A Study On The Mechanism Of Formation Of The Pseudo-attributive Construction And Its Relation With Related Constructions

As a unique phenomenon to be found in few languages,the pseudo-attributive construction has attracted many linguists' attentions.This thesis is mainly to analyze the formation of pseudo-attributive sentence and the relation with its relevant sentence patterns,especially the verb-copying construction.Pseudo-attributive sentences often refer to "N1+de(?)+N2+V+DE(?)+C" constructions and "N1+V+le+N2+de(?)+N3" constructions.As to the verb-copying sentence,it is defined as a sentence with two occurrences of the same verb,one followed by an object,and the other followed by a complement.That these two kinds of sentences have strong connection is because most verb copying sentences can find their own corresponding pseudo-attributive counterparts.Recent studies most focus on the mechanism of formation of pseudo-attributive NPs on subjects.Few of them analyze the formation of pseudo-attributive phrases as objects,namely N1+V+le+N2+de(?)+N3.This thesis investigates the construction of pseudo-attributive phrases as objects and throws some light on the formation of it.Based on this idea and former studies,this thesis places its stress mainly on the following research questions:(1)As the structural particle "de" is a marker of the attributive construction,the difference between "de" in traditional attributive constructions and pseudo-attributive constructions is remained to be discovered;(2)The mechanism of formation when pseudo-attributive phrases occupy the positions of objects;(3)The relationship between pseudo-attributive constructions and other related constructions.Through analyzing previous research,we find that the answers to above questions can be presented as follows:(1)In traditional attributive constructions,"de" is used as a link between attributes and head nouns to express a meaning of restriction or possession,while in pseudo-attributive constructions,"de" is applied to assist the whole sentence to form a statement or a fixed proverb.(2)We acknowledge the significance of reanalysis,and point out that pseudo-attributive constructions share the same deep structure with other related constructions.The reanalysis based on this deep structure is the mechanism of pseudo-attributive constructions.(3)From the derivation of similar constructions,it is indicated that pseudo-attributive constructions and other related constructions all enjoy the same deep structure.On other related issues about pseudo-attributive constructions,this thesis illustrates a situation where the attribute denotes a frequency concept,and provides our thoughts on such a problem.As to the ambiguity of pseudo-attributive constructions,this thesis also gives certain discussions and does reasonable and practical exploration.Furthermore,this thesis offers some thoughts on the economy principle embodied in the pseudo-attributive construction.Compared with verb-copying constructions,the wider popularity of pseudo-attributive constructions in modern Mandarin is a strong evidence for the influence of economy principle on language usage.