英文摘要 |
Both “suiran” and “jinguan” are commonly considered synonymous functions words in modern Mandarin Chinese. The researcher of this pragmatics study argues that “suiran” and “jinguan” are slightly different from each other as a result of grammaticalization. The subordinate clause beginning with “suiran” or “jinguan” expresses background information, while the main clause expresses the fact or conclusion the language user intends to assert. When the speaker or writer takes a presumption of the background information in mind and the presumption is contrary to the proposition of the main clause, “suiran” is used to set the presumption as background information and express the contrast between the presumption and conclusion by inference. If the speaker or writer considers an objective fact as a condition and important background information of an assertion, he/she uses “jinguan” to indicate that fac |