Chinese Sentence Groups

Taking a systematic approach, this book studies the sentence group as an intermediate linguistic unit between the sentence and the paragraph. It covers its definition, characteristics, classifications, construction and segmentation, and its pedagogical and research applications across theoretical and applied linguistics.

The book makes several significant contributions. Firstly, it provides a rigorous definition of the sentence group and identifies six defining characteristics. Secondly, it develops a multidimensional classification system encompassing twelve structural relations, six functional types and the distinction between single-layer and multi-layer. Thirdly, it examines internal and external cohesion between adjacent groups alongside internal and external segmentation procedures. Fourthly, it demonstrates the pedagogical value of sentence groups in grammar-rhetorical instruction, language skill training and logic teaching. Fifthly, it explores the explanatory power of sentence groups in both theoretical and applied research. Finally, it surveys Chinese and international research traditions, revealing a consensus on the need for a unit intermediate between a sentence and a paragraph.

Written for linguists, researchers and students of Chinese grammar, discourse analysis, applied linguistics, language pedagogy, natural language processing and artificial intelligence, this book will be of interest to anyone concerned with discourse-level phenomena. It will also benefit language teachers and educators involved in the teaching of first and second languages.