| The particular Chinese construction,“Bi X1Hai X2” deviates from normalgrammar. The semantic meaning of comparative sentence in traditional grammar isthat “X2” surpasses “X1” in attributive meaning, number, measurement and otheraspects, demanding that “X1” is standed by noun, and “X2” itself expresses degreeand must be a variable measurement domain. Generally “X2” is instantiated by Adj.,but there is a special phenomenon that “X1”,“X2” are expressed by the same wordand they can be instantiated by N, NP, Adj and V. The previous scholars restricted“X” to be noun without any consideration of “X” being other parts of speech in thisconstruction, and they have failed to study this construction systematically from theperspective of Cognitive Linguistics and Construction Grammar, let alone anystatistical support.This paper establishes EC Model which is an integration of ECM（Event-domain Cognitive Model） and Construction Coercion to expound thesyntactic, semantic and pragmatic features respectively via the constructionprocedure network. EC Model illustrates the underlying cognitive mechanism with500items collected from CCL, literary works,newspaper, magazines and networks.The paper consists of the following five chapters.Chapter One focuses on a general introduction to this study, includingmotivation, purpose, research scope, the general description of methodology, datacollection, and layout.Chapter Two reviews previous studies concerning “Bi X1Hai X2” constructionat home and abroad, from which the limitations of the studies have been unveiled.Chapter Three, in the hope of filling the gap, revises Goldberg （1995,2006）,Michaelis （2004） and Wang Yin （2005）’s Construction Coercion and ECM andproposes a new theoretical framework, EC, coupled with case studies.Chapter Four includes data analysis and discussion. First of all, the process ofdata collection has been fully described. Then, a thorough analysis has beenconducted through the501items of “Bi X1Hai X2” with the illustration of the relateddata. Chapter Five copes with a conclusion and three leading contributions asfollows:1. Establishing EC Model by intergrating Wan Yin （2005）’s ECM intoconstruction Coercion in order to analyze the cognitive mechanism of “Bi X1HaiX2”.2. Finding that: First, besides nouns, adjectives and verbs can also come into“Bi X1Hai X2” Construction at the position of “X” for the first time. The previousstudies’ thought about the definiteness of nouns in “Bi X1Hai X2” Construction isinproper; Second, characteristics of adjectives are found under the effects ofConstruction Coercion when “X” are nouns and verbs. Metonymy and metaphor areproduced under the effect of Construction Coercion, when “X” is standed by nounsor noun phrases.3. Constructing a database of “Bi X1Hai X2” with501items for the first timeand analyzing the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic features respectively via ECmodel with statistical support.At the end of this thesis, limitations and shortcomings are discussed and someeffective suggestions are provided for future investigation. |
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