The Semantic Integration Between Construction "Zai+Location" And Its Verbs

Construction “vp+zai+l”,“zai+l+vp” and “zai+l+vp zhe” have somesimilarities in their application.This paper will try to analyze their semanticevolutions under the framework of the construction grammar whichemphasizes the semantic integration between the verb and itsbelonging construction.The following discussion will present us a deeperunderstanding of the relevant theory which will also contribute to thesychronical discriminiation of these similar constructions.Chapter1reviews the relevant literatures regarding the pre-verbaland the post-verbal “zai+l”, on the basis of which, we establish a clearstarting point that is to figure out the integration path between theconstruction and its verbs. Different from the arguments of the“Construction-Determinism” and “Verb-Centralism”, we argues the finalsemantic meaning of the sentence comes from the interactionbetween the verb and its belonging construction on the basis of theanalysis on the events correlation and roles fushion. And we fix outresearch scope, that is: construction “vp+zai+l”, construction “zai+l+vp”and construction “zai+l+vp zhe”.Chapter2is the discussion about the motivation for the threeconstructions. In doing this, we need to figure out the basic form andthe core meaning for each construction. Both the diachronicalevolution and the syntactic properties will contribute to the forming ofthe semantic meaning. Therefore we should figure out the motivationfor each construction from diachronical and synchronical way with theassistance of the construction grammar and the cognitive grammar.Through the relevant analysis,we make clear the core meaning for thethree constructions: static existing state (vp+zai+l), lasting state of action(zai+l+vp) and state presentation (zai+l+vp zhe).Chapter3and chapter4are the main body of the dissertation which will go forward one by one. Chapter3discusses the first levelsemantic integration which is realized through the events corelationbetween the verb and its belonging construction. As a result, a newconstructional meaning is formed. For construction “vp+zai+l”, theevent type of the verb can be the subclassification, premise, way andthe result of the event type of the construction. For construction“zai+l+vp”, the event type of the verb can be the subclassification andthe result of the event type of the construction. For construction“zai+l+vp+zhe”, the event type of the verb can be the subclassificationand premis of the construction. The relevant study will help to explainwhy the verb with a different meaning from the construction can beinserted into the construction. For example, tiao(jump) for theconstruction “vp+zai+l”.Chapter4is the discussion of the second level semantic integrationwhich is realized through argument roles fusion. On the basis of thechapter3, we analyze the different cases of the roles fusion which willshow different attention focus. According to the principles of semanticfusion and the role correspondence, we discuss the normal cases ofrole fusion. What’s more, some special cases of the role fusion againstthe outlined principles will also be discussed such as the shading agentand the shearing agent. Through the roles fusion, the final semanticmeaning will be realized.Chapter5is the conclusion for the dissertation. While pointing outthe creativity, we also give out some relevant thoughts which need tobe studied further.