On Object-Caused Causative Sentences In Modern Chinese

The causative meanings in modern Chinese are mainly delivered through the use of various syntax structure. The mainstream syntax structures for causative meaning are Shi-construction, De-construction, Ba-construction, Verb-result construction and causative verbs. In this paper, we try to make a thorough and comprehensive study on the features of object-caused causative sentences in the aspects of syntax, semasiology and pragmatism with the use of traditional grammar theories as well as cognitive and structural theories approaches.In the first part, the categories and semantic features of object-caused causative sentences are explained. There are three types of object-caused causative sentences in modern Chinese, namely,"V+Le"construction,"V+De"construction and Verb-resultative construction, for which we put our effort on the analysis of the former two in this paper. The semantic roles of the sentences include causer, causee, causative force and result. In the second part, we analyze the syntax construction of such sentences. The components of"V+Le"construction and"V+De"construction are discussed respectively with the emphasis on the result part. In the third part, the generation motivation and the structural meanings are discussed with structural theories. The verb in the object-caused causative sentences are different from the common causative verb, as their causative meaning are attributed by the whole syntax. The forth part is the pragmatic and cognitive analysis. The"theme mechanism"and"object attribution"theories play important roles in the generation of object-caused causative sentences. We also try to explain the generation procedures of such sentences with the use of cognitive patterns in this part.