A Constructionalization Approach To "Bu Yao Tai XP"

There are two different meanings of Chinese construction“Bu Yao Tai XP”in practical use.The traditional“Bu Yao Tai XP₁”conveys the admonishing meaning.With the ceaseless development of language,the construction goes through constructionalization and develops a meaning of exclamation,then the new construction“Bu Yao Tai XP₂”is formed.What are the syntactic features,semantic expression and pragmatic function of“Bu Yao Tai XP₂”respectively?What are the underlying mechanism and motivation behind the constructionalization?How is the constructionalization degree of“Bu Yao Tai XP₂”?Guided by the basic viewpoints of Construction Grammar by Goldberg and under the framework of constructional changes and constructionalization by Traugott&Trousdale,the present thesis starts with“Bu Yao Tai XP₁”,and the data of the present study mainly comes from CCL?Center for Chinese Linguistics PKU?and LWC?Leiden Weibo Corpus?.Given that“Bu Yao Tai XP₂”is frequently used in colloquial contexts,some web-based texts including results gained from typing“Bu Yao Tai”in search engines of www.people.com.cn and Sina Weibo are also added to data to be explored in the present research.The number of data collected in the present study amounts to 1534.An analysis of“Bu Yao Tai XP₂”is presented through analyzing the authentic language materials.Syntactically,its syntactic feature is not complex,and it can be used as predicates in“S+Bu Yao Tai XP₂”,as complements in“V+De+Bu Yao Tai XP₂”,as attributives in“Bu Yao Tai XP₂+De+N”,or as a dependent sentence.Semantically,this new construction gains its meaning through pragmatic transfer.Pragmatically,the pragmatic function of“evaluation”is obvious in the process of this construction used,when“XP₂”is commendatory the construction shows the speaker's positive attitude;when“XP₂”is derogatory the construction shows the speaker's negative attitude;when“XP₂”is neutral the evaluation meaning of the whole construction depends on the context.The present research points out that the underlying mechanism of constructionalization in“Bu Yao Tai XP₂”is neoanalysis and analogization,and the motivation can be classified into objective factors including semantic abrasion and high frequency of use,and psychological factors such as the desire to express oneself uniquely and differently and Han Chinese people's preference to implicit manners of speaking.The analysis on result of the questionnaire which is designed to test the constructionalization degree of“Bu Yao Tai XP₂”shows that?1?younger people acquire the usage of“Bu Yao Tai XP₂”more proficiently than the elders;?2?context plays a key role in construing the construction“Bu Yao Tai XP₂”;?3?the degree of constructionalization in“Bu Yao Tai XP₂”is not high.The present study explores and analyzes the emerging construction“Bu Yao Tai XP₂”from the perspective of constructional change,which proves further the explanatory power of cognitive linguistics.In addition,this research provides reference to the constructionalization approach to constructions.