Dramatized Discourse

Language is a symbolic system of meanings evoked by linguistic forms. The choice of forms in communication is non-arbitrary. Rather, speakers pick those forms whose meanings best convey their discourse intention. The meaning of the Mandarin ba -construction, argues Jing-Schmidt, is discourse dramaticity , a concept that includes high conceptual salience and subjectivity. The ba -construction and its "syntactic variations" are never interchangeable because contrast in their meanings determines di