Retrospective Labels in Chinese Argumentative Discourses

In order to explore whether the Chinese retrospective labels demonstrate the same features as the English counterparts, this study has compared 30 Chinese newspaper articles with 30 English ones, all of which are argumentative essays. The results show that different from the English counterparts, the Chinese retrospective labels usually convey non-evaluative old information and appear in pre-verbal position. Moreover, the Chinese retrospective labels express more general ideas.