The Cognitive Analysis Of English Middle Construction

English middle construction, which involves a complex interlay between syntax and semantics, is one of the most heatedly discussed topics in linguistics. The traditional research on English middle construction focuses on the syntactic or the lexical basis. It is mainly centered on two topics: the derivation of English middle construction and the aspectual properties of the verb in it. But current analyses showed that no satisfactory account of English middle construction has so far been reached. It seems that the traditional method can not provide a solid explanation to the derivation of English middle construction and the special characteristics of middle verbs.Cognitive linguistics is different from the traditional explanation of grammatical structure and word meaning. It is an approach to language that is based on our experience of the world and the way we perceive and conceptualize the world. In this thesis an alternative analysis of English middle construction is provided from the cognitive point of view. The theory of basic level category is adopted to analyze the special syntactic and semantic characteristics of English middle construction and middle verbs. The theory of energy transmission, which is put forward by Langacker, provides a new angle for the analysis of English middle construction. It is analyzed from the point of perspective, profile and base, which form the underlying cognitive basis for the derivation of English middle construction. Also it is advocated that three necessary elements, which are the energy transmission, the inner power and the change of state, can be used to judge the acceptability of English middle construction. At the same time the unacceptability of some types of verb as destroy, contact and create are explained from the point of energy transmission. And some improvement has been made to Langacker's explanation of English middle construction due to the lack of consideration about the autonomous degree of the events involved in English middle construction.