本研究主要探討在英文敘述文和論說文文本中，英文限定關係子句的篇章功能(discourse functions)。我們主要是從句法、語意、語用和篇章結構(discourse structure)的觀點，來探討限定性關係子句的功能與它在篇章單位(discourse unit)所出現的位置有何關聯。研究結果顯示多數的限定性關係子句出現在篇章單位最前面的位置，而且他們往往引導他們新的先行詞(new head NPs)作為整個篇章單位的主題(topic)。因此我們認為，大多數限定性關係子句會出現在篇章單位最前面的位置，是因為它們有一個很重要的篇章功能，那就是它們要引介新的先行詞作為整個篇章單位的主題。此外，本論文也探討大學英文系學生在他們的英文寫作中，使用限定性關係子句的情形。研究結果發現，在大學生的寫作中，限定性關係子句的先行詞常是泛指，而且限定性關係子句的內容常常是舊有的訊息。因此，台灣大學生鮮少使用限定性關係子句來引導新的先行詞作為篇章單位的主題。我們推論大部份學生並未習得限定性關係子句的篇章功能。本論文根據此研究結果提出一些在英語教學上的建議：在課堂上教導英文限定性關係子句時，應以篇章單位為主，使學生了解限定性關係子句的篇章功能。 / The findings of the previous studies on discourse functions of English restrictive relative clauses are mainly based on spontaneous conversations and written narrations. Rare studies were found on the discourse functions of English restrictive relative clauses in written data. The purpose of the present study, thus, is to investigate the discourse functions of English restrictive relative clauses in written expositions and argumentations by native speakers of English. Also, we study the use of English restrictive relative clauses in the compositions by Taiwanese college students. In particular, we want to know how the discourse functions of English restrictive relative clauses are related to their occurrences in discourse structures. Thus, our analysis includes considerations from four dimensions: syntax, semantics, pragmatics and discourse. We found that the majority of English restrictive relative clauses occur in the beginning position of discourse units. And they serve as a device to introduce their new head NPs as the topics in the subsequent discourse when occurring in such a position. Therefore, we conclude that the main purpose of using a restrictive relative clause is to introduce a new head NP as the topic when the new referent is firstly mentioned in a new discourse unit. Moreover, we examined English restrictive relative clauses in the compositions by English Department juniors to see if the factors found in native speakers’ writings are also at work in their compositions. We found that students have not fully understood the discourse functions of English restrictive relative clauses. Based on our findings, we offer pedagogical implications with the aim of hoping that students can learn the discourse functions of English restrictive relative clauses.

本文旨在從語法及語句處理的觀點探討中文關係子句中接應代詞(resumptive pronouns) 的現象。在語法上，本研究認為中文的接應代詞屬於詞基生成 (base-generated) 元素而非句法變項 (syntactic variables) 。接應代詞的出現受限於派生簡約原則 (derivational economy) 及合法度 (grammaticality) 的要求，唯有當間隙型關係子句 (gap relatives) 為非法時，接應代詞才是必要的；在其他情況下，接應代詞在中文裡為選擇性的策略之一。在語句處理上，本研究施測了三份合法度問卷並進行了兩項線上閱讀測驗。合法度的判別及線上的閱讀反應時間顯示，接應代詞之所以不被喜歡是因為接應代詞本身會引發花園路徑效果 (garden path effect) (在此為主要子句假象 (main-clause illusion) 的形成)。然而，接應代詞在間隙型關係子句為非法或引發花園路徑效果 (在此為重建困難 (difficult reconstruction) 所造成) 時卻變得較受喜愛。當間隙型關係子句涉及到複雜結構或複雜語句處理領域 (在此指的是重建複雜 (intricate reconstruction) ) 時，中文母語使用者並不會偏好使用間隙(gap)或是接應代詞來形成關係子句。這些研究結果意味著中文接應代詞不僅受限於合法度的要求，也受制於語句可處理性 (processability) 的程度，亦即有無受到花園路徑效果所影響。 / This thesis examines resumptive pronouns in Chinese relative clauses from the perspectives of grammar and processing. In the grammar, it is claimed in this research that resumptives in Chinese are base-generated pronouns rather than syntactic variables. Their occurrence can be predicted via derivational economy and grammaticality. Resumptives in Chinese are obligatory only when the gap relatives are ungrammatical. Otherwise, resumptives are optional. As for processing, three grammaticality judgments and two on-line self-paced reading tasks were conducted. The grammaticality judgments and the on-line reading times show that resumptives were dispreferred because they induced a garden-path effect (the main-clause illusion). However, resumptives became preferred when the gap relatives resulted in ungrammaticality or led to a garden path, thus inducing the difficulty of reconstruction. There was no preference for gaps or resumptives when the gap relatives involved complex structures or complicated processing domains (the intricate reconstruction). These results suggest that resumptives in Chinese are related not only to the issue of grammaticality but also to that of the processability (i.e. the garden-path effect).

本文以兩個眼動閱讀實驗探討語意訊息 (semantic cues) 和句法訊息 (syntactic cues) 如何在中文關係子句的處理中運作及交互作用。實驗一旨在研究兩種動詞與論元之間的合理性關係 (plausibility) 是否會影響讀者理解不同結構的關係子句。結果顯示，當兩個論元都是合理施事者 (agent) 時，論旨角色的指派 (thematic roles) 有歧義，較難理解；而當只有一個論元是合理的施事者時，讀者趨向指派正確的論旨角色，且較快整合句法上的困難。此外，因中文句法結構特殊，讀者在關係詞之前就處理主語關係子句 (subject relative clauses) 的歧義，在主要動詞上則會遇到賓語關係子句 (object relative clauses) 的理解困難。此發現解決了Hsiao & Gibson (2003) 和 Lin (2006) 的歧見，證明中文讀者在不同位置會遇到不一樣的困難。實驗二所關注的語意訊息為論元的生命性 (animacy)，關係子句中的兩個論元分屬有生命的 (animate) 及無生命的 (inanimate) 名詞。結果發現論旨角色的指派和生命性相互關聯，有生命性的論元較傾向當施事者，而無生命的論元傾向當受事者。讀者仍在關係詞之前遇到主語關係子句的理解困難，但在主要動詞，讀者主要依循生命性的引導來指派論旨角色，句法訊息的影響並不顯著。因此語意訊息在中文的語句處理扮演重要的角色，結果大致上與Traxler (2002)的研究相符。讀者同時受到當下的句法訊息以及語意訊息影響，在不同的位置會遇到不一樣的歧義性，而產生花園路徑效果 (garden-path effect)。 / Two eye movement experiments were conducted to investigate how semantic cues and syntactic structural cues function and interact in Mandarin Chinese relative clause (RC) processing. Mandarin Chinese is unique in combining head-final RCs with a VO basic order (Dryer, 1992, 2003) and also in relying solely on word order as structural cues, without case marking or agreement. However, Mandarin Chinese still preserves flexibility in word order that is motivated by pragmatics. Semantic cues, including the plausibility of the argument-verb relation and argument animacy within RCs, may be crucial to sentence processing in Mandarin Chinese. Experiment 1 aims to examine whether the meaning of the verb allowing only one of the two animate arguments to be a plausible agent may lead to reduction of ORC difficulty (cf. Traxler, 2002). The results showed that the plausibility effects were robust at the head noun and the main verb. A bias of thematic role assignment in the irreversible relation leads readers to correct interpretations, while the reversible relation does not elicit such a bias. The results also solved the discrepancy between the two previous studies (Hsiao and Gibson, 2003 & Lin, 2006) by unveiling a dynamic process in which readers encounter diverse ambiguities at different positions for different structures. Chinese readers disambiguate SRCs earlier due to their non-canonical word order and have trouble integrating the main verb in ORCs owing to perspective shifting. The interaction between plausibility and RC type on re-reading rate suggested that plausibility cues were used to solve syntactic ambiguity. Experiment 2 manipulated contrastive argument animacy in order to investigate whether thematic role assignment correlates with animacy. The results confirmed the hypothesis that while animate entities bias towards agent roles, inanimate ones incline towards patient roles (c.f., Valin & LaPolla, 1997). Besides, inanimate entities are conceptually less accessible than animate ones. Contrastive animacy shows its impact on syntactic processing with robust interactions at different positions. The findings of interactions between semantic cues and RC types in two experiments suggest that semantic cues play an important role in Chinese relative clause processing. Semantic plausibility and argument animacy can influence the process of thematic role assignment. The semantic cues that accord with the biases of thematic role assignment then would ease the syntactic ambiguities. Not only syntactic cues but also semantic cues are utilized by readers in sentence comprehension. In this thesis, the eye movement data provide clear evidence indicating that readers solve various temporary ambiguities syntactically and semantically at different positions of the sentence with relative clauses.