4.2 Level 2 markers
4.2.1 Abstract markers
In this section, we will discuss the amounts and types of markers marking the
beginning of abstracts21. Table 6 shows the amount and types of boundary markers for
abstracts.
Table 6 The boundary markers of the beginning of the abstract (Level 2 boundary marker)
(1) locative phrase + modified NP (2) topic shift filler + modified NP (3) full NP + temporal
(4) temporal + locative phrase23
8
Table 6 above indicates that the amounts of markers range from one to three. The most
common combination is double marking, amounting up to 66%. Nearly half of the
double marking (37%) is locative phrase plus modified NPs. In second place is triple
marking (19%). All of the combinations of triple marking begin with locative phrases
subsequently followed by modified NPs plus temporals, or temporals plus modified
21 In the 25 abstracts, four abstracts are directly presented at the onset of news kernel and the markers marking them are considered to be Level 1 boundary markers and had been discussed in 4.1.1.
22 The item is “雲林斗六八號晚間發生了兩天以來第四起的爆裂物毀壞民宅的事件.” In the
combination, the modified NPs 兩天以來第四起的爆裂物毀壞民宅的事件 are preceded by the verb 發生了 ‘happened.’
23 The item is 在今天基隆的一個學校當中, ‘today, at a school in Keelung.’ This phrase seems
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NPs. The least common one is single marking. All of the markers of single marking
are modified NPs.
Table 6 also shows the types of initial boundary markers: 12 locative phrases24, 3
modified NPs25, 3 topic shift fillers26, 2 full NPs27 and 1 temporal28. All of the locative
phrases at the initials of abstracts are proper nouns, referring to the exact geographical
names, such as taibeixian 台北縣 ‘Taipei County.’ After the spatial background is
established, the main participants are introduced into the discourse. All of the 11
locative phrases are immediately followed by modified NPs. In fact, nearly all of the
modified NPs are indefinite NPs, which may or may not be preceded by the existential
marker you 有 ‘have.’ These indefinite NPs are even further elaborated by restricted
relative clauses. The following excerpt of news on a suicide accident is taken for
example.
24 The locative phrases include 畫面上, ‘on the screen,’ 台北縣‘Taipei County,’ 台中縣‘Taichung County,’ 台南‘Tainan,’ 在台北板橋 ‘in Banqiao, Taipei,’ 在屏東縣 ‘in Pingdong County,’ 台南縣 六甲鄉‘Liujia, Tainan County,’雲林斗六‘Douliu, Wuenling,’桃園縣‘Taoyuen County,’ 在嘉義縣的中 埔鄉‘Chungpu, Jiayi,’ 台南 ‘Tainan’ and 嘉義 ‘Jiayi.’
25 The modified NPs include: 已經淡出了歌壇的藝人李恕權‘Li Shu-chuan, who used to be a part of the musical industry,’在高雄市的警方‘the police in Kaohsiung City,’ and 就讀台大法律系二年級的 張同學 ‘Mr. Chung, a sophomore at NTU law school.’
26 Topic shift fillers include: 好 ‘okay,’ 這是/這個是 ‘this is’, and 那麼, ‘so.’
27 Full NPs include: 海巡隊, ‘coast guard’ and 警方, ‘police officers.’
Abstract Opening
Level 2 marker
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
Anchor: Now, let’s turn to social news. In Banqiao, Taipei County, a remarried woman suspected her husband had cheated on her. Her husband even asked for divorce, so she could not bear it and committed suicide last night.
(#6, CTV) The abstract of the news story starts by a locative phrase zai taibeixian banqiao 在台
北縣板橋 ‘in Banqiao, Taipei County.’ Then it brings in its character in the form of
the existential you-sentence you yinming zaihun de nuzi 有一名再婚的女子 ‘there is a
remarried woman.’ In the structure, the indefinite NP yiming nuzi 一名女子 ‘a
woman’ is modified by a relative clause zaihun de 再婚的 ‘remarried.’ Generally
speaking, the indefinite NP you yiming nuzi 有一名女子 ‘there is a woman’ is able to
signal the debut of the new participant. Yet, to make the referent more informative, the
anchors tend to add extra coding materials in the relative clause and make the referent
more salient. Besides, the position where the modified NP is placed is also meaningful.
The referent is made thematically important to the unfolding discourse by being placed
at the beginning position of the abstract. Indeed, the following discourse stretch
focuses on the fact that the remarried woman, betrayed by her second husband,
committed suicide.
The second most widely used boundary markers for this section are modified NPs,
including yijing danchu getan de yiren lishuchuan 已經淡出了歌壇的藝人李恕權
‘Li Shu-chuan, who used to be a part of the musical industry,’ zai kaoxuong de
jingfang 在高雄市的警方 ‘the police officers in Kaohsiung City,’ and jiudu taida
‧ 國
立 政 治 大 學
‧
N a
tio na
l C h engchi U ni ve rs it y
faluxi ernianji de zhongtongxue 就讀台大法律系二年級的張同學 ‘Mr. Chung, a
sophomore at NTU law school.’ As we can see, the head NP, Li Shu-chuan, is unique
and accessible. However, since he has been less active in public for a long time, to
make sure the audience is able to identify the referent, the anchor added supplementary
information to help the audience. The other two head NPs, Mr. Chuang and the police
officers, on the other hand, are less accessible and thus need to be narrowed down with
the help of relative clauses. We take the following excerpt for an example.
(15)
1. Anchor: ..而製毒的手法也是愈來愈誇張大膽了,_
2. ..在高雄市的警方在高雄市的警方在高雄市的警方在高雄市的警方逮到這麼一名嫌犯,_
3. ..他窩藏在一間兩層樓的鐵皮屋裡面製作毒品,_
Anchor: Drug production is getting more and more bold and incredible. In Kaohsiung City, policemen arrested such a drug dealer, who produced drugs in a two-story wrought-iron-covered house.
(#22, TTV) The abstract starts by a NP jingfang 警方 ‘the police officers’ modified by a restricted
relative clause zai gaoxiongshi de 在高雄市的 ‘in Kaohsiung City.’ The news
character jingfang 警方 ‘the police officers’ is introduced to the discourse for the first
time and accordingly is brand new to the audiences. To aid the audiences to identify
the referent, the additional coding materials are added.
In addition to locative phrases and modified NPs, topic shift fillers like
zheshi/zhegeshi 這是/這個是 ‘this is,’ and name 那麼 ‘so’ are also used to initiate Abstract Opening Level 2 marker
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kaoguti dawang jianrenxi 考古題大王蔣仁曦 ‘King of sample questions, Jiang
Ren-xi’ and you yisao zai yuanmu de huolun 有一艘載原木的貨輪 ‘there is a cargo
of logs.’ It is not surprising for topic shift fillers to occur at such a global boundary. As
we can see, to introduce the new referents into the discourse, the anchors need to
provide more information about the new referents, thereby helping the audience to
identify the upcoming referents. At the same time, the anchors’ processing loads are
also increased, for they require greater cognitive efforts in processing the extra
information when initiating the new news item. Thus, the topic shift fillers and
modified NPs together indicate the beginning of the news item.