中文摘要
本論文目的在於釐清漢語句子中的時間指涉 (temporal reference)。漢語句子結構中，時式 (Tense) 存在與否一直是漢語語言學家爭論的焦點。從普遍語法 (Universal Grammar) 暨句法角度而言，時式於漢語是必然的存在。然而，漢語語意學家於近年來秉持的不同的看法。語意學家 (Lin, J.-W. 2006; Smith, C.S., 2001; Wu 2005等) 認為，漢語中的時間指涉並不能視同為時式的存在。因此，即使透過句法的觀察以及普遍語法的佐證之下，句法學家 (Sybesma, 2007; Tsai, 2008 等) 的解釋依然是有爭議的。在各個語言的句子中，時間副詞的出現與否，常常決定了句子的時間指涉。
本論文將漢語句子依據時間副詞的出現與否句子分成兩類：有標類句 (Marked Sentences) 以及無標類句 (Unmarked Sentences)。在漢語中，有標類句與無標類句經常同時遍布於敘述以及對話中。因此，本論文引介優選理論 (Optimality Theory) 中的雙向優選理論 (Bi-OT) (Blutner, 1998)，並以此理論為基礎，同時從句法暨語意角度來釐清漢語中的時間指涉。根據本論文研究結果，漢語中的無標類句確實有時式存在，而有標類句則是藉由各種不同的語意呈現方式來表達時間指涉；因此，在有標類句中，時式是不存在的。
關鍵詞：時間指涉，時式，優選理論，雙向優選理論

Abstract
Tense, a grammatical category indicating temporal reference, is imposed on every language by the mechanism of Universal Grammar (UG). In the present study, we explain and resolve Tense puzzles in Chinese sentences by introducing bidirectional Optimality Theory (Bi-OT) proposed by Blutner (1998), categorizing Chinese sentences into two categories: marked sentences and unmarked sentences. The former are sentences without any temporal adverbs (T-adverbs) and the latter are with T-adverbs. Based on Bi-OT framework, we propose to analyze Tense in Mandarin Chinese as a redundant device in unmarked sentences whereas required indication in marked. Temporal references in marked sentences are conveyed by a variety of means—modals, lexical verbs, aspect markers, Discourse Mode (Smith, 2001 and Wu, 2005), resultative verb constructions (RVCs) as well as Temporal Sequencing Principle (TSP) (Tai, 1985). Furthermore, in narrative and discourse, the mixture of marked and unmarked sentences is common. Therefore, a bidirectional account which simultaneously operates Chinese sentences through syntax and semantics are indeed a unified account to provide inferences of temporal references in Mandarin Chinese.

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