Based on the transcription of 11.1 million characters of authentic oral material, this book makes a comprehensive extraction, calculation and descriptive analysis of discourse markers in spoken Chinese to present a panorama of them, which is some research work that has never been done before and is of significance in many aspects. Current theories of discourse markers and discourse analysis are mainly based on English studies, and they may not be completely applicable to Chinese, which belongs to a different language family. Research on Chinese discourse markers may help verify, complement and even revise these theories, thus contributing to the theoretical development of discourse analysis.   

Zhang Li, professor and Chief of Business Chinese Research Institute of BLCU, is a member of International Society for Chinese Language Teaching, a board member of China Marketing Association, and a member of the expert committee of International Business Chinese Teaching and Material Development Base (Shanghai). Mr. Zhang’s major research interests include business and business-related language, business Chinese teaching, CSL teaching, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, business administration, etc. Mr. Zhang has published a number of academic books, course books and reference books, including On Spoken Business Chinese, On Business Chinese Courses, Language Vitality: Chinese and Its Application, Business Chinese Textbook Series, Business Chinese: Speaking Course, Modern Chinese Dictionary of Flexible Uses, etc.