A Construction Grammar Approach To "GRADABLE ADVERB+NOUN" Construction In Modern Chinese

This study is a qualitative study on "GRADABLE ADVERB + NOUN"(hereafter "ADV + N") construction in modern Chinese.As a controversial but widely-used expression,this construction has been studied within different frameworks and from different perspectives.But some issues of this construction still have not been touched upon or solved.Based on the data we have collected,this thesis studies the construction from the perspective of construction grammar with an aim to explore its structures as well as its organization in man's grammatical system. More specifically,this study explores three relations:relation between "ADV + N" and "ADV + ADJ";relation within construction,namely between "ADV" and "N";and relation between component structures,"ADV" and "N",and the composite construction.Construction grammar theory involves different branches.For the sake of the present study and the development of theory,we propose the unification of Langacker's Cognitive Grammar (CG) and Goldberg's Construction Grammar(GCG).The unification specifies the definition of construction and widens the range of constructions.The more important thing is that it lays emphasis on both the relationship between constructions and the relationship between component structures within a composite construction,which can provide better explanation for language phenomena.We hold that the basic sense of a construction or constructional meaning comes from the core lexical items which are frequently used in the constructions at different schematic levels. This basic sense reflects man's construal of the prototype of the scene of the physical world.In addition,the usage-based construction grammar can provide sufficient explanation for language creativity and this explanation is more corresponding to language fact.As far as "ADV + N" is concerned,it is the extension of"ADV + ADJ" and an instantiation of more schematic construction "ADV +X".The cognitive motivation of this extension is cognitive metonymy."ADV" provides the meaning of DEGREE for the meaning of"ADV + N", and this meaning coerces the prototypical meaning of nouns.Thus the relationship between "ADV" and "N" is not direct but a kind of coercion based on the whole construction.The constructional meaning of"ADV + N" is "attributes to some degree",which is inherited from the meaning of more schematic construction "ADV + X".This constructional meaning overrides the prototype meaning of nouns and thus the noun's attribute meaning is coerced.A noun that can be admitted by "ADV + N' should have profiled conventional attribute meaning and meanwhile there is not an adjective which can express this attribute "meaning exactly except that the language user has special pragmatic purpose.Some proper nouns which have profiled social or cultural meanings can be licensed in this construction.Some concrete nouns referring to a person can also occur in this construction in that they highlight the specific attribute of a category of person.People tend to use the property of some material nouns to understand some abstract concepts so that these material nouns can be accepted by "ADV +N' as well.It is easy tbr the attribute meaning of abstract nouns to be profiled since it is unique in the world.So most of abstract nouns can be sanctioned by this construction and some of them are even marked as adjectives in the dictionary.To some extent,this study makes certain contribution to the development of construction grammar.And it enables people to have a better understanding of "ADV + N'.In addition,it summaries the views on language creativity hold by construction grammar,which can present better explanation of more language phenomena.