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A Cognitive Study of Argument-merging in Chinese Svc

Author: LiEnGuang
Tutor: NiuBaoYi
School: Henan University
Course: English Language and Literature
Keywords: serial verb construction argument-merging autonomy-dependence alignment
CLC: H146
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2010
Downloads: 90
Quote: 2
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Abstract

Serial verb construction (SVC,连动式) is a basic construction in Chinese. And some examples of SVC are listed as follows:(1)他买票看电影。(He bought a ticket to see the film.)(2)买书看。(Buy a book to read.)(3)他做饭吃。(He cooked the meal to eat.)(1) can be interpreted as the combination of two parts:“他买票”(He bought a ticket) and“他看电影”(He saw the film). The subjects“他”(he) of V1“买”(bought) and V2“看”(saw) are identical. That’s to say, the subjects“他”(he) of V1“买”(bought) and V2“看”(saw)are semantically overlapped; similarly, (2) can be interpreted as the combination of“买书”(buy a book) and“看书”(read a book). The objects“书”(book) of V1“买”(buy) and V2“看”(read) are identical. The objects“书”(book) of V1“买”(buy) and V2“看”(read) are semantically overlapped ; and (3) can be interpreted as the combination of“他做饭”(He cooked the meal) and“他吃饭”(He ate the meal). On the one hand, the subjects“他”(he) of V1“做”(cooked)and V2“吃”(eat)are semantically overlapped. On the other hand, the objects“饭”(meal) of V1“做”(cooked)and V2“吃”(eat) are semantically overlapped. The overlapping of objects and subjects in Chinese SVC illustrated above is referred to as the integration of arguments, or argument-merging, in this thesis.Up to now, many scholars have approached SVC from different perspectives,that is, descriptive,generative and cognitive perspectives,which contributes greatly to the clarification of the complicated situation of the researches on SVC.However, from the acquired materials, the author notes that no scholar has ever studied the motivation of the argument-merging in Chinese SVC from the cognitive perspective.The present study, thereupon, on the basis of the analytical model of autonomy-dependence alignment (ADA) established by Niu Baoyi (2008), is intended to provide a unified account for the argument-merging in Chinese SVC. The paper is composed of six chapters.Chapter One is an introduction to the study.First of all, object of the research is pointed out. Next, the questions to be solved are raised. And last, the theoretical framework and methodology of the study are introduced.Chapter Two is a literature review.The author generally reviews the previous researches of Chinese SVC, which can be divided into three periods. On the basis of the summary of the previous studies,the author raises his questions: What is the motivation and mechanism of the argument-merging in Chinese SVC? What is the motivation and mechanism of the production of the meaning of Chinese SVC?In Chapter Three, the author describes the syntactic and semantic structures of SVC and analyzes the phenomenon of argument-merging, which includes three types, namely, (ⅰ) subject-subject-merging; (ⅱ) object-object-merging; (ⅲ) subject-subject merging and object-object merging, i.e. the subjects are merged and at the same time the objects are merged as well.In Chapter Four, the theoretical framework is introduced.The author provides a specific introduction to the analytical model of ADA .In Chapter Five,the author analyzes the three types of argument-merging of SVC within the analytical model of ADA. It is found that in an SVC, the correspondences between the internal structures permit the component structures to integrate into a coherent scene; the semantic structure is the conceptualization of the syntactic structure; in the process of integration, the semantic overlapping between the conceptual components demands the syntactic overlapping between the conceptual components.Chapter Six, after a detailed discussion and theoretical analysis, comes to the conclusion that correspondences between the internal structures of the components in a composite structure offer a motivation of the argument-merging and the production of the meaning of SVC.

A Cognitive Study of Argument-merging in Chinese Svc

Abstract

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