A Study On Priority Sequences Of Adjective-predicated Clauses In Modern Chinese

This dissertation defines the connotation and the extension of the modern Chinese clause by a detailed demonstration.On the basis of this,the adjective-predicated clause is redefined,and expands the extension of it,which is the prop of the study.Every clause is separated from large-scale corpus.The author ranges the priority sequences of their lower sentence patterns hierarchically,from which the position of the adjective-predicated clause is ascertained.The priority sequences of adjective-predicated clauses are also ranged.Then the thesis makes an assessment and an explanation of the formation of those sequences from the syntactic meanings and the cognition.In order to inspect the internal differences of adjective-predicated clauses further,the thesis examines their abilities to be transformed into modifier-head phrases(simplified into MHP) by changing them into phrases and then ranging the priority sequences of the transformed phrases,and at last finds the relations between the differences of adjective-predicated clauses and the transformed phrases by making comparision the two kinds of sequences.In the process of the study on adjective-predicated clauses,the thesis uses the "two-triangle theory",and the methods of statistics and comparision.The author thinks highly of the enough explanation on the basis of enough observation and description.The dissertation gives the principles of judging a Chinese dynamic clause,offers the semantic principles of classifying adjective-predicated clauses,constructs the theory of GOT(Grammar Optimality Theory),builds up a hierarchical assessment system,finds the internal mechanism by which an adjective-predicated clause can be transformed into a MHP and gains a system of language laws with theoretical and practical values.The dissertation focuses on the following issues.Chapter one introduces the current research situations of adjective-predicated clauses and the existing problems,reviews the research results of Chinese clauses,the current research situations and the existing problems,and introduces the current research situations of priority sequences and the existing problems.At last the author gives a brief introduction of OT(Optimality Theory),constructs a research method of GOT(Grammatical Optimality Theory) and expounds the basic opinions,the contents and the core of GOT.Chapter two expounds the clause theory in modern Chinese.The author thinks a Chinese clause is a dynamic grammatical unit.On the basis of the predecessors' research results,the author defines a Chinese clause "a clause is a smallest expression unit with certain grammatical forms,notional meaning and a tone",which expands the extension of the Chinese clause,which means that Chinese clauses also include the subject-predicate phrases with tones as well as single clauses and the clauses in a complex sentence(or in a compound sentence).Three methods of discriminating a Chinese clause are given.On the basis of a Chinese clause,a new definition of an adjective-predicated clause is established.According to the new definition,the extension of adjective-predicated clauses also includes subject-predicate phrases with tones,which the research vision of adjective-predicated clauses are expanded.In order to solve the question that the classification of adjective-predicated clauses is non-uniform,the thesis puts forword that the classification should be based on the semantic standards,simultaneously connecting their grammatical forms.Through inspection and analysis,the thesis induces 4 semantic types of them:property-judging with no degrees,property-judging with degrees,property-describing,and property variation.According to the semantic types,a systematic adjective-predicated clauses system is created,which is the center of resistance of the study.Chapter three ranges the priority sequences of the whole sentence patterns in modern Chinese, among which the position of the adjective-predicated clause is fixed.Then,ranges the priority sequence of 14 common sentence types,among which the position of the adjective-predicated clause is also fixed.The positions displays that adjective-predicated clause possesses a higher occurrence frequency.The chapter also ranges the priority sequences of the lower sentence patterns of the adjective-predicated clause("＞"means "to be prior to"):property-judging clauses with degrees＞property-judging with no degrees＞property variation clauses＞property-describing clauses.In the sequence,the occurrence frequency of property-judging clauses with degrees is the highest.And the sequences of the lower sentence types under every sentence pattern are also arranged.The priority sequence of the five sentence types of property-judging clauses with degrees is:S+f+A＞S+A+C＞S+比N+A＞S+对N+A＞S+Qp+A.The priority sequence of the five sentence types of property-describing clauses is:S+ABB＞S+AABB＞S+AA的＞S+AA＞S+BA.The priority sequence of the five sentence types of property variation clauses is:S+A+了＞S+A+着＞S+A+起来＞S+A+下来＞S+A+下去.All the priority sequences are based on the statistic data,so they are data priority sequences.Chapter four makes an analysis of the priority sequences of adjective-predicated clauses in semantics.Firstly,in the background of two-way choices theory,the author investigates the choices between nouns as subjects and adjectives as predicates,and finds the factors which impact on the formation of the priority sequences:syllable factors,subject factors,semantic factors,pragmatic factors and stylistic factors.A speaker's experience and cognition of the natural world embodies semantics.When a speaker expresses his experience and cognition of the natural world,he can gives a prominence to some information because of the expression intention,and then in an adjective-predicated clause the given prominence is present properties or non-present properties. Therefore,the pragmatics can plays a role in choosing an adjective.Simultaneously,a speaker can choose a certain style in order to express his purports,and the style decides the nature of a subject(a topic),that is to say,decides the concrete and the abstract of what the language symbols express. The differences between the concrete and the abstract can make an impact on the choice of an adjective.At the same time,the rules of rhyming can also influence on choosing a noun.All of the factors interactions,which leads to the formation of a priority sequence.The author establishes a semantic priority sequence when dissertates the semantic factor:property-judging with degrees＞property-judging with no degrees＞property-describing＞property variation.The thesis utilizes "GOT" to assess and expound the formation of the priority sequences of Adjective-predicated clauses.The thesis first constructs a hierarchical assessment system,defines the assessment conditions,which are also hierarchical.When the thesis conducts the first level assessment, the impact factors above acts as assessment conditions,which are quantified and divided into 4 grades:4,3,2,1.According to the scores that every sentence pattern gains,a assessment sequence is arranged,which is compared with the data sequence and the semantic sequence to find the differences and the relations of every sentence pattern.The second level assessment is for assessing the formation of the lower sentence types under every sentence pattern of adjective-predicated clauses.The pragmatic factor is the key to define the second assessment conditions under the situation that the other four impact factors are approximately uniform.Taking property-judging with degrees clauses as an example,the thesis finds that there exists large variance in the subjectivity degrees of the five sentence types under it.Through investigation and verification,the thesis builds up a correlative markedness pattern between adjectives and subjectivity intensity of adjective-predicated clause,which means property adjectives and the sentence types with weak subjectivity form an unmarked collocation,and with strong subjectivity form a marked collocation;state adjective and the sentence types with strong subjectivity form an unmarked collocation,and weak subjectivity form a marked collocation,from which the subjectivity hierarchy of the five sentence types is established under the property-judging with degrees clause.The thesis defines the second level assessment conditions by combining the subjectivity hierarchy with the other four impact factors,ranges the assessment priority sequence,and compares it and the data sequences.At last,the thesis gives a explanation on the formation of these sequences to find the internal differences and the relations among adjective-predicated clause.At last,the data sequences,the semantic sequences and the assessment sequences are compared and analyzed together to reveal the internal differences of adjective-predicated clauses and the reasons of the formation of the priority sequences.Chapter five is the extension of the chapter four.The chapter respectively transforms every adjective-predicated clause into three types of modifier-head phrases:AN,A de N and N de A, observes the number of which adjective-predicated clauses can be transformed.The more the adjective-predicated clause can be transformed,the stronger the abilities which they are transformed into phrases.Then the thesis ranges the priority sequences of transformed phrases.The thesis explains the sequences.In the process of explaining,the thesis founds the reason why the adjective-predicated clauses can be transformed into MHP is there is a corresponding point in pragmatics between them and the transformed MHPs.The corresponding point is the suitability of the subjectivity and the objectivity of the adjective-predicated clause in pragmatics and the demands of the modifiers.If the subjectivity and the objectivity of an adjective-predicated clause in pragmatics is suitable to that of the demands of the modifiers,an adjective-predicated clause can be transformed into a modifier-head phrase;if not,it can't,which discloses the internal mechanism of which the adjective-predicated clauses can be transformed into MHPs.At last,the priority sequences of the adjective-predicated clauses and the priority sequences of the transformed phrases are compared and analyzed together to observe the uniformity between them in order to reveal the internal differences of the adjective-predicated clauses.Chapter six summarizes the thoughts and the process of the study,the values and the contribution of the study,the uses and the significances,and at last points out the research direction in the future.The significances of the study on the prior sequences of sentence patterns and adjective-predicated clauses lies in filling up the gap in Chinese grammatical field.GOT,the judging principles of a Chinese clause,the hierarchical assessment system,the semantic classification rules of adjective-predicated clauses,the internal mechanism of which adjective-predicated clauses can be transformed into MHP,etc.can provides some new methods and thoughts for Chinese grammar study.