Information Structure and Thematic Structure

4.2.2.1 Old-new information

The old-new information order of delivering messages is often recommended since it is the unmarked order. This is achieved through beginning a sentence with words, phrases or concepts from the preceding sentence, and placing the new (or unknown) information at the end of the sentence.

(83) 芝加哥的飲食文化經過一百多年的發展，其比薩餅跟熱狗是極其有名的．在芝 加哥，廚師製作比薩餅的時候，很講究比薩餅的材料和味道．在世界各地，食 物的樣貌隨地方而變．比薩餅也不例外．比薩餅源自於義大利，可是義大利 的比薩餅跟芝加哥的有很大的差異．

－＞可是芝加哥的比薩餅跟義大利的有很大的差異．

Zhījiāgē de yǐnshí wénhuà jīngguò yìbǎi duō nián de fāzhǎn, qí bǐsàbǐng gēn règǒu shì jíqí yǒumíng de. Zài Zhījiāgē, chúshī zhìzuò bǐsàbǐng de shíhòu, hěn jiǎngjiù bǐsàbǐng de cáiliào hé wèidào. Zài shìjiè gèdì, shíwù de yàngmào suí dìfāng ér biàn.

Bǐsàbǐng yě búlìwài. Bǐsàbǐng yuánzì yú Yìdàlì, kěshì Yìdàlì de bǐsàbǐng gēn Zhījiāgē de yǒu hěn dà de chàyì. 

Kěshì Zhījiāgē de bǐsàbǐng gēn Yìdàlì de yǒu hěn dà de chàyì.

After a hundred years of development of the food culture of Chicago, its pizzas and hot dogs are very famous. In Chicago, cooks pay attention to the ingredients and flavors of pizzas. Foods vary from place to place, so pizzas are not an exception.

Pizzas originated from Italy, but Italian pizzas are very different from the ones in Chicago.

but Chicago pizzas are very different from the ones in Italy.

In (83), the topic of the article was “The Pizza in Chicago” which was the main

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focus of the composition. Therefore, the old information “the pizza in Chicago” should be placed before “the pizza in Italy’, otherwise the marked sequence resulted in a grammatically correct but textually inappropriate sentence.

End-focus refers to the placing of the most important information at the end of the sentence. It follows the order of old to new information since the most vital information is the new information in most situations.

(84) a首次品嘗泰國菜的人會覺得泰國菜的調料很獨特．很多調料是東南亞，甚至 是泰國特有的，最常用的是檸檬、咖哩醬和辣椒醬．而隨著曼谷的不斷發展，

b其他的烹調特色也添加到泰國菜餚中．

c泰國菜也吸收了其他國家的特色．

a Shǒucì pǐncháng Tàiguó cài de rén huì juéde Tàiguó cài de tiáoliào hěn dútè.

Hěnduō tiáoliào shì dōngnányǎ, shènzhì shì Tàiguó tèyǒu de, zuì cháng yòng de shì níngméng, kālǐjiàng hé làjiāojiàng, ér suízhe Màngǔ de búduàn fāzhǎn, b qítā de pēngtiáo tèsè yě tiānjiā dào Tàiguó càiyáo zhōng.

c Tàiguó cài yě xīshōu le qítā guójiā de tèsè.

The people who first taste Thai food would think the flavoring of it is very unique.

A lot of seasoning is from Southeastern Asia, even from Thailand particularly. The most common ones are lemons, curry sauce, and chili sauce. As the development of Bangkok, b a lot of other exotic characteristics are added into the Thai cuisine.

c Thai food has absorbed other characteristics from other countries.

In (84), a described that Thai food used special seasonings, and b argued that other culinary characteristics from other countries had gradually influenced Thai food. The most important information in the sentence was “qítā de pēngtiáo tèsè” (the culinary characteristics from other countries), which should be placed at the end of the sentence to be the focus. Instead, the student placed the new information “qítā de pēngtiáo tèsè”

first, followed by the old information “Tàiguó càiyáo” (Thai food), creating an

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inappropriate sentence and failing to effectively deliver the message. The researcher revised the sentence, as shown in part c. Part c moved the old information “Tàiguó càiyáo” backwards to the beginning and “qítā de pēngtiáo tèsè” at the end. As a result, the unmarked order in information provided a smoother and clearer sentence in the passage.

One more example of the error of old-new information is provided.

(85) a我跟家人去過大陸六次，可是我們並沒有機會跟外國人打交道，或真的體驗

外國人的生活。b我最難忘的旅行是今年夏天去中國，c因為我每天跟中國人打

交道，且有機會體驗一下現代中國人的生活。

d而這次的旅行因為我每天跟中國人打交道，體驗現代中國人的生活，所以是 最難忘的旅行．

a Wǒ gēn jiārén qù guò dàlù liùcì, kěshì wǒmen bìng méiyǒu jīhuì gēn wàiguórén dǎjiāodào, huò zhēnde tǐyàn wàiguórén de shēnghuó. , b Wǒ zuì nánwàng de lǚxíng shì jīnnián xiàtiān qù Zhōngguó, c yīnwèi wǒ měitiān gēn Zhōngguó rén dǎjiāodào, qiě yǒu jīhuì tǐyàn yíxià xiàndài Zhōngguó rén de shēnghuó.

d ér zhè cì de lǚxíng yīnwèi wǒ měitiān gēn Zhōngguó rén dǎjiāodào, tǐyàn xiàndài Zhōngguó rén de shēnghuó, suǒyǐ shì zuì nánwàng de lǚxíng.

a My family and I have been to China for six times, but we did not have opportunities to get along with Chinese people or experience Chinese life. b My most unforgettable trip is the trip to China this summer c because I hung out with Chinese people every day, and I got chances to live the authentic Chinese life.

d Because I hung out with Chinese people every day, and I got chances to live the authentic Chinese life, my most unforgettable trip is the trip to China this summer.

In example (85), a described that the student did not have many opportunities to get along with Chinese people or experience Chinese life although she had been to China six times. Part b indicated the most unforgettable trip was the trip to China this

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summer because she got along with Chinese people every day, and experienced authentic Chinese life. However, it was abrupt to mention “Wǒ zuì nánwàng de lǚxíng shì…” (the most unforgettable trip is…) after part a because no connection was found between a and b. The researcher revises the sentence, as shown in part d. The old information “gēn Zhōngguó rén dǎjiāodào” (get along with Chinese people) and “tǐyàn yíxià xiàndài Zhōngguó rén de shēnghuó” (experience modern Chinese people’ life) are placed backwards to the beginning, followed by the new information “Wǒ zuì nánwàng de lǚxíng shì…”, which is also the focus of the sentence. Thus, sentences are connected smoothly and cohesively

The source of error was brought to light during the interview. Students indicated that they did not pay attention to the organization of the article. They made great efforts to examine whether each sentence was grammatical and correct. However, the cohesion and coherence of the article was overlooked. They also pointed out that they did not know the unmarked order of information was old to new. In sum, the ignorance of the concept of discourse and the order of information caused the misordering of sentence elements.

4.2.2.2 Topic

As for topic, two types of errors were found in this domain: one was the addition of pronoun in a topic chain or an article, the other was the omission of topic in a sentence.

In linguistic typology, Chinese is a topic-prominent language and English is a subject-prominent language. As a result, students tended to use more pronouns.

Besides the additional use of pronouns, the omission of topic is also a concern.

Students used few topics in their compositions.

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(86) a菜裡也常常有像椰子這樣的稀有水果，因為老年人覺得椰奶對健康有 益．b（而關於評定菜餚的標準）c在牙買加，一道菜必須比較新鮮，香 味，濃重俱全，才稱得上是一道好菜．

a Cài lǐ yě chángcháng yǒu xiàng yézi zhèyàng de xīyǒu shuǐguǒ, yīnwèi lǎoniánrén juéde yénǎi duì jiànkāng yǒuyì. b (ér guānyú píngdìng càiyáo de biāozhǔn,) c zài Yámǎijiā, yí dào cài bìxū bǐjiào xīnxiān, xiāngwèi, nóngzhòng jùquán, cái chēng de shàng shì yí dào hǎo cài.

a The coconuts which are rare could still be found in dishes because older people regard coconut milk as beneficial to health. b As for the standards to judge for the dishes, c a dish would be justified as a good one only if it is fresh,and it smells good with a thick flavor.

In (86), a pointed out that coconuts were often on the dining table because elder people believed coconuts were beneficial to people’s health. Part c presented the standards of fine cuisines. There was no connection found between a and c, and a topic b was needed to indicate the clear theme-and-comment relationship. Regarding the source of error, the researcher identified it as an interlingual error since the topic-prominent Chinese is different from the subject-prominent English. Six students interviewed also pointed out that topics were not very common in English even though there were certain mechanisms to create topics. Therefore, few topics were found in the compositions. Additionally, a topic could also be a connector between sentences. As indicated in example (86), b functions well to connect a and c. Students mentioned they focused more on grammatical structures, thus they ignored the cohesive relationships among sentences, passages, and articles. As a result, the error resulted from L1 transfer and ignorance of discourse.

In the analysis above, errors were considered from the perspectives of forms and functions. The sources were also discussed based on theories of linguistic typology and

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interviews. Table 3 summarizes all of the previous content.

Table 3

The Integrated Chart of Types of Errors and Their Sources

Discourse in

function Subcategory

Error type and

description Source of error Theories used

Cohesion

Reference Addition of pronouns (zero pronouns should be used.)

Interlingual error: L1 negative transfer

students are required to produce complete sentences in language classes.

Interlingual error: L1 negative transfer

Exercise-based induced errors:

students are required to produce complete sentences in language classes.

Ellipsis Addition of nouns or

phrases

Exercise-based induced errors:

students are required to produce complete sentences in language classes.

Conjunction Omission of conjunction

Interlingual error: L1 negative transfer

Intralingual error: simplification Addition of

conjunction

Intralingual error:

overgeneralization Mis-selection of Intralingual error:

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conjunction overgeneralization;

Intralingual error: simplification Lexical

cohesion

Addition of lexical cohesion

Exercise-based induced errors:

students are required to produce complete sentences in language classes.

The ignorance of discourse

Topic Omission of

topic

Interlingual error: L1 negative transfer

Topic-prominent