On The Chinese Reversible Construction From The Cognitive Linguistics Perspective

Chinese is a language which attaches much importance to word order. However, just in this language, there exists a particular syntactic structure called Chinese Reversible Construction. This essay makes an attempt to give a comprehensive discussion for Chinese Reversible Construction on its classifications, reversible motivations and the semantic differences between two sentences in the Reversible Construction by abiding by the guidance of the principles of "Explanation Adequacy" and "Description Concreteness", to achieve a further expatiation on the nature of Chinese Reversible Construction.In respect of the classifications for Chinese Reversible Construction, this thesis divides it into eight subtypes according to the semantic relationship salient in each Reversible Construction and offers a more detailed description.In respect of the reversible reasons for Chinese Reversible Construction, the Figure-Ground theory and the Iconicity theory combined with the vectorial feature of Chinese verbs are applied in this thesis for the explaination, and it holds that the indefinite vectorial direction of Chinese verbs provides the possibility for the reversibility of the Chinese Reversible Construction; the iconicity of the bilateral relationship in the real world is the basis for the reversibility of Chinese Reversible Construction; the subjective choice of the conceptualizer for the Figure and Ground brings the realization for the reversibility of Chinese Reversible Construction.In respect of the semantic differences between two sentences in Chinese Reversible Construction, a detailed discussion is presented in this thesis by the Figure-Ground theory and the Dynamicity of Conceptualization. It is found that the differences between two sentences in the Chinese Reversible Construction is represented by the following two aspects:(1) Different attentions for the same entity.(2) Different conceptualization ways for the same objective scene.The research results is of some help for a better understanding of the nature of Chinese Reversible Construction, and it also bears some practical value in Chinese Information Processing, Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language and language typology study.