The Resolution Mechanism Of Semantic Ellipsis In Modern Chinese

The purpose of this research is to study the resolution mechanism of semantic ellipsis in modern Chinese and to prove that Conceptual Integration Theory (CIT) is well applicable to the study. We provide our definition of semantic ellipsis based on previous studies and point out that the production and resolution of semantic ellipsis cannot be achieved without the presence of mutual knowledge shared by all participants. The key to the resolution mechanism of semantic ellipsis is finding out how recipients process mutual knowledge. CIT is a cognitive semantic theory, a theoretical framework in the process of exploring the meaning construction. It holds that conceptual integration is the basic and universal cognitive approach with great explanatory power to cognitive processes as it can give detailed description and interpretation for on-line meaning construction. Thus CIT is adopted to give a detailed picture of how mutual knowledge functions in resolution process of semantic ellipsis. We classify ellipted mutual knowledge into three categories: ellipted mutual encyclopedic knowledge, ellipted mutual private knowledge and ellipted mutual situational knowledge, and analyze them separately in the framework of CIT with the language materials of spoken Chinese recorded in the classroom.