A Study On Target Object And Its Relevant Theories

When Case Grammar was created by the Fillmore,"Target Object" hadn't been included yet. But in the Chinese case system, it has been mentioned. Based on previous scholars, we continue to affirm and standardize the concept of "Target Object"."Target Object" is different from the "Patient" and not exactly the same as "Patient" in traditional grammar. It is the target or point of the behavior of actions, so the nouns accessed by non-action verbs can not be the typical "Target Object". Through examing examples from "Verb Usage Dictionary"(Meng Cong, etc1987) and the examples collected by researcher, the semantic features of typical "Target Object" are:[+weak Passivity],[+Causality],[+Relerance]. The "Target Object" has been able to be independent, not only because of the different semantic features, but also because the verbs of involved is specific."Target Object" is mainly related to two types of action verbs:"psychological verbs" and "communicative verbs", while the temporary action verbs also can play a communicative role. In addition, the "Target Object" can be distinguished from other semantic cases by the case marks. What's more, this kind of corresponding in form and meaning also exists in other SOV languages. So the "Target Object" is the scope of Universal Grammar, supplying a supplement to "case grammar".For this particular grammatical category of the "Target Object", this article is divided into six main parts to discuss:0. ForewordsThis chapter mainly introduces the research background, research tasks, and describes the research methods as well as corpus sources, and finally describes the significance of this thesis.1. The Distinction of Semantic Roles and The Definition of "Target Object"Firstly, this chapter introduces how the predecessors distinguished the different Semantic Roles and studyed the existing problems. Then, we limit the definition of the "Target Object" from the form and the meaning, the positive and the negative, and the related verbs. In addition, we argue that it should belong to the core case category, and it should be the essential constituents of sentences, but sometimes there are non-essential Object.2. The Semantic Features of the "Target Object"In this chapter, through comparing with "Patient","Location" and "Dative", we overview the semantic features of the "Target Object". Compared with "Patient", the "Target Object" is weak for Passivity, and then the animate is much higher. Compared with "Location", the animate of the "Target Object" is higher, while the coordinate of the "Location" is higher. Compared with "Dative", the extension of the "Target Object" is wider than "Dative", because the "Target Object" can be "the Perceived Object" as well as "the Communicative or Interactive Object", while the "Dative" can be only related with Communicate or Interactive Verb. So to some extent, these two can be combined, we can incorporate the "Dative" into the "Target Object".3. The Marks of "Target Object"In this chapter, through discussing about the kinds and methods of "Target Object" mark, as well as the applicable conditions, we discover the "Target Object" mark generally include the following:"dui(对),duiyu(对于),xiang(向),chao(朝),gen(跟),gei(给),yu(与),tong(同),chong(冲)"etc. Some can be interchanged, and some changes need to add Dummy Verb, but the majority are placed before the verb and form the structure of the preposition with nouns. In fact, not all of the target nouns guided by "Target Object" mark belong to the "Target Object", if the nouns stand for the action issued, or the entire structure of preposition can be deleted without semantics missing, those do not belong the scope of the "Target Object".4. The Types of the "Target Object"Depending on the type of Verbs, the "Target Object" is divided into "Perceived Object","Communicative or Interactive Object" and "Other Object", corresponding to the psychological verbs, Communicative or Interactive Verbs and Non-communicative action Verbs."Perceived Object" are not subject to the verb generally, it can be a "person" also be a "things", and it mostly picks up the Intransitive Verb;"Communicative or Interactive Object" generally will be subject to the verb, not be the direct role of the verb, but concerned with the indirect role, mostly replaced by "person"."Other Object" refers to the "object nouns" which are neither Psychological Verbs or the Communicative or Interactive Verbs, these verbs are temporary communicative, which can pick up the "Patient Nouns" or "Target Object Nouns", but the "Target Object Nouns" are animate.5. Syntactic Analysis of the "Target Object"Through the corpus, we find that the "Target Object" can appear in all syntactic positions, and different types of "Target Object" have different ability in position exchange. During the transformation process, there are nine kinds of sentence patterns that can be chosen. With the difference of the syntactic position, we can find the degrees of freedom, the co-current capacity with other semantic cases, the ability of sentence's selection are different. What's more its transformation in the syntactic position and sentence pattern follows certain sequence.6. Typological Study of the "Target Object"Through comparing with some examples mainly from Tibetan, Japanese, Korean language recognized as the "Target Object", we find there are the same forms, and semantics features corresponding to the Chinese "Target Object". When the nouns in these languages acting as the "Target Object", they are different from the "Patient", not only in Semantic Features, but also the in case-mark. And both "Patient" and "Target Object" can be appear together, which further validates the necessity and applicability of the concept of the "Target Object".