A Cognitive Grammar Approach To Semantic Overlapping And Discourse Function Of Jianyu Construction In Chinese

The study of Jianyu Construction has a long history. The putting forward of Jianyu Construction aroused hot dispute, which focuses on the keeping or abolishing of the name of Jianyu Construction, the retaining and cancelling of Jianyu Construction itself, the defining of the scope of Jianyu Construction, the dual role of Jianyu N₂ and the syntactic function of V1 and V₂. The hot dispute has proved that Jianyu Construction, as a special language phenomenon, has become a study focus for scholars. As far as the studies of Jianyu Construction are concerned, the studies from different perspectives have different findings. The studies from the traditional grammar approach point out the dual syntactic role of Jianyu Construction; the studies from the structural linguistics approach put forward the separating and merging of Jianyu in the syntactic analysis of Jianyu Construction; the studies from transformational-generative grammar approach go deeper into the logical level of Jianyu Construction, and point out that after Jianyu, there exists an empty category which has the same reference with it. These studies indicate that the distinctiveness of Jianyu Construction lies in its component Jianyu. On the basis of the former studies, this paper finds some unsolved questions existing in the former literature about Jianyu Construction. Although the studies from the traditional grammar approach have given a sufficient description of the syntactic features of Jianyu Construction, and pointed out the dual syntactic role of Jianyu N₂ in Jianyu Construction, what remains unexplained is the reason why such a component N₂ can perform two syntactic roles to put the two phrases together. Although the studies from the structural linguistics approach put forward the separating and merging of Jianyu, which can be divided into two components or can be regarded as the merging of two components, what needs to be solved is the reason why Jianyu N₂ in Jianyu Construction enjoys such a separating and merging feature. Although the studies from the transformational-generative approach point out the existence of an empty category after Jianyu N₂, what needs to be probed deeper is the reason why there exists such an empty category which shares the same reference with Jianyu N₂. The studies from the pragmatic-functional approach attach great importance to Jianyu N₂, which is the pragmatic focus, but it does not explain why it is the pragmatic focus. In view of the importance of Jianyu N₂, this paper attempts to reexamine Jianyu Construction within the framework of cognitive grammar from the perspective of Jianyu N₂, with the hope to make some new findings on the one hand and deepen the cognitive study of syntactic constructions on the other hand.The main contents of this study are to abstract the semantic construction mechanism of Jianyu Construction, to probe Jianyu N₂'s function in the semantic construction of Jianyu Construction and to explore the application of the cohesive role of Jianyu in the general Jianyu language phenomenon. The study consists of nine chapters. Chapter One is an introduction; Chapter Two is literature review; Chapter Three is concerning Jianyu Construction's definition and its features. Chapter Four is the analysis of the constructional meaning of Jianyu Construction; Chapter Five is a cognitive framework of Jianyu Construction's semantic construction. Chapter Six is the cognitive analysis of the semantic construction of Jianyu Construction. Chapter Seven is the symbolization between the syntactic structure and semantic structure of Jianyu Construction. Chapter Eight is the implicit alignment function of Jianyu. Chapter Nine is the conclusion.Chapter One is an introduction, mainly concerning the motive, aim, methodology, theoretical approach, data and the composition of this dissertation.Chapter Two is literature review, which surveys the previous studies of Jianyu Construction and makes some comment. On this basis, research questions are put forward.In the previous literature concerning the study of Jianyu Construction, a detailed description of its syntactic features is made by the studies from the traditional grammar approach. The studies from the structural linguistics approach attempt to solve the syntactic analysis of Jianyu Construction through the division and merging of Jianyu while the studies from transformational-generative grammar approach touch upon the logic level of Jianyu Construction and point out the existence of an empty category after Jianyu N₂. The pragmatic and functional studies concerning Jianyu Construction point out its special pragmatic feature--- the pragmatic focus of Jianyu. All these studies deepen our understanding of Jianyu Construction and pave the way for our study. However, although the previous studies realize that the specialty of Jianyu Construction lies in its component Jianyu N₂, the cognitive origin of this special character is seldom touched or even unsolved. For instance, why can such a component N₂ perform two roles? Why can Jianyu N₂ be divided into two or be regarded as the merging of the same two components? Why does there exist an empty category after Jianyu N₂? The existence of these questions requires us to reexamine this construction from a new approach. Therefore, this paper studies Jianyu Construction within the framework of cognitive grammar. To be exact, we attempt to abstract the semantic construction of Jianyu Construction, probe the Jianyu's function in the semantic construction of Jianyu Construction and the discourse function of Jianyu in Jianyu language phenomenon.Chapter Three redefines the scope of Jianyu Construction and classifies it into three categories: causative Jianyu Construction, reason-explaining Jianyu Construction and illustration Jianyu Construction. This chapter also analyzes the grammatical, semantic and pragmatic features of Jianyu Construction. Through analysis, this study finds that the typical grammatical, semantic and pragmatic features all consist in the component Jianyu N₂. The three typical features of Jianyu Construction are N₂'dual syntactic role, dual semantic role and dual pragmatic role. Dual syntactic role refers to the fact that N₂ is both the object of V1 and the subject of V₂, namely, N₂ is the syntactic overlapping of the same two syntactic components. Dual semantic role refers to the fact that N₂ is both a semantic component of V1 and a semantic component of V₂, namely, N₂ is the semantic overlapping of the same two semantic components. Dual pragmatic role refers to the fact that N₂ is both a comment (exactly part of comment) and a topic, namely, N₂ is the pragmatic overlapping of the same two pragmatic components. The component Jianyu N₂ is the bond between the two topics. It is obvious that Jianyu N₂ occupies a special position and plays a special role in Jianyu Construction. This explains the reason why this paper reexamines and explores Jianyu Construction from the perspective of Jianyu N₂.Chapter Four puts forward the constructional meaning of Jianyu Construction through the analysis of a large number of Jianyu Construction examples in use. Through the analysis of the semantics of Jianyu Construction, this study finds that its constructional meaning is the cause-effect relationship between two events. The cause-and-effect relationship displays its diversity. There are mainly there types of cause-and-effect relationship in Jianyu Construction, which are causative cause-and-effect relationship, reason-explaining cause-and-effect relationship and illustration cause-and-effect relationship. The semantic logic formula indicates that the shared component of the two events is N₂. In other words, N₂ is the bond between the two events. However, N₂'s bond function is an implicit logical alignment; it is not an overt alignment in the syntactic level.Chapter Five establishes a cognitive framework of Jianyu Construction's semantic construction mechanism, exploring its semantic construction. Jianyu Construction expresses a complex cause-and-effect event, including the cause event and the effect event. The cause-and-effect relationship between the two events is realized through the two substructures profiled by Jianyu N₂. The autonomous structure N₂ profiles two substructures, one of which semantically corresponds to the schematic substructure profiled by the dependent structure in the cause event; the other of which semantically corresponds to the schematic substructure profiled by the dependent structure in the effect event. The alignment of the two events into one complex event is sunctioned by the double semantic overlappings between the two substructures profiled by N₂ and the two schematic substructures profiled by the two dependent structures in cause event and effect event.Chapter Six explores the alignment function of N₂ in causative Jianyu Construction, reason-explaining Jianyu Construction and illustration Jianyu Construction. In causative Jianyu Construction, the cause event [N1+V1+N₂] means that N1"causes"N₂. The effect event[N₂+V₂] means that N₂ performs an certain action or remains in a certain state. The autonomous structure N₂ profiles two semantic substructures, one of which semantically corresponds to the schematic landmark"causee"profiled by the dependent structure V1 in the cause event; the other of whcih semantically overlaps with the schematic trajector"a certain action performer or an entity in a certain state"profiled by the dependent structure V₂ in the effect event. The two events are aligned into a coherent event which means that"because N1'causes'N₂, N₂ performs a certain action or remains in a certain state". In the reason-explaining Jianyu Construction, the effect event [N1+V1+N₂] means that N1 displays a certain feeling toward N₂. The cause event [N₂+V₂] means that N₂ performs a certain action or possesses a certain character. The autonomous structure N₂ profiles two semantic substructures, one of which semantically corresponds to the schematic landmark"feeling-receiver"profiled by the dependent structure V1 in the effect event; the other of whcih semantically overlaps with the schematic trajector"a certain action performer or a certain character possessor"profiled by the dependent structure V₂ in the cause event. The two events are aligned into a coherent event, which means that"N1 displays a certain feeling toward N₂,because N₂ performs a certain action or possesses a certain character". In illustration Jianyu Construction, the cause event [N1+V1+N₂] means that N1 introduces a topic N₂. The effect event[N₂+V₂] means that N₂ performs an certain action or displays a certain feature. The autonomous structure N₂ profiles two semantic substructures, one of which semantically correponds to the schematic landmark"a topic introduced"profiled by the dependent structure V1 in the cause event; the other of whcih semantically overlaps with the schematic trajector"a certain action performer or an entity displaying a certain feature"profiled by the dependent structure V₂ in the effect event. The two events are aligned into a coherent event, which means that"N1 introduces a topic N₂, the topic N₂ performs a certain action or displays a certain feature". The cause event and the effect event in the three categories of Jianyu Construction are aligned into a coherent cause-and-effect event through Jianyu N₂. The alignment function of Jianyu N₂ in the semantic construction of Jianyu Construction reveals the cognitive mechanism of N₂ discourse function.The alignment of the three categories of Jianyu Construction indicates that in some sense, the semantics of Jianyu Construction is determined by the semantics of its components. However, the semantics of Jianyu Construction is not equal to the composition of the components'semantics. Jianyu Construction expresses a complex event,which part of it is profiled is related to the language users'intention. Language users may profile the cause event or the effect event, depending on their intention.Chapter Seven analyzes the symbolic relationship between the syntactic structure and the semantic structure in Jianyu Construction. In this construction, the syntactic structure symbolizes the semantic structure, including the symbolic relationship between every syntactic structure and every semantic structure, the symbolic relationship between the grouping of syntactic structures and the grouping of the semantic structures and the symbolic relationship between the whole syntactic structure and the whole semantic structure. From the analysis of the symbolic relationship of Jianyu Construction, this study finds that Jianyu N₂ plays an alignment role not only in the semantic pole, but also in the syntactic pole. N₂'s semantic alignment is symbolized by its syntactic alignment. N₂ displays the typical features of Jianyu Construction both in the syntactic pole and the semantic pole. Therefore, N₂ really deserves the name of Jianyu.Chapter Eight explores the universal discourse function of Jianyu and analyzes the cognitive mechanism of the realization of Jianyu's discourse function in Liandong Construction, Dongjie Construction, Ba Construction, Bei Construction, De Construction, Liandong-jianyu Construction, Jianyu-liandong Construction, double Jianyu Construction, Mutiple Jianyu Construction and the Jianyu expressions in English. Through analysis, it is found that Jianyu, just like N₂, is an implicit intersential cohesive method, playing a discourse function just like a conjunction. The discourse function of the component Jianyu is realized by the different semantic substructures it profiles.Chapter Nine is the conclusion, pointing out the main findings in this study. The findings are reported in four aspects. First, semantic overlapping is the necessary condition for the alignment of components in a construction. The components in a construction align to form a composite structure on the basis of semantic overlapping. Second, there exists the implicit cohesion mechanism in language. The intersentential cohesion of the component Jianyu is embodied by aligning the two actions or events in a construction into a complex action or event. Jianyu is an implicit intersentential cohesive method, playing a discourse function just like a cohesive conjunction. Third, just like the dependent structure, the autonomous structure also plays an important role in the alignment of components in a construction. Based on the encyclopaedic view of semantics, an autonomous structure may profile two or more semantic substructures, which elaborate the semantic substructures profiled by the different dependent structures. In the process of elaborating the semantic substructures profiled by the dependent structures, the autonomous structure aligns the processes or relations profiled by the dependent structures to form a composite process or relation. Fourth, the constructional meaning comes from the alignment of its components; however, the constructional meaning of Jianyu Construction is not the composition of the meaning of its components and the profile of a construction is related to the language user's intention.The theoretical significance of the study is reported as follows. First, the exploration of Jianyu's cohesive function enriches the study of discourse cohesion. Jianyu is an implicit intersentential cohesive method. Jianyu is an intersentential cohesive method why plays an important role in the intersentential cohesion. The exploration of Jianyu's discourse function deepens people's understanding of the discourse cohesion and widens the study concerning discourse cohesion in Chinese. Second, this study reveals the cognitive mechanism of Jianyu as a cohesive method. As an intersentential cohesive method, Jianyu aligns two actions or events into a complex action or event by the semantic overlappings between the substructures it profiles and the schemantic substructures profiled by the dependent elements.The study still has some limitations. The data coverage needs expanding. The pragmatic function of Jianyu in Jianyu Construction still needs a deeper exploration.