The Motivation And Mechanism Underlying The NOminalization Of "AdjP" In The Chinese"NP De AdjP" Construction

Being concerned with Chinese “NP de AdjP”, the present study attempts to uncover thesemantic motivation and the mechanism underlying the nominalization of “AdjP” in theconstruction. The theoretical framework within which the research is conducted is proposed inaccordance with Langacker’s notions of grammatical classes and grammatical construction.Previous researches on the Chinese “NP de AdjP” construction primarily focus on twointerrelated issues: the part of speech of the “AdjP” and the compatibility of the constructionwith Bloomfield’s endocentric construction theory. With respect to the part of speech of the“AdjP”, there remains the dispute about whether the “AdjP” has undergone a process ofnominalization. This thesis supposes that the “AdjP” has undergone a process ofnominalization. Although significant findings have been made by previous researches, suchquestions as the motivation and mechanism underlying the nominalization of the “AdjP” havenot yet been delved into adequately. Therefore, the present thesis is intended to make atentative research on the two questions.To uncover the motivation and mechanism underlying the nominalization of the “AdjP”,the notions of grammatical classes and grammatical construction in Langacker’s CognitiveGrammar are employed as the foundations on which the theoretical framework of the thesis isput forward. Following the spirit of Cognitive Grammar, a grammatical construction exhibitspartial compositionality which qualifies the construction as “an entity in its own right, usuallywith emergent properties not inherited or strictly predictable from the components and thecorrespondence between them”(Langacker,2008:164). To account for this partialcompositionality, Langacker posits the notion of accommodation. In addition to Langacker’sproposition that one component adjusts itself in certain details when integrated with another to form a composite structure, this thesis argues that the components also accommodate to thewhole composite structure whenever conflicts arise. In general, to account for the emergentproperties of a grammatical construction, both the accommodation between the componentsand that of the components to the composite structure ought to be taken into consideration.The main findings of the present thesis are as follows. Firstly, the idiosyncratic propertyof the construction lies in the inconsistency between the profile of “AdjP” as a relation andthat of the whole construction as a thing. Secondly, to reconcile the inconsistency, thenominalization of “AdjP” is required whereby its designation turns into a thing. On thisaccount, to reconcile the inconsistency between the profile of “AdjP” and that of “NP deAdjP” semantically motivates the nominalization of “AdjP”. Finally, to account for themechanism of the nominalization, the notion of accommodation posited by Langaker isemployed, but revised. In accordance with the modified version,“AdjP” accommodates to“NP de” at the second level of integration and meanwhile makes itself coordinate the finalcomposite structure due to the imposition from the latter.Thus, our conclusion is that the nominalization of the “AdjP” in Chinese “NP de AdjP”construction and the nominal nature of the whole construction are justifiable in that theconsistency of the profile of the “AdjP” with that of the construction as a whole is required. Inaddition, the accommodation between the components and that of the components to thewhole construction constitute the mechanism underlying the process of the nominalization.