Study On Ordering Constraints In Chinese And English Binomials

This dissertation, entitled “ordering constraints in Chinese and Englishbinomials”, i.e. coordinated word pairs of the same word class, focuses on orderingconstraints in terms of reversibility of binomials and success rates of orderingconstraints. On a quantitative basis, the present study suggests a clear hierarchy ofconstraints in terms of success rate and makes a comparative analysis in Chinese andEnglish binomials. This research embodies three main objectives: to examine thesuccess rates of ordering constraints; to predict and analyze the freezing process ofbinomials; to describe and interpret the similarities and differences of orderingconstraints in Chinese and English binomials.The theoretical grounds are set up on the basis of some relevant views and topicsin cognitive linguistics, including fundamental views and hypotheses in cognitivelinguistics, prototype theory of categories and markedness theory, iconicity, conceptualblending theory, lexicalization and freezing of phrases. A corpus-based approach makesit possible to gain a general picture of ordering constraints and make a profoundcomparative analysis of ordering constraints in Chinese and English binomials.Potential ordering constraints that have previously been suggested mainly comefrom the areas of semantics, phonology and word frequency. Semantic constraints aresubdivided into six constraints: power, iconicity, importance, saliency, positivity, andprogressiveness..The hierarchies in terms of success rates are clearly found. In Chinese, as to themain ordering constraints the hierarchy is “semantic＞phonological＞word frequency”;the complete hierarchy for all the specific semantic factors is “importance＞iconicity,progressiveness, positivity, power＞saliency”. In English, as to the main orderingconstraints the hierarchy is “semantic＞phonological＞word frequency”; the completehierarchy for all the specific semantic factors is “progressiveness＞iconicity, positivity，importance, saliency＞power”.It is also found that the ranking for the semantic constraints in terms of theirability to determine freezing or irreversibility of binomials in Chinese, from the strongest to the weakest, is "positivity, power＞iconicity, progressiveness＞saliency,importance". In English, the corresponding ranking is “power, progressiveness＞saliency, importance＞iconicity, positivity”.In terms of ordering constraints and freezing levels, Chinese and Englishbinomials are both similar and different.Chinese and English binomials resemble in four aspects. Firstly, semanticconstraints are the most prominent in the ordering of binomials. Secondly, iconicityand progressiveness with relatively high success rates trump the others. Thirdly, wordfrequency is not significant. Finally, power is the most powerful factor leading to thefreezing of binomials, which implies that binomials ordered according to power aremore likely to be frozen. To sum up, semantic factors, with power in particular,increase their predictive success towards the frozen end of the reversibility cline.There also exist discrepancies between Chinese and English binomials. Firstly,Chinese binomials are less frozen overall. Secondly, semantic constraints are moreeffective in governing Chinese binomial order, whereas phonological factors are moreinfluential in governing English binomial order. Thirdly, iconicity exhibits a universalordering power in Chinese binomials. Fourthly, success rate of importance in Chinese ishigher. The last but not the least, power better predicts the freezing of Chinesebinomials.Language system, cognition, and culture constitute the main reasons for thesimilarities and differences of ordering constraints in Chinese and English binomials.Context exerts some influence upon binomial order, which accounts for theprominence of non-preferred order of binomials.