| Discourse markers(henceforth DMs)are a kind of commonly used linguistic expressions.They are a functionally related class of connectives that encode a relationship between the discourse that contains them and the foregoing discourse.Since the 1970 s,DMs have attracted the attention of researchers and they have gradually become a hot topic in linguistic studies.At present,the research on DMs mainly focuses on their synchronic pragmatic functions and diachronic development,and has reached some consensus.However,the existing research is still controversial in terms of research scope and research theory:(1)The exploration of DMs has not been exhausted.For example,the research on summative discourse markers(henceforth SDMs)has not received enough attention.(2)The theoretical attribution of the emergence of DMs has not yet been determined.On the one hand,the change of DMs presents many of the same characteristics as the grammaticalization process(such as semantic bleaching,subjectivization,etc.),so some scholars classify it as a case of grammaticalization.On the other hand,scope increase and syntactic freedom in the change process,as well as the result of change render the emergence of DMs more or less some characteristics of pragmaticalization.In response to the above problems,this thesis,from the standpoint of Construction Grammar,argues that on the one hand,a constructional approach to language change integrates two seemingly different views of grammaticalization(grammaticalization as reduction and grammaticalization as expansion),and thus can provide a fuller account of the rise of DMs by focusing on both the grammaticalizing item and the context.On the other hand,it uses the concept of construction to unify grammatical elements and pragmatic elements,so it can avoid the distinction between grammaticalization and pragmaticalization,thereby solving the theoretical dispute in the study of DMs.Under a constructional framework,SDMs,as form-meaning/function pairings,belong to a special kind of procedural construction,namely the summative discourse marker construction(henceforth SDMC).The SDMC is a network composed of different levels of constructions,including a macro-schema,some meso-subschemas,and some micro-constructions.Based on the above assumptions,this thesis aims to answer the following three questions:(1)Do micro-SDMCs undergo constructional changes in their emergence? If yes,what are their semantic and syntactic change paths?(2)What are the types of the meso-subschemas of the SDMC? As to different types of subschemas,what are their characteristics in form and meaning?(3)Does the change of the macro-SDMC have directionality? If yes,what is the directionality?To answer the above three questions,we take six English SDMs(in sum,in total,in summary,in a word,to sum up and to summarize)as cases,using COHA as the data source,and,using a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods,to explore the changes of the micro-SDMCs,the types of the meso-subschemas of the SDMC and the directionality of the change of the macro-SDMC under the guidance of Usage-based Construction Grammar.The specific research procedures are as follows:(1)Exhaustively search the above six SDMs in COHA,and count the token frequencies of each SDM in the four genres of non-fiction,fiction,newspapers and magazines to discover the genre with the highest frequency for each SDM.(2)Use the frequency-based VNC algorithm to partition the development of each SDM.Combined with the time segmentation,the specific contexts of each SDM in the genre with the highest frequency are organized according to three different positions: the sentence-initial position,the sentence-medial position,and the sentence-final position,which is convenient for the subsequent qualitative analysis.Finally,the change paths of these six SDMs can be found.(3)Compare the changes of the above six SDMs,and summarize the different meso-subschemas of the SDMC.(4)Induce the directionality of the change of the macro-SDMC in terms of productivity,schematicity and compositionality based on the changes of the six micro-SDMCs and the changes of the meso-subschemas.The main findings are as follows:(1)Five micro-SDMCs undergo constructional changes in their emergence,and their respective change paths are as follows: The semantic change path of in sum is: concerning the total number or amount > as a whole > in terms of the gist of a speech or writing > introducing a summative statement or assessment;and its syntactic change path is: sentence-internal adverbial > parenthesis > SDM.The semantic change path of in total is: in a complete state or emotion of > concerning the total number or amount > as a whole > introducing a summative statement or assessment;and its syntactic change path is: sentence-internal predicative or complement > sentence-internal attributive or adverbial > sentence adverbial > parenthesis > SDM.The semantic change path of in summary is: doing something in an immediate and simple way > saying or writing something in a brief way > introducing a summative statement or assessment;and its syntactic change path is: sentence-internal adverbial > SDM.The semantic change path of in a word is: unintentionally saying a word or a few words about something > saying something briefly > introducing a summative statement or assessment;and its syntactic change path is: verb phrase + object > sentence-internal adverbial > parenthesis > SDM.The semantic change path of to sum up is: to give a summary of something > introducing a summative statement or assessment;and its syntactic change path is: sentence-internal subject,object,object complement,or predicative > parenthesis > SDM.Another micro-SDMC(to summarize)does not undergo constructional changes in its emergence.The constructionalization of to summarize is realized by analogization with to sum up.(2)Three meso-subschemas are found for the SDMC based on these six micro-SDMCs.The first subschema of the SDMC is based on V-infinitives,and it means “to give a summary of something”.It occurs in the 1880 s.The second subschema of the SDMC is based on adverbials of manner,and it means “saying or writing something in a brief way”.It appears in the 1920 s.The third subschema of the SDMC is based on adverbials of aspect,and it means “concerning the total number or amount”.It emerges in the 1970 s.The second and third subschemas can be abstracted into a more schematic subschema,namely a subschema based on adverbials.It possesses the second and third meanings.(3)There is directionality in the development of the macro-SDMC,namely increase in productivity and schematicity,and decrease in compositionality.The increase in productivity is reflected by the increase in the number of micro-SDMCs,the expansion of the host-classes of the source constructions,and the increase in the token frequencies of the SDM uses.The increase in schematicity shows in the fact that the contentful source constructions gradually develop into procedural micro-SDMCs and the SDMC schema itself comes to have more members(micro-SDMs and subschemas)over time.The decrease in compositionality is reflected in the fact that the compositional source constructions lose transparency and become idiomatic micro-SDMCs.In summary,this thesis studies the diachronic changes of the six micro-SDMCs,the different meso-subschemas of the SDMC,and the directionality of the change of the macro-SDMC in detail,which can supplement the existing research on DMs as well as deepen language users’ understanding of SDMs.In addition,the constructional framework for change proposed in this thesis under the guidance of Usage-based Construction Grammar can provide a reference for subsequent research on other DMs. |
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