本书运用Fleischman等人的时态叙事理论，提出时态分析三维框架，同时采用语料库的方法，基于自建《纽约时报》新闻报道语料库，对英语新闻报道中的时态使用状况进行了深入而细致的定量定性研究，发现了新闻报道中时态的使用特征和功能，为观察新闻类文本的时态使用提供了不同的视角。本研究显示，时态的功能与动词类型、时态所处文本位置密不可分，时态不仅局限于指涉时间，而且发挥重要的语篇和元语言功能。时态使用的新闻文体特征分析，为研究时态与动词类型的关系、时态聚类以及时态的语篇功能尝试了新的思路。
尽管时态在小说或口头叙事中有大量研究，英语新闻报道中的时态研究却少有探索，而且，研究新闻文本时态使用，常规方法在面对海量的数据时，会显得乏力。为了弥补这一不足，本研究基于佛莱什曼（Fleischman）的时态叙事理论，采用基于语料库的方法，提出时态分析三维框架，用于分析时态在新闻报道中的使用。框架的三个维度分别是：时态选择、（与时态相关的）动词类型、文本位置（时态或动词类型在文本中所处位置）。这三个维度两两组合，构成三个层面，它们与三维总体分析一起，提供了观察时态使用的不同视角。借助语料库技术，三维框架用于分析自建《纽约时报》语料库。首先在三个分析层面研究单个时态的使用，有如下发现：在时态-文本位置层面，不同时态具有不同的文本分布模式，一般现在时和现在完成时呈多峰值分布，一般过去时从开始至结尾呈稳步上升趋势。在时态-动词层面，利用Wordsmith 4.0软件计算出与一般现在时、一般过去时和现在完成时关联的动词，并根据万德勒（Vendler）的分类将其分为四类动词，发现不同时态对不同动词类型有不同的吸引力，一般现在时吸引状态动词，一般过去时吸引成就动词，现在完成时偏好成就和活动动词。在动词-文本位置层面，四类动词类型的分布曲线与时态分布曲线非常相似，该发现从另一个侧面验证时态-动词研究中所揭示的时态与动词类型之间的吸引关系。最后，综合三个维度，分析时态-动词联组在不同文本位置的变化趋势，发现现在完成时与四类动词的结合使用在文本分布中保持相对稳定，一般现在时与动词类型的关联随文本位置不同而发生变化，在10-19%文本位置，一般现在时与完成类动词的关联从40.87%降至28.82%，状态动词和行为类动词分别从35.23%升至41.20%，从21.83%升至28.25%。上述定量分析所发现的时态的宏观特征，可以通过定性分析得到解释，时态-动词联组所在索引行分析表明，时态-动词联组在不同文本位置有不同的功能，这些不同功能累积构成其宏观层面的使用及分布特征，从而解释了定量分析的发现。三维分析框架接下来用于时态聚合分析，即在两个段落范围内高频共现的时态连用。统计提取出的时态聚合，从三个维度进行分析，分析其动词特征、文本位置及功能，发现了时态在谋篇方面的新功能。现在完成时常用于引导一系列过去时或者用于一系列过去时的结尾处，在该聚合中，现在完成时分别用于引出一个新的话题，标志话题结束。连用的现在完成时可用于分离两个故事，渲染高潮。一般现在时的连用也具有新闻特色，它可以标志新闻报道的特写式开头，或记者解读。一般现在时与一般过去时的交替使用是模糊记者声音和被引用者声音、记者悄悄嵌入自己的观点的一种手段。时态聚合分析与单个时态分析互相补充，可以发现后者不易发现或容易忽略的一些具体语篇功能。上述发现是时态-动词联组的特性在具体使用中的体现，以所发现的时态功能为基础，本文总结了时态-动词联组在指称、文本、表达、元语言四个层面的特性，弥补佛莱什曼时态分析的不足，补充了佛莱什曼没有分析的现在完成时。同时，总结了在新闻报道中时态所发挥的文本、表达和元语言层面的功能。本研究取得的结果证明，三维时态分析框架，为时态分析提供了一个可行的具体可操作的分析框架，并且揭示了新闻报道中时态使用的新闻文体特征。定量和定性分析发现的时态使用特征和功能，侧面反映了影响新闻写作的新闻价值观，为新闻界提出的解释性新闻报道的近期兴起提供了数据支持。本研究显示，时态的功能与动词类型、时态所处文本位置密不可分。时态不仅局限于指涉时间，时态发挥重要的文本、表达、元语言功能。时态可用于突显或背景化相关信息、分割新闻报道中的不同主线副线、或者标志叙事性或非叙事性文本。时态使用与其所在语篇，乃至其所属的体裁（genre）密不可分。这些发现从实证的视角回答了时态使用的问题，进一步增加了对时态的理解，为时态使用和新闻研究提供了新视角，完善了现有的时态理论，为将来的时态研究指出了一条新的研究路径。
张立英，上海交通大学英语语言学及应用语言学专业博士研究生，主攻语料库语言学，2014年获得博士学位。之后在解放军外国语学院从事博士后研究。现于解放军外国语学院英语系任教。研究方向为语料库语言学、认知语言学，参与过多个*或军队级科研项目，发表论文10余篇。
Chapter1 Introduction ········································································1
1.1 Background of the research ···················································1
1.2 Purpose and significance of the research ····································3
1.3 Data and methodology ·························································6
1.4 Organization of the book ······················································9
Chapter 2 Literature Review ·······························································11
2.1 The study of tense in narrative ···············································11
2.2 Studies of tense in media discourse and in corpus linguistics ···········22
2.3 Reflections on previous studies ··············································24
Chapter 3 Theoretical Framework ························································27
3.1 Fleischmans theory of tense-aspect in narrative ·························27
3.2 Labov and Waletzkys narrative model and Bells model structurefor news text ·········31
3.3 A three-dimensional framework for tense analysis ·······················34
Chapter 4 Tense Use on the Three Planes ···············································41
4.1 Tense-position planeTextual distribution of the tenses ················42
4.2 Tense-verb planeVerbs associated with the three tenses ···············47
4.3 Verb-position planeTextual distribution of verb categories ···········62
4.4 Tense, position and verb categories ·········································67
Chapter 5 Tense Patterns ····································································92
5.1 Patterns of the present tenseDistribution and functions ················92
5.2 Present perfect patternsDistribution and functions ··················107
5.3 Consecutive use of present perfect and its functions in news report·········120
Chapter 6 Textual, Expressive and Metalinguistic Functions of Tense ···········132
6.1 Properties of tense-verb construction ·····································132
6.2 Textual function of tenses ··················································137
6.3 Expressive function of tenses ··············································141
6.4 Metalinguistic function of tenses ··········································143
6.5 The functions of tense and modern journalism ·························145
Chapter 7 Conclusion ·······································································147
7.1 Summary of the findings ···················································147
7.2 Conclusion ···································································150
7.3 Limitations and suggestions for further study ···························153
Bibliography ·····················································································156
Appendix A Verbs associated with the present tense ·································169
Appendix B Verbs associated with the past tense ·····································177
Appendix C Verbs associated with the present perfect ·······························185
Appendix D Analysis of News Samples ··················································193
1 Analysis of Sample News 1 ················································194
2 Analysis of Sample News 2 ················································198
Appendix E Sample News Text 1 ·························································204
Appendix F Sample News Text 2 ·························································208
Appendix G Sample News Text 3 ·························································211
书单推荐
