A Cognitive Study Of The Existential Construction In English And Chinese

Existential constructions exist commonly in English and Chinese. Ithas attracted many linguists' attention for its particularity and complexity.The systematic studies of existential constructions have lasted for a longtime, and the researchers have got a series of achievements, especially inthe field of a single language study. But the comparative studies of theexistential constructions are superficial, and require a further study. Thesynchronic studies of the existential construction are more thorough thanthe diachronic ones, for the diachronic studies are only in a primary stage.It is significant to analyze the English Existential Construction (EEC)and the Chinese Existential Construction (CEC) under the guide ofcognitive linguistics. The present thesis applies the ConstructionGrammar Theory to analyze this linguistic phenomenon, that is to say, thestudies will not focus on specific and concrete sentences but theExistential Construction (EC)—a pairing of form and meaning. One ofthe basic viewpoints of the Construction Grammar Theory is thatconstruction is the combination of form and meaning. Although therewere no specific words in a construction, it also has correspondingsemantic and pragmatic functions to the form. Construction is a basic unitof language, which is an entirety. The EC is not a specific sentence, butan abstract concept. A study of it can help us to explore the origin of thislinguistic phenomenon, and a comparative study can explore the internalrelations and differences between the EEC and the CEC.The present thesis firstly proves the existence of the EEC and theCEC, analyzes the construction meanings of them, then explains thecharacteristics of their compositional elements and makes a comparativestudy of its compositional elements. During this process, it applies somerelated cognitive linguistic theories to explain its compositional elements. Cognitive linguistics is an approach to language that is based on ourexperience of the world and the way we perceive and conceptualize theworld. Using it, we can explain objects more comprehensively.According to the Categorization Theory, things in the world conductprototype effects, that is, there are typical members and peripheralmembers in a category; and the constructions conduct the same. Thepresent thesis considers the EEC and the CEC as two categories, whichhave their own typical members and peripheral members that havedifferent characteristics. At last, it proposes a hypothesis about thedevelopment relation between the EEC and the CEC from the diachronicperspective, that is, they may have an inheritable relation.This thesis analyzes the most basic units, the EEC and the CEC.These two constructions exist in English and Chinese correspondently, and their structural elements have similarities and differences: these twoconstructions have the same construction meaning, but have differentconstruction expressions and internal compositional elements; these twoconstructions are also two categories and conduct prototype effects. Butthey have different ways to divide the subcategories because of Englishfocusing on form and Chinese focusing on meaning. This research isconducive to the studies and uses of existential sentences in English andChinese, and it has great guiding significance in foreign languageteaching and the Chinese language teaching to foreigners.