Modern Chinese Nominal Predicate Sentences:A Grounding Approach Based On Frame And Reference Point

The nominal predicate sentence?hereafter referred as NPS?is a widespread distinctive construction in Chinese.Studies of NPS in Chinese began in the 1940s,and have undergone three main stages:the initial definition stage,the detailed description stage,and the in-depth interpretation stage.Although rich research findings have been achieved on NPS,a number of problems remain unresolved in regards to the semantics of this construction type.The cognitive principles underlying NPS in Chinese is an issue worth investigating.This study attempts to establish a new theoretical framework by integrating Grounding Theory,Frame Semantics and Cognitive Reference Point Theory.By reexamining the characteristics of NPS in Chinese,it aims to find out the cognitive mechanisms of this particular construction.It seeks to answer the following set of questions:What is the constructional meaning of NPS in Chinese?What is its classification and distribution network?What are the differences between NPS and the shi???sentence?What are the syntactic and semantic features of NPS?How does NPS construct its meaning?What are its cognitive motivations?The study employs a usage-based and data-based analytical approach,combining qualitative and quantitative methodologies with a slight focus on the former.A self-built corpus is used to collect 1050 NPS data in Chinese.Data sources come from the Corpus of Center for Studies of Chinese as a Second Language of BLCU,with selected examples from previous researches.The major findings of this study are as follows:Firstly,NPS is defined as??NP₁?NP₂?from the perspective of cognitive grammar,and its constructional meaning is that any conceptualizer can establish an inclusive,identical,or associative conceptual relation between the two NPs by a sequential scanning from NP₁ to NP₂ so as to use NP₂ to describe the nature or state of NP₁.As an independent structure,NPS is different from the shi???sentence on the levels of syntax,semantics and pragmatics.This study looks at NPS from both the horizontal and vertical dimensions.Horizontally,NPS is divided into three categories with reference to its basic conceptual relations:the inclusive NPS?599 cases,57.05%?,the identical NPS?394cases,37.52%?and the associative NPS?57 cases,5.43%?.Vertically,this study reveals that the super ordinate schematic prototype of NPS is“((NP_Sub)_<sub>NP_Pre)_<sub>”and its subordinate schematic prototypes are“??NP₁?NP₂?”“??NP₁??NP₂?”“??NP₁?NP₂??”and“??NP₁??NP₂??”,among which??NP₁?NP₂?is the most prototypical one.Secondly,this study delineates the major features of NPS in Chinese.Syntactically,the range of NP in the inclusive NPS and the associative NPS is wider than that of the identical NPS.Adverbs and modal auxiliaries can be used before and after the predicate nouns in all three types of NPS,and several NPS can be even collocated with adverbs that denote negative meanings.Semantically,there are four kinds of semantic relation in the inclusive NPS:ontology-category inclusion,possessee-possessor inclusion,ontology-feature inclusion and possessor-possessee inclusion.The identical NPS also has four kinds of semantic relation:identical quantization,identical space or identical time,identical person and identical thing.The associative NPS constructs its semantic relation by activating certain event frames.In terms of tense,aspect and modality?TAM?,NPS shows immediate reality and realizability in time cognition,weak future orientation and strong degree variability in modality judgment.Pragmatically,NPS is characterized by economy,salience,contrast and lyricism.Thirdly,this study demonstrates that the coordination of conceptual relations and the adaption of semantic reasoning are the two driving forces for the formation of NPS in Chinese.The dynamic meaning construction of NPS is characterized by three main features:the temporalization of nouns,the hierarchicalization of elaboration,and the covert nature of grounding.Chinese NPS constructs three types of implicit grounding,namely,the inclusive grounding,the identical grounding and the associative grounding.Grounding elements le???,dou???,ting???and so forth are used to help NPS achieve the explication of time.The theoretical and practical significance of this study is that it provides a new perspective to the study of NPS in Chinese.By putting forward grounding features for Chinese verbless clauses,it contributes the development of cognitive linguistic theories with insight from Chinese.The cognitive rules behind NPS in Chinese are conductive to exploring the ways and conceptualizing capacities of Chinese users in understanding the world,and provides some useful reference for the teaching of Chinese as a Foreign Language and for translation studies.