| Acknowledgements | 第1-7页 |
| Abstract | 第7-9页 |
| 内容摘要 | 第9-11页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第11-15页 |
| ·Rationale of the study | 第11-13页 |
| ·Significance of the study | 第13-14页 |
| ·Organization of the study | 第14-15页 |
| Chapter Two Previous Studies on Mandarin Chinese Topic | 第15-33页 |
| ·Defining topic | 第15-22页 |
| ·Topic and subject | 第15-17页 |
| ·The definitions of topic | 第17-22页 |
| ·Topic as the sentential constituent being talked about | 第17-18页 |
| ·Topic as the given information | 第18-20页 |
| ·Topic as the departing point of a message | 第20-21页 |
| ·Other definitions | 第21-22页 |
| ·Structuralist account of Mandarin Chinese topic construction | 第22-23页 |
| ·Functionalist account of Mandarin Chinese topic construction | 第23-26页 |
| ·Formalist account of Mandarin Chinese topic construction | 第26-31页 |
| ·Topics formed via base-generation | 第26-27页 |
| ·Topics derived by movement | 第27-31页 |
| ·Summary | 第31-33页 |
| Chapter Three Generalized Leftward Merger Interpretation of Adjunction in Chinese and English | 第33-44页 |
| ·Derivation by Phase | 第33-36页 |
| ·The development of the Principle of Generalized Leftward Merger | 第36-40页 |
| ·The four positions where Chinese and English adjuncts merge | 第40-43页 |
| ·Summary | 第43-44页 |
| Chapter Four Generalized Leftward Merger Interpretation of Mandarin Chinese Topic Construction | 第44-55页 |
| ·The continuum of topicality in Mandarin Chinese topic construction | 第44-47页 |
| ·The reasons for merging at the four positions | 第44-45页 |
| ·The difference between Top A and DP in Verb Phrase | 第45-47页 |
| ·Part of the adjuncts as topic | 第47-48页 |
| ·The similar way of topic merger to adjunct merger | 第48-54页 |
| ·Merger of fronted topics | 第48-53页 |
| ·Merger of marked topics | 第53-54页 |
| ·Summary | 第54-55页 |
| Chapter Five The Syntactic Cost of Topicalization in Mandarin Chinese | 第55-62页 |
| ·Topicality and syntactic cost | 第55-58页 |
| ·Topicality and syntactic cost of main topics | 第55-56页 |
| ·Topicality and syntactic cost of subtopics | 第56-57页 |
| ·Topicality and syntactic cost of sub-subtopics | 第57-58页 |
| ·Syntactic cost of topics and their collocation | 第58-61页 |
| ·Summary | 第61-62页 |
| Chapter Six Conclusion | 第62-64页 |
| ·Findings of the research | 第62-63页 |
| ·Implications and limitation of the study | 第63-64页 |
| References | 第64-67页 |
