Bases

 6.3.2.1 Van Dijk's Superstructure

 6.3.2.2 Van Eemeren et al.'s Argumentation Structures and Reconstruction

6.3.3 Hypothesis Formulation

 6.3.3.1 Proposed Superstructure of Argumentative Texts

 6.3.3.2 Hypothesis about the Resolution of Long-distance Anaphora

6.3.4 Instances of Application

 6.3.4.1 Standpoint as the Antecedent

 6.3.4.2 Question or Background as the Antecedent

 6.3.4.3 Arguments as the Antecedents

6.3.5 The Role of Semantic Chains in Referent Interpretation

 6.3.5.1 The Role of Semantic Chains

 6.3.5.2 Psychological Warrant

 6.4 Summary

Chapter 7 Conclusion

 7.1 Achievements of This Study

 7.2 Limitations and Suggestions for Future Research

Appendix

Bibliography