A Cognitive Approach To The Generation Of Double-Object Construction

As to the generation of double-object construction (DOC), the traditional syntactic derivation approach, valence approach and cognitive approach altogether lack systematic explanatory power due to their failure to touch upon the most primary cognitive motivation underlying human language.This dissertation is a more comprehensive and systematic study on English and Chinese (E&C) DOCs compared with previous approaches. It explores not only the generation process of the primary E&C DOCs, but also that of the acquired E&C DOCs in actual communicative contexts. Thus it covers the entire process of the generation of DOC, from production to actual use. In examining the generation process of E&C DOCs, this study also involves the dative construction and the Obtain-type E&C DOCs, though the Give-type plays the more significant role. Since transfer verbs are crucial in E&C DOCs, their attributes are also thoroughly studied, which reveals a series of cognitive and pragmatic constraining factors involved in their interaction with the DOC.This dissertation is a cross-linguistic study which is focused on the generation process of E&C DOCs. The result reveals that for the generation of the primary DOC, the E&C DOCs (including the Give-type and Obtain-type) are semantically base-generated. They are derived from human's conceptualization of a goal-prominent transfer event. Specifically, the conceptualization of a goal-prominent transfer event invokes an event conceptual framework as well as a conceptual structure projected by the goal-prominent transfer schema. Their interaction gives rise to the initial conceptual framework, which, under the effect of some cognitive principles, turns into the ultimate conceptual framework. This ultimate conceptual framework is then syntactically realized as the DOC. The only difference between English and Chinese DOCs lies in the syntactic realization. For the Give-type transfer, in English the vector "TOg" in the ultimate conceptual framework is not overtly realized but incorporated into the verb, which results in the English DOC. While in Chinese, the vector "TOg" is overtly realized as a lexical item "给", thus generating the Chinese DOC. For the Obtain-type transfer, English has two ways of syntactic realization:①if the obtain verbs are less of a rob type (henceforth LOR verbs), the vector "FROMg" in the ultimate conceptual framework is overtly realized as a lexical item "from" which is then moved together with the goal element to the back of the theme element, thus generating the English ablative construction;②if the obtain verbs are more of a rob type (henceforth MOR verbs), the vector "FROMg" is incorporated into the verb, which results in the English obtain-type DOC. Chinese also has two ways of syntactic realization:①to overtly realize the vector "FROMg" as "走", remaining insitu, thus generating the Chinese obtain-type DOC;②the temporal meaning of "perfectivity" and the possessive meaning of "obtaining" that are contained in the vector are altogether overtly realized as one single lexical item "走", and its spatial meaning of "departure" is separately realized as "从…那儿(这儿) " which, together with the goal element, is moved to the front of the verb, thus generating the Chinese ablative construction. For the generation of the acquired DOC, the generation mechanism is the same for English and Chinese, which is that the demand for DOC application triggers constructional meaning assignment, which is then followed by intra-constructional configuration and verification by license conditions. This study also explores the generation process of the primary E&C dative construction. The result shows that English and Chinese have the same generation process of the conceptual framework, and the same way of syntactic realization. Specifically, the conceptualization of the path-prominent transfer event invokes an event conceptual framework, as well as a conceptual structure projected by the path-prominent transfer schema. Their interaction gives rise to the initial conceptual framework, which, under no intervention by any cognitive principles, constitutes the ultimate conceptual framework. This final conceptual framework is in turn syntactically realized as the dative construction. In English, the vector "TOWARD" is realized as a lexical item "to", which results in the English dative construction; In Chinese, the same vector is realized as "给", which generates the Chinese dative construction.This dissertation conducts a systematic study on the transfer schema since it plays a crucial role in the formation of the ultimate conceptual framework. It first explores the characteristics of image schema in terms of hierarchy, interaction, and transformation, and discovers a brand-new image schema—transfer schema. This general schema is categorized into two concomitant sub-schemas—outward transfer and inward transfer. It is also pointed out that other three sub-schemas—source-prominent, path-prominent, and goal prominent—can be derived from the conceptualization of highlighted source, path, and goal. This study also closely examines the production process of these three sub-schemas, as well as the variables and relations therein (such as the creation event and control event in the source-prominent sub-schema, the power and velocity of transfer in the path-prominent sub-schema, and the spatial configuration and relationship of possession in the goal-prominent sub-schema).On the basis of the notion of transfer schema, this study explores the generation of the primary DOC. First the conceptual framework is examined, which is viewed as the most general conceptual structure of transfer event. Then a few of basic conceptual structures are examined. Since the conceptual structure of event is what this study most concerns, Talmy (2000)'s theory of the conceptual structure of motion event is selected as the theoretical framework of this study. According to this theory, a transfer event is seen as the global event which is composed of the main event (or framing event) and the secondary event. It constitutes a general conceptual framework in the conceptualization process which involves a series of cognitive operations such as conceptual merging, etc.. As to the generation of conceptual framework of the goal-prominent transfer event, other two cognitive principles—the conceptual unit activation principle and single event construal principle—are also examined. The primary conceptual framework is thus generated by the interaction of the principles of conceptual unit activation, conceptual prominence, and conceptual merging, which, upon the effect of the single event construal principle, constitutes the final conceptual framework. This conceptual framework is then syntactically realized as the DOC.Through the acquisition and repeated use of DOC, human beings gradually familiarize themselves with this construction. Since the verb is of crucial importance in the construction, this dissertation explores the relevant features of various types of E&C transfer verbs (including the obtain-type), as well as conducting a comparative study on the cognitive and pragmatic constraining factors involved in their DOC projection, the result being that E&C transfer verbs have the same characteristics of ranging from typical to atypical, and from strong transfer to weak transfer, due to human's common cognitive experience of a spatial motion event. As for E&C transfer verbs, the construction itself can license those verbs lacking transfer meaning in their entry into DOC. However, the construction is limited in its power, for some verbs still cannot enter DOC irrespective of the constructional effect. The main reason is that those verbs lack the feature of instantaneity, not excluding the morphonological factor. On the whole, English transfer verbs are a bit more subject to the morphonological effect as compared with Chinese, though the feature of instantaneity still counts as the major constraining factor. Both English and Chinese have Broad transfer verbs and Narrow transfer verbs. English Broad transfer verb "give" has a little wider scope of application than its Chinese counterpart "给". In Chinese, there are both Bare transfer verbs and Compound transfer verbs, while in English there are no Compound transfer verbs but Bare ones, because in syntactic realization, the vector "TOg" is incorporated into the verb, this being the systematic difference between English and Chinese transfer verbs. Vector shading occurs exclusively in Chinese, English is deemed not having such a phenomenon whatsoever due to fact that the vector is incorporated into the verb. Both English and Chinese have Holding-only transfer verbs and Creation-holding transfer verbs, among which the latter's entry into DOC is more difficult due to their lack of instantaneity. In Chinese, verbs of instantaneous creation are generally able to enter DOC, while in English they can not, because those transfer verbs are usually followed by an adverb, thus leading to a larger formal distance. In English, verbs of delayed creation can enter DOC as well the dative construction. Their entry into DOC is enabled by the collaboration of constructional meaning assignment and the shortened formal distance, which constitutes a strong coercion upon the resistance caused by the delay attribute of the verbs in question. Only a few verbs of delayed creation cannot enter DOC either because they are constrained by morphonological factors or because the formal distance is enlarged due to the following adverb. In Chinese, however, verbs of delayed creation usually cannot enter DOC just because of the delay attribute and the longer formal distance. As for the Obtain-type transfer verbs, those MOR verbs can easily enter DOC by virtue of their conformity with the prototypical features of the goal-prominent obtain-type transfer; while those LOR verbs cannot enter DOC but can only enter the ablative construction due to their deviation from those prototypical features. With respect to the English language, only a few MOR verbs can enter DOC, and those LOR verbs usually enter the ablative construction, just because in English there is a strong need for a semantic element to be overtly realized. Under this rigid morpho-syntactic constraint, the verb is hard to break through the normal syntactic structure. While in Chinese, LOR verbs can enter both dative construction and DOC, and MOR verbs usually enter DOC, just because in Chinese there are less morpho-syntactic constraints so that verbs, given a certain pragmatic environment, can break through the syntactic constraints and choose alternative ways of syntactic expression. In addition, in both English and Chinese, there exist metonymically derived obtain-type verbs, such as bill verbs, verbs of intended obtaining, and verbs of future obtaining. But consumption verbs exist exclusively in Chinese, English has no such type of transfer verbs. Through the study of transfer verbs, it is also found that while transfer verbs are important for their varied attributes can determine the possibility of their entry into DOC, they are not the sole deciding factor because there are also some constraints such as pragmatic environment, cognitive principles, etc. involved in the verb's ongoing entry into DOC.Based on the study of transfer verbs, this dissertation also explores the generation process of DOC in actual language use: first, the speaker/writer invokes DOC application in a certain context, which triggers the operation of the constructional meaning assignment mechanism (CMAM): the CMAM, under the constructional pressure, assigns the meaning of Give to the given verb, or just confirms and reinforces the meaning of Give implied in the verb; then the verb with Give meaning is to be tested by a series of licensing principles including goal-oriented principle, goal definite principle, theme attributes principle, theme-prominent principle, etc.. On the basis of this mechanism, a DOC application model is formulated, and it is verified by actual written data.Since this study is conducted with transfer schema as the starting point, it can subsume DOC and dative construction, Give-type DOC and Obtain-type DOC, English DOC and Chinese DOC, under a unified analytic framework.