Analysis Of The Conversion And Motivation Of Chinese Causative Pivotal And Ba-sentence Constructions

Constructionism and structuralism are both used to describe and analyze modernChinese causative pivotal constructions. This includes Shi-constructions and semanticparameter sentences, as well as the meaning of causative ba-sentences. The thesisconcentrates on analyzing the connections and constraints of the two types ofconstructions and the analysis of these two in the context of the cognitive grammarprocess perspective.The first chapter discusses the significance and purpose of this thesis’ topic. Itelaborates on the results of previous analyses, and also points out existing gaps in theliterature. Furthermore, it explains the theories, methods and sources of the data usedwhen preparing this thesis.Chapter Two is about Modern Chinese causative category analysis. First, itdefines a causative category and describes the characteristics of causative construction.Then, the chapter elaborates on previous research done by Chinese language scholars.Furthermore, it summarizes important research results and potential weaknesses inthis thesis. On this basis it delineates the construction system of Chinese causativecategory.Chapter Three explains the syntactic and semantic properties of causative pivotalconstructions. It summarizes the causative construction of Modern Chinese pivotalconstruction sentences and illustrates the similarities and differences of shi-sentencesand semantic parameter sentences. Then, it separately discusses the syntactic and semantic properties of shi-sentences and semantic parameter sentences, as well asexplains their categories. Moreover, it describes their syntactic and semantic features.Chapter Four discusses the syntactic and semantic properties of the causativeba-sentences. First, it explains the possibilities to alternate the shi-sentences and thecausative ba-sentences and summarizes the construction of Modern Chinese causativeba-sentences. Then, the chapter separately describes other types of the ba-sentencessuch as the verb, the verb-complement and the predicate-object structures. On thisbasis it analyzes the syntactic and semantic properties of the causative ba-sentences.Chapter Five explains the conversion of causative pivotal constructions andba-sentences (Part I) by concentrating on the analysis of the alternation andmotivation of shi-sentences and causative ba-sentences. First, it separately discussesthe characteristics of constructural members "S","NP"and "VP" in shi-sentences andcausative ba-sentences and explains their conversion. Then, it analyzes the structuralalternation of shi-sentences and causative ba-sentences and their constraints.Chapter Six explains the conversion of causative pivotal constructions andba-sentences (Part II) by concentrating on the analysis of the alternation andmotivation of semantic parameter sentences and causative ba-sentences. First, itseparatedly discusses the characteristics of constructural members "S","NP" and"VP"(or "V" and "VP") in semantic parameter sentences and causative ba-sentencesand explains their conversion. Then, it analyzes the structural alternation of semanticparameter sentences and causative ba-sentences and their constraints.Chapter Seven discusses the cognitive explanation of constructural conversion. Itanalyzes the cognitive base of causative pivotal constructions and ba-sentences mostlybased on constructural grammar theory, as well as from a cognitive grammar point ofview. The chapter then elaborates functional complementary of causative pivotalconstructions and ba-sentences. Finally, it delineates the pragmatic choices ofcausative pivotal constructions and ba-sentences.Chapter Eight is the conclusion. The key points of this thesis are brieflysummarized. Also, the areas in which further analysis is required are pointed out.