Research On Redundant Negation From Positive-negative Image Model

Redundant negation,a unique but common linguistic phenomenon,has drawn great attention from linguists since a few decades ago.Scholars have done a great number of researches on this subject either from a micro-perspective or a macro-perspective,namely on its syllabic articulation,semantic disambiguity,comparative studies on its affirmative and negative forms,pragmatic influences,generative/cognitive mechanism,grammaticalization,etc.However,insufficiencies remain in the above-mentioned studies,such as the incompleteness of the objects,the limits of the perspectives,the deficiencies of the methodology,and moreover,no significant breakthroughs in theorization.Most scholars have focused their attention either on the study of a single redundant negation or on an analysis or explanation of redundant negation solely from the dimension of language.Systematic and holistic studies on redundant negation are scarce,and at present,few theoretical frameworks have been established to lucubrate its generative and/or construal mechanism.In order to bridge the gap,this dissertation,from the perspective of Generative Holism,proposes an integrated framework to elaborate both the generative and construal mechanism of redundant negation: Positive-Negative Image Model(termed as PNIM),which exemplifies language case studies from the perspective of the philosophy of mind and demonstrates features of embodiment and generalization in cognitive linguistics.In an attempt to uncover the hidden secrets of mind behind language use,PNIM Model is constructed to give a unified account of the working mechanism of redundant negation.The main contents are as follows:First of all,PNIM Model,an integrated framework to elaborate both the generative and construal mechanism of redundant negation has been constructed.Based on the advantages and limitations of the existing frameworks concerning discourse production and/or interpretation,this study,with Generative Holism as the guideline,takes the general framework of Holistic Cognitive-Pragmatic Model(HCPM)for reference and integrates the relevant theories in the philosophy of mind,cognitive linguistics and cognitive pragmatics into a unified theoretical framework.In PNIM Model,the generative mechanism is established by repairing and improving the notion of “semantic accumulation and constructional integration” proposed by Jiang Lansheng(2008),while the construal mechanism is presented based on backward deduction of the generative process.Generative Holism plays a crucial role in our PNIM Model constructing process.First,communicative intentionality tends to be holistic.Second,either positive image,negative image or the image of redundant negation are intrinsically gestalt.Third,redundant negation is generated via integration rather than composition after the accumulation of positive and negative images.Fourth,redundant negation is construed via both internal and external linguistic factors under the holistic view.Last,redundant negation comprises more linguistic information and richer subjective emotion than positive and negative images do.Second,after the discussion of the generative motivation,the generative mechanism of redundant negation has been elaborated.The generative motivation of redundant negation incorporates three dimensions,namely redundancy and economy,discreteness and continuity,parataxis and hypotaxis,all of which influence or restrict the production of redundant negation from different angles.Within the framework of PNIM,the production process of redundant negation can be generalized into the following four steps: First,the intentional attitude of the speaker determines the employment of redundant negation.Second,grammatical metonymy restricts the licensed condition of the entry to redundant negation production.Third,context impacts the selection of negative word and also the generation of positive and negative images.Last,the accumulation and integration of positive and negative images finalize the generation of redundant negation expression.Third,after the analyses of the subjective cognition factors,the construal mechanism of redundant negation has been explored.The subjectivity of the speaker,namely perspective,affect,and epistemic modality,plays a vital role in redundant negation understanding.Within the framework of PNIM Model,the understanding process of redundant negation can be generalized into the following three steps: The first step is to extract positive image and negative image by backward deduction.The second step is to respectively compare the positive and negative image with the image of the redundant negation under the holistic view of construing,and highlight the subjectivity of the speaker.The third step is to ensure the speaker’s communicative intention within the context.Fourth,a disambiguating strategy for amphisemantic redundant negation has been proposed.Based on differences in fixed components,amphisemantic redundant negation is classified into implicit redundant negation and nonimplicit redundant negation,most of which belongs to the former.The disambiguating strategy for implicit redundant negation starts with the combination of the subjective level of the speaker(high or low expectation)and the objective level of the event(either frequently or infrequently occurs,or is difficult or easy to handle)to determine whether the negative word is in truth condition or redundant condition,after which the semantic logic of the implicit negation expression is taken into consideration to reach the final interpretation.Nonimplicit redundant negation in our study comprises only two types,namely “hao + bu + AP” and “liaobude”.The interpretation of the former is closely associated with the semantic attributes of AP(adjective phrase);while the latter is concerned with its semantic contents.To summarize,this dissertation constructs a holistic working model for redundant negation in modern Chinese on the basis of literature review and theory rethinking.After investigating the generative motivation and the subjective cognition factors of the speaker,this study elaborates both the generative and construal mechanism of redundant negation.As a tentative study,much more still needs to be done in the future.