| Due to the fact that causation is ubiquitous, the existence of causative constructions, no doubt, is also universal in world languages."(NP1) + V1 + de + (NP2) + VP2"is considered to be one of the complex causative constructions in Chinese. In this thesis, we have made a study of the semantic and syntactic features of"(NP1) + V1 + de + (NP2) + VP2"guided and conducted by the framework and some theories like Event Integration of cognitive linguistics.Through the study we found that scholars have not reached a consensus about the criteria of judging causative"de"constructions and there are circular reasoning and internal contradictions in their definitions. This thesis considers that"(NP1) + V1 + de + (NP2) + VP2"expresses macro-events. In the deep conceptual structure, these macro-events contain at least two events denoting a cause relationship. The conceptualizer may observe the most prominent entities involved in these events, and then he will pick them out and use them as the key factors to depict the events as a macro-event by one single sentence."(NP1) + V1 + de + (NP2) + VP2"includes several types of"de"constructions which express two kinds of macro-events as a whole: caused event (NPA + V1 + DE + NPF + VP2 / SA, V1 + DE + NPF + VP2) and autonomous event (NPF + V1 + DE + VP2). The"de"constructions expressing caused event (causality) is called causative"de"construction. The criterion for judging a caused event is whether the event contains an agent, that is, whether it profiles the impingement between Agent and Figural entity. Co-event is mapped into V1 whose unboundedness results from the suspension of sequential scanning. In order to match the requirements of TAM (tense, aspect, mood) VP2 can not be simple verb. Although some scholars have found some examples with simple VP2, those VP2s are non-categorized which are not prototypical verbs and lack some features of verbs. Therefore, they are actually not counterexamples. When NP2 is the subject of VP2 and also the object of V1 in the conceptual structure, the surface structure only profiles it as the subject of VP2 because the complement is the focus of communication and the argument of V1 is predetermined by the subject of VP2. The five constructions ("de"construction,"ba"construction and"bei"construction with"de"complements, copy-verb construction and VV construction) all can express macro-events whose sub-events denoting a cause relationship, which is the reason why they can transform mutually. Compared with"de"construction,"ba"construction and"bei"construction with"de"complements express more subjectivity, which carry the speaker's empathy for the figural entity. The stronger the controlling force of the agent over the figural entity, the more likely the speaker will choose"ba"or"bei"construction to express his empathy for the sufferer. When a figural entity is totally under the control of an agent, the speaker will usually not choose"de"construction but"ba"or"bei"construction. There are also some differences between"ba"and"bei"constructions."bei"construction expresses a particular situation in which the figural entity is more prominent than the Agent. As for copy-verb construction, it does not express Agent which only express autonomous event, therefore, it is not causative construction. In VV construction, Agent totally controls the whole macro-event and the co-event's verb maps into the main verb of the framing event forming a complex predicate with its logical subject acting as the object of the complex predicate. However, when VP2 is construed to be initiated by a separate energy source, it will stop the total integration of the verbs and the speaker will choose"de"construction with two separate verbs.
|
PDF Full Text Request