Chinese Purpose Category And Its Expression Means

Comparatively, the research of the purpose category in Mandarin Chinese is notenough. Many problems need to be resolved at present. This paper attempts to selectfour subjects about the purpose category in Mandarin Chinese to investigate, withinthe theoretical framework of functional grammar. The aim of this paper is to proposesome new perspectives of solving the problems in the previous researches. We willespecially pay attention to the subjects that nobody has made any research before.Therefore, the behind rules and mechanisms accounting for the purpose category willbe unveiled, and they will be beneficial for our in-depth understanding of the purposecategory. Excepting the introduction and the conclusion, there are four subjects in thepaper as follows:1. Semantic Foundation and Syntactic Expressions of Purpose CategoryIntentionality,"action-purpose" relationship, the change of state, and irrealis arethe four basic semantic properties that the purpose category generally possess. Theyare also the criteria which can judge whether a sentence or a construction is a purposeclause. The syntactic expressions of the purpose category in Mandarin Chinese can bedivided into four types: purpose complex sentences, simple sentence with purposivemarkers, bare purposives, and "verb+purpose object" constructions. They all form acontinuum of the prototypical features of purpose category.2. Formation Patterns of Purposive Markers and the Typological CharacteristicsThe grammaticalization in human languages shows not only the strong tendencyof universals, but also the different typological variables. On the basis of diachronicdiscussions about source concepts and change paths of purpose clause linkage mark-ers in Modern Chinese, we can investigate the formation patterns of these purposivemarkers from the cross-linguistic perspective, and then get some interesting observati-ons of universal features in human languages and typological features in Chineseemerged from the grmmaticalization changes of Chinese purposive markers.3. Cognitive Motivation of the Order of Purpose ClausesThere are two alternative positions of purpose clauses in Mandarin Chinese: one goes ahead of the matrix clause, whereas the other follows the matrix clause.None of the present theories can offer a satisfying explanation on the phenomenon.Basing on investigating the mental representation of “action-purpose” relationship, itcan be seen that the two concepts intention and purpose are critical to the research ofpurpose category. The differences and similarities between the two concepts are notonly the rationale that placing purpose clauses, but also the one why the system ofpurposive markers emerge.4. Covert and Overt Subjects of Purpose Clauses and the Restrictive FactorsWhether the subject of purpose clauses in Modern Chinese appears or not, in thefinal analysis, is the result of the combined effects of many factors, such as contextand syntax. Usually, the subject of purpose clauses selectively appears, but sometimesis compulsively omitted. The selective appearances of subjects are influenced by thefiltering and filling function of the context. The compulsive ellipsis of subjects areconstrainted by syntactic factors.