A Study Of Chinese Verb-copying Sentences From The Perspective Of Macro-event Hypothesis

Verb-copying sentence is a unique syntactic pattern in Chinese,which is constituted by a verb-object construction and a verb-complement construction.This pattern can be encoded as SVOVC.Obviously,the form of the early-occurring construction is fixed,including a verb and a nominal phrase,whereas,in the latter-occurring construction,the form of its complement contains various types,such as a nominal phrase,a verb phrase,an adjective phrase,“得” construction and so on.According to literature review,the majority of previous studies on Chinese verb-copying sentences are clearly categorized into four views,including structuralism,generative grammar,functionalist and cognitive linguistics.Pertinent research has made significant progress in defining and illustrating the definition,categorization,derivation,and syntax-semantics aspects of verb-copying sentences,setting the stage for future studies.In general,however,relevant studies have focused mostly on classifying verb-copying sentences and their syntax-semantics properties,with little focus on the semantic relation between the two verb phrases.Meanwhile,relatively little research has been done to explain verb-copying sentences in terms of event integration.Based on previous research,just alluded to,the current study employs the Macro-event Hypothesis to investigate event integration principles for causative and non-causative verb-copying sentences as well as motivations behind this event integration.Firstly,in terms of syntax-semantics features,the macro-event representation and event integration principles will be interpreted from the perspective of causative and non-causative verb-copying sentences.Furthermore,the current study will explain motivations behind event integration on the basis of cognitive linguistics,pragmatics and cognitive psychology.Through data analysis and investigation,the result shows that:(1)Event integration in causative verb-copying sentences contains two integration principles.The first principle refers that the subject is the agent in the former event which also acts as the patient in the latter event,and thus the two subjects can be integrated into a unitary subject.The second integrated principle has been put forward with respect to the semantic relation between the two sub-events,suggesting that since there is a Cause relation between the two simpler events,they can be integrated into a macro-event.As for non-causative verb-copying sentences,there also exist two integrated principles.On one hand,the same agent causes the patient to experience two events,as a consequence,the two patients consisting in the two simpler events can be integrated into a unitary patient.On the other,the state of the subject in the latter event has been changed with the manner of the action stated by the former event.It is assumed that there is a Manner relation between the two events,and thereby a macro-event is constituted.(2)It is found that event integration in verb-copying sentences is motivated by cognitive,pragmatic and psychological factors according to the analysis of integrated process in verb-copying sentences.Firstly,the study explores motivations from the perspective of Figure-ground theory and iconicity principle,and then elucidates that human’ s embodied experience has an influence on language expression.Secondly,with respect to pragmatics,the Economy Principle and topicalization are adopted to analyze the reason why there exists event integration in verb-copying sentences.It is the principle of least effort that plays an important role in the generation of verb-copying sentences.Finally,psychological chunking also promotes the integration of the two simpler events in verb-copying sentences.This thesis makes an attempt to illustrate syntax-semantics features of verb-copying sentences in light of event integration and reveal motivations behind event integration.For one thing,this research can expand a new perspective of the study of verb-copying sentences.For another,it could prove the feasibility and applicability of Macro-event hypothesis for Chinese unique syntactic studies.In addition,the findings of this study can provide some references for language teaching,second language acquisition,teaching Chinese as a foreign language and machine translation.