A Contrastive Study Of Speaker-orieuted Expressions In English And Chinese:an Event Semantics Perspective

The present study, based on event semantics, delves into the difference between Chinese and English in the realization of speaker-oriented conceptual information (realized as speaker-oriented expressions, SOE for short), and observes the cross-linguistic difference between English and Chinese in SOE’s lexicalization and pragmaticalization. Then, it focuses on "speech-act expressions"(SAE for short) and examines the interplay of pragmaticalization, grammaticalization and lexicalization that are active in the diachronic development of SAE. Finally, with the support of the evidence from6more languages, the study furthers its investigation into the relationship between morphological features of a language and SOE’s tendency to lexicalization in that language. The major findings of the study are as follows.(1) Both English and Chinese use varied linguistic devices to encode conceptual information peculiar to SOE, yet there is obvious difference between them in encoding complex event semantics, with English being more prone to lexicalization.(2) SOE of different forms show different syntactic features. English and Chinese SOE’s syntactic flexibility is related to the degree of their lexicalization. Generally, the more lexicalized it is, the more flexibility it has in syntactic position.(3) Pragmatic differences exist between English and Chinese SOE, Chinese lexical SOE being less pragmaticalized than their English counterparts, and English lexicalized SOE being more likely to function as pragmatic markers.(4) The diachronic development of English and Chinese SAE shows a similar evolution pattern, and they both involve an interaction among pragmaticalization, grammaticalization and lexicalization. But the pattern and degree of lexicalization of English and Chinese SAE are different, which can be ascribed to the typological difference between the two languages.(5) Evidence from6more languages strengthens my argument that morphological devices available to a language play important roles in the lexicalization of SOE.Based on the findings, the study attempts a conclusion that the fewer morphological devices a language has, the less likely for it to employ lexical items to encode complex conceptual information. It should also be noted that morphological device is not the sufficient condition but only one necessary condition for SOE’s lexicalization. Moreover, the study testifies to the effectiveness and feasibility of event semantics serving as tertium comparationis in cross-linguistic analysis, which paves a new possible way into the contrastive linguistics, especially the contrastive analysis between two typologically different languages.