Research On The Structure And Function Of The Modern Chinese Verb-complement Compounds

Content: The v-c (verb-complement) compound is a very special and important compound structure in Chinese. This is a typical exemplification of Chinese characteristics as"a simple structure embedded with rich semantic contents". The verb-complement is a verb plus complement dissyllable, but it does not only convey a simple action or behavior. It shows a causative event which comes from at least two connected sub-events with time order and logical cause-effect relation. Thus the two component morphemes manifest complicated semantic relationship. The complicated internal semantic structure finds varied syntax expressions in different syntax structures. The syntax functions of v-c compounds differ with other forms of compounds. Even within v-c compounds, different sub-categories vary a lot in syntactical functions.This thesis carries out full-scale and systematical research on the range, structure, meaning and function of v-c compound by combining semantic analysis and grammatical analysis and using modern linguistic theories such as prototype theory, valence theory, construction theory, grammaticalization and lexicalization theory. After the analysis of the internal structure of the v-c compound, the thesis discovers resulative semantic characteristics. It systematically describes and explains the grammatical function and distribution features of v-c compound in terms of syntactic role, compounding capability, relationship with certain syntactic form and special clause. At the same time it studies the relationship between structure and function of compounds.The whole thesis consists of four parts besides introduction and conclusion. They focus respectively on the concept, range, origin, internal structure, external function, and the relationship between structure and function. The key part of the research is on the structure of the verb-complement especially on the analysis and interpretation of deep semantic structure, the characteristics of grammatical functions of the v-c compound.The introduction part focuses on the importance, research ideas, methodology of the research, and related theories. It summaries the current research and illustrates the process of the language material selection, lexicon selection and some other related issues. Chapter one clarifies the definition for v-c compound by distinguishing its differences with verb-complement structure, verb-complement phrase, resulative construction, causative form. It restricts the range of verb-complement by defining the connections and differences between v-c compound and serial verb construction, coordinative disyllabic construction, dual-function construction, subordinate construction, subject– predicate construction, verb-object compound, verb-complement phrase. It classifies v-c compounds by origins. and also discusses delexicalization of verbs and lexicalization of phrases and their impact on the verb-complement formation.The second chapter deals with internal structures of v-c compounds in terms of surface structure and deep structure. It summaries different surface structures of v-c compounds according to parts of speech and functions of the components. It also demonstrates what kind of morphemes can be the components in v-c compounds. In terms of deep structure, it analyzes semantic types of the complements and semantic orientation aiming to discover resulative semantic characteristics of v-c compounds.Chapter 3 analyzes and describes external grammatical characteristics of v-c compound. The syntax function is analyzed in the following aspects: the syntax role, the collocation capability with other syntax components, the binding relationship with time and tense indicator zhe, le, guo, concord with special syntax form as negative, possibility expressive, duplicated form, concord with special clause as Ba clause, Bei clause, notional passive clause. It also describes and explains different syntax function of the sub-categories.Chapter four is the extension of chapter three. From the grammatical functions of verb-complements, we can see that the structure confines the grammatical function to some extent. The structure's confinement on function is common in compounds, especially in syntactical compounds. The chapter demonstrates the relationship between compound structure and its functions, taking subject– predicate compound and verb-object compound as examples.The conclusion part is the summary of the content and points of view of the whole thesis. It also points out the limitations and shortcomings of the research.