English Double Object Construction And Related Conceptual Frames

English Double Object Construction, as a basic English clause pattern, has always been the focus of study of linguists and received comprehensive analyses from many angles. However, few of them have bothered to study systematically the conceptual content associated with it. The present paper attempts to explore the relationship between various English Double Object Constructions and the concept. Three major concerns in this thesis are:First, demonstrating the necessity of a re-analysis of English Double Object Construction. Research in cognitive linguistics is based on our experience of the world and our way to perceive and conceptualize it. One given conceptual content may result in many related linguistic constructions and thus one clause may activate more conceptual content than that which is directly conveyed, which is manifested by its conceptual relationships with other clauses, such as presupposition and inference. Thus, prior to any research of relationships between clauses, what must be studied is what is exactly evoked by a specific construction.Second, reviewing previous researches and further explain my research basis and aim. While generative linguists treat double object constructions as something of homogeneous nature and try to provide explanations to its linguistic behaviors in a purely syntactic perspective, cognitive linguists recognize the necessity to segment the conceptual content of a linguistic construction but have never dealt with that of double object constructions in depth. Evidence from studies in language acquisition shows that the acquisition and use of a double object construction is associated with a specific situation. Pragmatic studies indicate that the concept of a double object construction is complex and should include an inferential part.Third, carving out conceptual domains involved in Double Object Construction and present their content in form of conceptual frames. Based on three domains that are drawn out: spatio-temporal domain, force-dynamic domain, and attentive domain, nine conceptual frames are constructed in an effort to demonstrate a way of clause analysis and the influence of the conceptual content on its linguistic behaviors.