A Cognitive And Pragmatic Study Of Modern Chinese Hypothetical Sentences

The study of hypothetical sentences is significant to the understanding of human language, the nature of human thinking and the relationship between language and thought. However, they haven't been paid the attention they deserve. The researches related in China are not very instructive compared with those in English conditionals. This thesis is aimed at establishing a framework for the research of Chinese hypothetical sentences and at conducting a systematic research with pragmatic and cognitive theories.The themes of this thesis evolve as follows:the prototype of Chinese hypothetical sentences and the model of construction of the prototypical category; the mechanisms of the genesis of Chinese hypothetical sentences and of the explanation of the dynamics for the construction of the category; the politeness expressed by Chinese hypothetical sentences in communication and its corresponding strategic considerations.Chapter One first defines the research subject, then reviews the history and current status of researches in Chinese hypothetical sentences, and then goes on to a very brief introduction to the researches of English conditionals as a contrast. Finally, it has stated the significance of this research, the basic ideas and general framework, the theories and methods applied, and the sources of language materials.Chapter Two concerns the analysis of the semantic components of Chinese hypothetical constructions, including such components as uncertainty, sufficient conditionality, general hypotheticality, possibility and the procedural meaning of cognitive frames. The relationships among these components are also discussed.The analysis in Chapter Two is then combined with the theory of prototypical category and a statistical research to obtain the abstract prototypical hypothetical sentence in Chapter Three. What follows is the establishment of a "two-level-and-four-dimension" construction model of the prototypical category:on the morphological level, the category extended through the collocation of hypothetical conjunctions, the combination of multi-propositions, the abnormal word order, and the sentence types other than indicatives; on the semantic-pragmatic level, the category was constructed in such four dimensions as negation, concession, speech act, and counterfactuality.In the next three chapters, the author attempts to provide mechanisms for the genesis of Chinese hypothetical sentences and the explanation of the dynamics for the construction of the prototypical category. Chapter Four first establishes a mechanism of the genesis of Chinese hypothetical sentences based on Mach's theory of "thought experiment, thus clarifying their intrinsic features. One of these features, the degree of hypotheticality(DH), is then studied on the semantic and pragmatic levels:on the semantic level, a continuum is established among the hypothetical conjunctions and constructions according to DH value, which is then checked in an investigation; on the pragmatic level, the changes in DH value is studied in three directions. Chapter Five begins with the discussions of the construction of cognitive contexts in understanding hypothetical sentences, which is followed by the study of the subjectification processes of the hypothetical relation and the semantic component of possibility. The former process leads to the adaptations of the relationship between the protasis and apodosis, which is overt in Chinese hypothetical sentences and covert in English conditionals; the latter process turns hypothetical sentences from open possibility to counterfactuality, which is overt in English conditionals but less overt in Chinese hypothetical sentences. Chapter Six studies conditional perfection. After an account and criticism of past researches in the west, the author offers a new explanation: conditional perfection is the subjectification of conditionality in nature, and a potential waiting to be realized in particular contexts while being restricted by the subjectification in other directions.Chapter Seven focuses on hypothetical sentences in everyday use and begins with discussions of their indirectness in communication and types of illocutionary acts expressed. Some of the illocutionary acts seem to contradict each other, but when analyzed with conditional perfection, they are in fact two sides of the same coin. Then hypothetical expressions serving as a negative politeness strategy is discussed and the roles indirectness and uncertainty play in this phenomenon are explored.Chapter Eight serves to conclude the thesis, which is compounded by the claims of new ideas and shortcomings, and a statement of research prospect.The researches in this thesis are synchronic and explanatory with a certain degree of description. They are conducted with illustrations of examples, statistical analysis, contrastive analysis of Chinese and English, and social investigation with questionnaires.