Rhythm. The prevalence of rhythmic patterns in daily-life Chinese ; Is rhythm unusually common in Chinese? ; Speakers' awareness of rhythm ; Are there fads in rhythms? ; The roots of rhythms ; "External" rhythms : dominant and recessive ; Recessive rhythms of favor ; How recessive rhythms affect structure ; How universal are the preferred rhythms of Chinese? ; Do rhythms have meanings? ; What other formal features contribute to meaning? ; Can the users of rhythm be unaware of its effects?
Metaphor. How do metaphors work in ordinary language? ; Metaphor and thought ; Time ; Color ; Up and down ; North and south ; Consciousness ; The self in ancient thought ; Privilege in dyads ; Metaphors that Chinese and English (pretty much) share ; Metaphors in Chinese that diverge from English in significant ways ; Conceptual differences that are rooted in metaphor ; Can conceptual metaphors generate philosophical problems? ; The significance of similarities and differences among conceptual metaphors in different languages
Politics. A bifurcation ; Characteristics of the official language ; The language game ; How the game is played : from the side of the rulers ; How the game is played : from the side of the ruled ; Effects of the language game in the Mao and the post-Mao eras compared.