On The ’Gei’ Double-object Construction Of Modern Chinese

Academic study of the direct object has been relatively weak up to now and whether "Num+N" can be the direct object is also controversial. Therefore, we selecte "Gei (give) "double-object structureas the starting point, mainly studying such language phenomenon as "Zhang San gei le Li Si yi dao (Zhang San stabs Li Si)" to prove that it can be categorized into the "Gei (give) "double-object structure. Based on the prototype theory, we argue that the structure belongs to the marginal members of the "Gei (give)"double-object structure in the angle of syntax, semantics and cross-language comparison. The dissertation is divided into five chapters.The first chapter is introduction. In the two aspects of the double-object structure in modern Chinese and "Num+N" structure, we summarize the results of previous research to clarify the purpose, range, train of thought and research methods of this study.The content of the second chapter is the syntax range of modern Chinese "Gei" double-object structure. With the elements of the subject, indirect object and direct object, we describe the syntax range, internal categories and syntactic similarities of "Gei" double-object structure, largely focusing on the direct object. According to the syntactic features, direct objects of "Gei" double-object structure can be divided into "Pro", "Num","(Num+Cl)N" and "Num+N" four major categories. Furthermore, we demonstrated that "(Agent) Gei +Num+N" is a double-object structure. In this way, we conclude the rank sequence of "Gei" double-object structures with different direct objects, among which "(Agent) Gei +Num+N" is of marginal characteristic.In the third chapter, we discussed modern Chinese "Gei" double-object structure from the perspective of prototype theory and semantics. We discuss the different direct object types of "Gei" double-object structure and their position in the family of "Gei" double-object structure. Besides, we summarized their approximate sequence. Synthesizing from both syntax and semantics, we explained that the "Gei" double-object structures with a direct object of "Num+N" or "(Num+Cl)N" are of marginal "Gei" double-object structure. On the basis of the core of "Gei" double-object structure, transitional "Gei" double-object structure extends a layer of meaning— ontological metaphors; marginal "Gei" double-object structure extends two layers of meaning— metonymy metaphor sets.In order to expand our horizon, in the fourth chapter we discussed modern Chinese "Gei" double-object structure from the perspective of cross-language comparison. We investigate in Korean, Japanese, English, Dutch, Portuguese and Vietnamese the degree of universality of the ditransitive constructions of "give" which are the equivalents to different types of transmitters in Chinese to draw a conclusion of their rank sequence. Cross-language comparison results further demonstrates the high productivity and prominence of Chinese "Gei" double-object structure and the marginal feature of the Chinese construction "(Agent) Gei +Num+N" as a "Gei" double-object structure.Chapter five is the conclusion, which summarized the value and deficiency of this paper.