A Research On The Co-occurrence Construction Of “Bei” And “Ba” In Modern Chinese

The co-occurrence of “bei” and “ba”,as a special grammatical phenomenon in modern Chinese language,has not yet been attached importance to,therefore,there are not many research results on it.In this essay,we will explore the co-occurrence construction of “bei” and “ba” from a brand-new insight by utilizing the construction grammar so as to explain the relevant grammatical phenomenon as well as promote the relevant study on the construction.There are three conditions to define the co-occurrence construction:(1)in the construction,the component of “bei” and the component of “ba” are all placed in front of the predicate verb as the adverbial;(2)they modify the same headword;(3)they are connected tightly,and there is no component inserted between them or no pausing punctuation to separate them.According to the positions where the component of “bei” and the component of “ba” are placed,the co-occurrence construction can be divided into two classifications: N1+“bei”+(N2)+“ba”+N3+VP(that is construction one);N1+“ba”+N3+“bei”+(N2)+VP(that is construction two).There are reasonable reasons for the formation of the co-occurrence construction.The semantic overlap among the components is the key to the integration of complex constructions.The construction one is integrated by three components of [N1+“bei”+N2],[N2+“ba”+N3] and [N3+VP];the construction two is integrated by three components of [N1+“ba”+N3],[N3+“bei”+N2] and [N2+VP].The motivation that such integration can be achieved is the corresponding relation between the semantic profile and the salient substructure of each component.Construction one is the semantic set which is formed based on the prototype of involuntary spatial displacement,and then extent into involuntary transfer,change,identification and consequential meaning by metaphor.The complete meaning of construction one is that: after N3 is disposed of by N2 through V,the involuntary displacement(transfer,change,consequence,etc)is generated,and N1 is influenced thereby.Construction two is the semantic set which is formed based on the prototype of causative involuntary spatial displacement and then extent into causative involuntary transfer,change and consequential meaning by metaphor.The complete meaning of construction two is that: because of the cause of N1,N3 receives the action or behavior by N2 through V,thus leading to the involuntary displacement(transfer,change and consequence).The two main causes leading to the asymmetry of distribution of construction one and construction two are the secondary contrasting focus,identifiability hierarchy and the principle of semantic proximity.The discourse function of the co-occurrence construction is the emotional comment made by the speaker(or the empathy)to the negative involuntary occurrence(such as the accident,helplessness and dissatisfaction),or the warning or caution that the speaker sends out as the preventive measure.The declining trend of utilization frequency of co-occurrence construction is related to its complex grammatical structure,complex semantic function,and the lower rate of transmission and speech listening discrimination.Despite of this,it has the pragmatic value in keeping the topic of a text consistent.The idea of the construction-chunk approach for teaching corresponds to the real teaching practice.Therefore,we advocate the application of this method in the teaching of co-occurrence construction in the teaching of Chinese as a foreign language,and we also provide the detailed teaching thoughts and procedures of each sub-type of the construction for the purpose to bring some practical help and inspirations to teaching.