A Study on the Thematic Structure of Chinese Conversational Texts

The purpose of this study is to analyze the thematic structure of Chinese conversation texts in advanced-level Chinese conversation textbooks, with the aim of identifying organizational patterns that facilitate smooth communication. Themes are categorized based on metafunction into three types: Topical theme, Interpersonal theme, and Textual theme. They are also classified by complexity into Simple theme and Multiple themes. “Thematic progression” refers to how the theme of each clause originates and how it relates to previous themes and rhemes, thus illustrating the text’s organizational structure. This study classifies thematic progression into four types: Theme reiteration pattern, The linear theme pattern, The derived theme pattern, and Multiple rheme pattern.<br/> The analysis reveals that in the Chinese conversation texts within the textbooks, Simple themes appear more frequently than Multiple themes. Among simple themes, Topical themes occur most frequently. Within Multiple themes, the combination of “Interpersonal theme+Topical theme” is most common. Regarding thematic progression patterns, theme reiteration pattern occurs most frequently, followed in order by the linear theme pattern, the derived theme pattern, and the multiple rheme pattern.