A Study Of Ba Constructions And Their Error Analysis From The Perspective Of Conceptual Structure Theory

Ba constructions, a special sentence pattern in Chinese, have almost no equivalentwith similar forms and corresponding functions in any other language. In view of theparticularity of the students of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL), theteaching efficiency can be greatly promoted by means of a profound understanding of thecognitive commonality concerning the errors of Ba constructions in actual use. Within theframework of cognitive semantics, the present study introduces into the analysis theconceptual structure model proposed by Talmy. Ba constructions, the macro-event, arethus further divided into four different event types. Combining the theory of constructiongrammar and typological studies, this study explains the errors concerning Baconstructions in the interlanguage by means of analyzing the constraints and the syntacticmanifestation of the conceptual structure.This thesis consists of seven chapters. The first chapter is an introduction, in whichthe significance, content and method of the study are included.Chapter Two is the literature review, which aims to identify the research questionsand the breakthrough point of the present study by thoroughly reviewing the previousrelated studies of Ba constructions in such areas as the origin, semantics, syntax,pragmatics, cognition, typology, TCFL and Second Language Acquisition (SLA).Referring to the shortcomings of the current research methods, the third chapterintroduces Conceptual Structure Theory and illustrates the significance of the theory inerror analysis of Ba constructions.By analyzing the Ba constructions expressing a motion event as the framing event,the fourth chapter explains the errors concerning the conceptual structure of the studentsof TCFL in their acquisition of such constructions. It is found that the reason behind theomission of the verb lies in the different lexicalization patterns of various languages. Theverb-direction construction “S+ba+N+V+(RC)+(lai/qu)” cannot be transformed into the SVO word order due to the formal constraint of the conceptual manifestation; the formaldifference between the two verb+preposition constructions of “S+ba+N1+V gei+N2” and“S+ba+N1gei+N2+V+R” is caused by the different degrees of cohesion in thecombination of the verb and the Path. Through error analysis of the Ground of the Baconstructions expressing a motion event as the framing event, a fundamental rule ofGround manifestation can be testified, namely, with different degrees of salience, differentelements of location, or Ground, generally appear in the syntactic positions of thecorresponding degree of salience.Chapter Five analyzes such sentences as “yī wǎn fàn jiù bǎ tā chī bǎo le” under theguidance of Conceptual Salience Theory. The speaker uses jiù to express a subjective smallquantity, which must be in correspondence with the concept it makes salient. Therefore,the sentence “*fàn jiù bǎ tā chī bǎo le” is incorrect because the numeral-classifierexpressing a subjective small quantity in the Agent is missing.The errors can also be caused by the different lexicalization patterns of the verb in theevent of state change. This is mainly because of the learners’ unawareness of thecorresponding lexicalized causative constructions of specific stative verbs in the targetlanguage.The errors of the complement and its conceptual structure in the Ba constructionsexpressing state change as the framing event show themselves in two types of sentences.1.The construction “NP1+ba+NP2+V+de+VP” is often interchangeable with SVO structure,which makes students of TCFL think they are completely equivalent. As a result,avoidance and errors concerning this construction prevails. The stative complement isdescriptive, which tends to make itself the focus because of its specificity, informativeness,low predictability, and cognitive salience. Therefore, from the perspective of cognitivemotivation, the salient complement tends to appear at the end of the sentence while theobject should be pre-positioned.2. The conceptual structure related errors in theconstruction “NP1+ba+NP2+V+RC” can be explained in three ways:(1) the saliencedegree of the Ground is not in correspondence with the syntactic position;(2) the errors arecaused by the causalization after the combination of the Path and the Ground;(3) theinfluence the Agent exerts is not in correspondence with the result represented by theGround.Furthermore, one more section is provided to discuss the Ba constructions expressing mental state change as the framing event. The intensity of mentality is regarded as acontinuum from the weakest to the strongest, which explains the formation and frequencyof Ba constructions in language use.Chapter Six analyzes the Ba constructions expressing realization as the framingevent. The verb in the realization event is first classified semantically into theintrinsic-fulfillment verb, the moot-fulfillment verb, the implied-fulfillment verb and theattained-fulfillment verb, whose uses and constraints in Ba constructions are analyzed afterthat. The error analysis is then carried out in the three subordinate structures of the Baconstructions expressing realization as the framing event. The error in the construction“S+ba+N+V+RC” is related to the predictability of the complement because the realizationevent of the non-predictable result tends to be expressed by Ba constructions. Moreover,the errors in the construction “S+ba+N+V+de+VP/AP” can be explained based on thedegree of cohesion between the major event and the minor event as well as thepredictability of the descriptive complement. Finally, the errors in the construction“S+ba+N+V+DC” are mainly due to the unfamiliarity of the conceptual structure and theformal constraint of the conceptual manifestation.Chapter Seven analyzes the Ba constructions expressing temporal contouring as theframing event, which refer to those constructed by the verb with such tense and aspectmarkers as “zhe”,“le” and “guo”, or by the verb-direction constructions “V+xialai” and“V+xiaqu” with the complement expressing tense and aspect. It should be noted that suchtense and aspect markers as “shang”,“kai”,“qi” or “qilai” cannot construct the Baconstructions. These markers cannot manifest themselves in the object position of Baconstructions with the high degree of salience. This is because they can only serve as theexpression of the beginning and cannot show the duration or the result of the event, whichmeans the Figure does not receive much influence and therefore does not have a highdegree of salience.In the event of temporal contouring, the major event is the one with tense and aspectbeing contoured, where the Figure and the conceptual elements of the minor event areco-referential, and thus it is difficult to manifest the principles governing the degree ofcohesion between the major event and the minor event as well as the predictability of theevent. Therefore, the analysis employed in the other three event types cannot becompletely applied to the event of temporal contouring. This is due to the fact that the formation of the conceptual structure in the event of temporal contouring is mainlyassociated with the tense and aspect expressed by the Ground as well as the event typerepresented by the Figure and that the two must correspond to each other. This principle isapplied throughout the error analysis of all types of Ba constructions expressing temporalcontouring as the framing event.