A Contrastive Study Of Ditransitive Construction In English And Chinese: Constructional Approach

Ditransitive construction,as a common sentence pattern in both English and Chinese,is a major concern that has drawn much intellectual pursuit both at home and abroad.Much research on the ditransitive construction has been conducted under different theoretical backgrounds,such as structuralism and generative grammar; however,some explanations are not persuasive enough.In the late 20^th century,the emergence of Construction Grammar,a new cognitive linguistic theory,has led us to a brand new perspective on the analysis of the construction.Many issues of the ditransitive construction have been more or less studied or touched upon,but little effort has been devoted to the systematic comparison of English and Chinese ditransitive constructions.Based on the theoretical framework of Construction Grammar and some related cognitive theories,the present research seeks to arrive at a better understanding of the ditransitive construction in English and Chinese by comparing their main issues at the syntactic-semantic interface within a cognitive paradigm.The thesis consists of six chapters:Chapter One offers a brief introduction of the present research,involving definitions of the ditransitive construction in English and Chinese,the background and purpose of the research,as well as the organization of the thesis.Chapter Two provides a critical review of previous researches of the ditransitive construction,including their major viewpoints and certain areas that need to be improved..Chapter Three is the presentation of Construction Grammar and some cognitive theories associated with the present thesis,namely the prototype theory and the theory of linguistic categorization.Constructions,as the basic units of language,are pairings of meaning and form.The syntax and semantic meaning of a construction cannot be predictable from its components or any other construction.Chapter Four involves the specific comparison of English and Chinese ditransitive constructions.English and Chinese ditransitive constructions share the same syntactic presentation of NP+V+NP1+NP2.English ditransitive construction typically implies that the agent argument acts to cause transfer of a patient to the recipient,while the constructional meaning of Chinese ditransitive construction is summarized as CAUSE-TRANSFER containing both GIVING and OBTAINING. senses.The prototypes of three arguments in English and Chinese ditransitive constructions possess the same semantic properties,and can be extended through metaphor and metonymy.Besides,the verbs that fit into the ditransitive construction are elucidated as well.Then Chapter Five explores the underlying causes responsible for the similarities and distinctions from the perspectives of historical roots and the thinking modes.On one hand,human beings experience the similar event activities and share the same cognitive ability.That's why the expressions of different languages possess some similarities.On the other hand,different formation and evolution processes of English and Chinese ditransitive constructions together with distinct thinking modes between the Easterners and Westerners contribute to the diversity.The last chapter makes a summary for the research,presenting major findings, limitations and proposes issues for further research.To sum up,guided by the constructional approach,the systematic comparison reveals a clearer picture of the ditransitive construction in English and Chinese. Exploring the causes for their similarities and distinctions is helpful to get a better understanding of the two language systems.Meanwhile,the research may enlighten the future contrastive studies of other constructions in different languages. Furthermore,the results will be beneficial to raising language learners' awareness of the ditransitive construction learning.