On The Ordering Of Multiple Premodifiers In English And Chinese Descriptive Nominal Constructions: A Cognitive-Functional Exploration

This thesis is intended to provide a cognitive-functional framework for a contrastive analysis of the ordering of multiple premodifiers in English and Chinese descriptive nominal constructions.The first part of the study presents a theoretical frame of analysis to explore the cognitive process of the ordering of multiple premodifiers. A general principle governing the ordering is thus proposed. In the second part, the general principle is applied to a contrastive analysis of the ordering of multiple premodifiers between English and Chinese. The third part is concerned with the strategies possibly employed for the translation of nominal constructions with multiple premodifiers between the two languages.The major claims made in this study are that the allocation of positions for multiple premodifiers in a nominal construction is a three-stage cognitive process of spreading activation. Three types of premodifiers are classified according to the functions they fulfill and a general principle governing their ordering is proposed in conformity with the notion of information structure and the principle of proximity iconicity: identifying premodifiers tend to take the initial position; descriptive premodifiers tend to take the medial position; and classifying premodifiers tend to take the final position before the head noun.The results from the contrastive analysis support our hypothesis and show that English and Chinese do share a general pattern due to their common cognitive mechanisms. Meanwhile, differences also lie in the recognition of certain functions between the two languages on account of their different cognitive strategies and language systems Other factors such as the syllable principle, coordinate markers and the speaker's intention to achieve emphatic effects may interact with the principle of information structure and proximity iconicity to affect the ordering of multiple premodifiers.Several strategies may be employed in the translation of nominal constructions with multiple premodifiers and flexible treatments have to be made in different contexts.