A Corpus-based Collostructional Analysis Of “Da(打)+Noun” In Chinese

In modern Chinese,the verb “Da(打)” is widely used,and because of the complex meanings and collocations,the verb “Da(打)” is of great concern to the scholars at home.Previous studies intend to regard the verb “Da(打)” as an isolated word to explore its evolution from the syntactic,semantic and cognitive point of view.However,less attention is paid to the meaning of “Da(打)+Noun” construction and the semantic features and categorization of nouns.In addition,the semantic evolution of the verb “Da(打)” is of diversity,and the dozens of meanings of the verb “Da(打)” make it difficult to infer the whole meaning of “Da(打)+Noun” construction only through the sum of its parts.As it were,the semantic diversity of “Da(打)” brings challenges to the understanding of “Da(打)+Noun”construction and Chinese teaching and learning.The rise of Construction Grammar sheds light on the studies of “Da(打)+Noun”construction.According to the basic ideas of Construction Grammar,construction is the pairing of form and meaning,and the relations of constructional meanings can be further explained by inheritance relation.Meanwhile,the rise of Collostructional Analysis Method is also of significance for quantifying the collostructional relation between a construction and its components and exploring the meaning distribution of construction.Therefore,based on Construction Grammar and by the application of Collostructional Analysis Method,this study takes “Da(打)+Noun” construction as the research object and attempts to analyze the following questions:Firstly,what kinds of nouns are more significantly associated with “Da(打)+Noun”construction?Secondly,what are the prototypical and atypical meanings of “Da(打)+Noun”construction based on the classification of semantic collocation between the verb “Da(打)”and various types of nouns?Thirdly,how is the semantic network of “Da(打)+Noun” construction constructed?What is the cognitive motivation?With respect to the above research questions,this study retrieves and screens eligible“Da(打)+Noun” construction by manual work in the Contemporary Chinese Corpus of the State Language Commission,and the frequency information related to “Da(打)+Noun”construction is also calculated.Next,by means of the running of Coll.analysis 3.2a script in R environment,this study calculates the collostructional strength of all nouns occurring in“Da(打)+Noun” construction,and then the semantic features and categories of these nouns are analyzed.Furthermore,the meanings,semantic network and cognitive motivation of “Da(打)+Noun” construction are also analyzed.The major findings of this study are elaborated as follows:First,it is found that 536 nouns are significantly associated with “Da(打)+Noun”construction,and in terms of semantic features,they are further classified into 27 categories,including physical behavior,object or activity related to entertainment event,interpersonal communication manner,organ or part of body,human or human group,animal,gas or liquid,electrical communication instrument,weapon,vehicle,psychological activity,number counting,conflict event,musical instrument and sign,building and material,daily instrument,clothing and material,furniture,food,credential,sign,natural phenomenon,work affair or role,medical product,location,plant,and flag or sign.Second,based on the classification of semantic collocation between the verb “Da(打)”and various types of nouns,it is found that the prototypical meaning of “Da(打)+Noun”construction is identified as “strike or beat something with hands or instruments”.And 14 types of atypical meanings are illustrated as “build or form something by certain actions”,“be engaged in conflict event”,“collect(acquire)something by certain actions”,“take certain ways to interact with people”,“be engaged in recreational activities”,“show physical actions of living beings”,“inject liquids into the organism”,“undertake some jobs or roles”,“hold or raise something with hand”,“send something along certain direction”,“think or work out”,“get rid of something by certain actions”,“apply something on some places” and“actions from nature”.Finally,based on the analysis of the prototypical and atypical meanings of “Da(打)+Noun” construction,it is found in this study that the semantic network of “Da(打)+Noun” construction is built by means of polysemy links and metaphorical links in construction inheritance relation.Moreover,this study further explores the cognitive motivation of “Da(打)+Noun” construction,and finds that it is mainly attributed to the inheritance links of constructions,conceptual metaphor,the interrelation between nouns and“Da(打)+Noun” construction,the role of verb “Da(打)”,the role of environment and the least effort principle.Based on the theoretical framework of Construction Grammar and the application of Collostructional Analysis Method,this study further explores “Da(打)+Noun” construction from new viewpoint,which makes up for the deficiencies of the previous studies to an extent.At the same time,this study also brings some enlightenment to Chinese teaching and learning and the studies of other similar constructions.