The Semantics Of The Transitive Construction

In the view of cognitive linguistics, grammar itself is inherently symbolic and hence meaningful. Therefore, the semantics of grammatical constructions becomes a natural and necessary subject matter of linguistic studies in the tradition of cognitive linguistics. This is opposed to linguistic studies in the tradition of the transformational-generative grammar, which regards grammar as an autonomous system of forms, separated from semantics.Based on the symbolic hypothesis of grammar of cognitive linguistics, the present thesis attempts to offer a unified characterization of the semantics of the transitive construction. In doing so, we stand in line with the prototype theory of categorization, which claims that categories are not homogeneous, but have a prototype, good and bad members, and have fuzzy boundaries. Furthermore, category members are linked by family resemblances, a radial set of clustered and overlapping features. The good members possess more features in common with the prototype than the bad members. Finally category members do not share a set of necessary and sufficient features that can be used to define the category.In light of the prototype theory of categorization, we concern ourselves with the English transitive construction and its semantics. We begin with a discussion of Langacker's canonical event model, which represents the normal observation of the prototypical dynamic process between the agent archetype and patient archetype. We hold that the canonical event model and its components underlie the prototypical meanings of the grammatical constructs of the English transitive construction: the agent archetype provides the prototypical value of the subject relation, the patient archetype underlies the prototypical value of the object relation, and the prototypical dynamic process defines the prototypical meaning of the verb of the transitive construction. Transitive clauses that encode prototypical dynamic processes in the unmarked way are regarded as instantiations of prototypical transitivity, which is broken down into a set of prototypical transitivity properties. Transitive clauses that do not describe prototypical dynamic processes are regarded as meaning extensions. Central meaning extensions possess more prototypical transitivity properties and hence are more similar with the prototypical dynamic process than marginal meaning extensions. Any meaning extension of the transitive construction is motivated either by its objective similarities with the prototypical dynamic process or by its abstract similarities created by metaphorical or metonymical thinking.After the discussion of the semantic category of the English transitive construction, we turn to a comparative study of the semantics between the English transitive construction and the Chinese transitive construction. We find that the English transitive construction and the Chinese transitive construction are identical in the semantic prototype, namely the canonical event model. But they exhibit differences in their meaning extensions. Especially between their marginal meaning extensions, more differences exist. Therefore, for Chinese teachers of English, more focuses should be put on Chinese students'acquisition of the meaning extensions, in particular the marginal meaning extensions of the English transitive construction.Though Chinese transitivity and English transitivity do not extend in exactly the same way, any extension is motivated in some fashion, according to cognitive linguistics. The motivated nature of the meaning extension of grammatical constructions can offer implications for English grammar teaching in China.