Acognitive Study Of Modern Chinese Construction Personal Pronoun+Zhe/Na+Shi+X

Modern Chinese S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X,a common special construction,is made up of the personal pronoun(S),the demonstrative pronoun(Zhe/Na),the descriptive verb(Shi)and various forms of X.Existing research on S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X have left some gaps,such as no convincing sentence pattern definition,too narrow a research scope,no in-depth and comprehensive analysis of its syntactic,semantic,pragmatic features,lack of theoretical explanation for its form and meaning,and lack of exploration of its cognitive motivations and mechanisms which call for a unified theoretical explanation.In view of the limitations mentioned above,this study systematically examines the basic characteristics of S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X from the perspective of construction grammar.By integrating Event-domain Cognitive Model(ECM),Cognitive Reference-point Model(CRP)and Conceptual Blending Theory(CBT),a new theoretical model called an Event-domain Cognitive Model based on Cognitive Reference-point Model(CRP)and Conceptual Blending Theory(CBT)is established to theoretically provide a uniform explanation for the cognitive motivations and mechanisms of this particular construction’s form and meaning.It seeks to answer the following set of questions: What is the definition and the constructional meaning of S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X ? What is its classification and hierarchical network? What are its syntactic,semantic and pragmatic features? What are its cognitive motivations? How does S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X construct its meaning ?This study employs a theory-based and a usage-based analytical approach,combining qualitative with quantitative methodologies with a slight focus on the former.The corpora come from Centre for Chinese Linguistics PKU(CCL).The major findings of this study are as follows:Firstly,based on CRP,the linear order of S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X is formed,and under the guidance of CBT its semantic and pragmatic features can get a uniform explanation.S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X with its own special form and meaning conveys both description and evaluation.Based on construction grammar,S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X is defined as a special descriptive and evaluative construction containing Shi.Its constructional meaning is that the speaker describes and intensifies to evaluate something(Zhe/Na)possessed by somebody(S)which is embodied with the property signified by the element X lying behind Shi,mainly focusing on negative evaluation,occasionally with objective and positive evaluation.X is the focus of the whole construction,therefore,mastering X’s form and meaning is the key.According to X’s various forms,S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X is categorized into six types.Its hierarchical network is like this: The most schematic and abstract superordinate construction S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X lies at the top.The less schematic and abstract subordinate constructions of the top level exist in the middle,including the prototypical,the non-prototypical and the marginal constructions,among which S+Zhe/Na+Shi+VP is the prototypical one and the other ones are all extended from S+Zhe/Na+Shi+VP through metonomy.At the bottom stand the corresponding instances with the least abstractness of the construction in the middle,i.e.the concrete language expressions in use.Secondly,the typical characteristics of S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X include:(1)Syntactica lly,the subject(S+Zhe/Na)is special,with S representing different personal forms and uneven distribution and with Zhe/Na showing extensive denotation and severely asymmetrical frequency(Zhe’ s frequency far above that of Na)in use.Besides,S and Zhe/Na constitute a special possessive relationship.Then,the composite predicate Shi+X is special.Shi as a part of the composite predicate is not the main part but X is,and Shi and X bear no direct semantic relationship but the semantic relationship between S+Zhe/Na and X is direct,with X standing for a description of the property of S+Zhe/Na.(2)Semantically,the schematic constructional meaning of S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X can be briefly summarized as a kind of description and evaluation with some degree of intensification,which is achieved through a combination of Shi,Zhe/Na and the context which Zhe/Na+Shi+X lies in.Its instance meaning is actually the emotional meaning or the contextual meaning that S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X conveys,which emerges from a collective contribution of S,X and S+Zhe/Na.Subjectively,S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X expresses the speaker’s perspective,epistemicity and emotion,which results from the contribution of all constructional elements and the context,not just to one or two elements.(3)Pragmatically,S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X demonstrates such pragmatic functions as connecting the text/ continuing a topic and promoting human interaction,highlighting focus,evaluating,and doing something with words.What’s more important is its rich intra-construction and extra-construction pragmatic emergence,with the former(constructional meaning)showing concealed and backgrounding possessive relationship,highlighted and foregrounding property,simplified language and diversified evaluation,and with the latter(the logic relationship between S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X and its immediate following sentence)showing some logical pragmatic meanings stemming from the blending of S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X and its immediate following clauses.Thirdly,the main cognitive motivations of S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X are the conceptualizer’s judging and evaluating the property of the entity with possessive relationship while adherence to the language economy and the text cohesion/topic continuation is the result of the previous two cognitive motivations.Five steps are included in the dynamic meaning constructing process of S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X: First,ECM provides a event-domain frame and some concrete event elements;Second,CRP supplies the cognitive evidence for the linear order of S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X.Third and fourth,CBT provides the cognitive evidence for its pragmatic emergence.Fifth,the cognitive projection to the language leads to a concrete construction S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X.The theoretical and practical significance of this study is that it provides a new perspective for the study of modern Chinese S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X by offering a theoretical explanation for its form and meaning and by establishing a new Event-domain Cognitive Model based on CRP,CBT and ECM,which helps to further enhance the explanatory power of ECM and the development of cognitive linguistic theories with insight from Chinese.The cognitive rules behind Modern Chinese S+Zhe/Na+Shi+X are conductive to exploring the ways and conceptualizing capacities of Chinese users in understanding the world,and provides some useful reference for the Teaching of Chinese as a Foreign Language,contrastive studies between English and Chinese and translation studies.