ABSTRACT
In this chapter, a literary paragraph of Qian Zhonghsu’s Fortress Besieged is analyzed to verify the fundamental structures of the Chinese language. Topic–comment structures and grammatical markers of noun and verbal phrases are identified. The former includes the use of de 的 as a noun phrase marker and demonstratives, numerals, and quantifiers, as well as classifiers, as markers of the noun phrase. The second one involves the use of the verb and aspect, as well as adverbs, within the verbal phrase. Word order serves a pivotal role within the framework of Chinese grammar, and the text delineates the positioning of adjectives, time and place expressions, and postpositions. Furthermore, a pragmatic analysis is applied to examine conjunctions between words and clauses, terms of comparison, and clause markers. This approach facilitates the comprehension of word functionality within diverse contexts, as well as the interpretation of topics, subtopics, and subsequent comments arranged in a structured sequence.
