Rhetorical Construction "X Shenme" And The Expansion Of Inheritance Of Realated Construction

This paper mainly studies the extensional inheritance relationship between the rhetorical construction"X shenme"(“X??”)and its related constructions in modern Chinese,based on cognitive grammar and construction grammar theory.On the basis of senior scholars'research,this paper further explores the syntactic,semantic and pragmatic features and the inheritance source of this construction,and also examines its construction prototype,its extension and expansion motivation,and compares it with the relevant constructions.This paper is presented as six chapters:Chapter 1 is a general introduction.In addition to expounding the object,purpose,meaning and theoretical background of the paper,it mainly introduces the research on the construction"X shenme"(“X??”)and its related constructions,and summarizes the academic process of"X shenme",which is from considering the negative meaning coming from"shenme"(“??”),to the point that the negative meaning comes from the form of rhetorical question,and then to regarding"X shenme"(“X??”)as a construction for the overall study.Chapter 2 mainly studies the inheritance relationship of the rhetorical construction"X shenme"(“X??”),and simply expounds some relevance theories of construction grammar represented by Goldberg.Based on the Chinese facts,this chapter also analyzes and explains the multiple inheritance sources of the rhetorical construction"X shenme"(“X??”),considering that its source has three aspects:First,borrowed from interrogative construction"X shenme"(“X??”)syntactically;Second,inherited of the characteristics of the schema rhetorical construction phonetically;Third,expressing the negation of X‘s reason(purpose)semantically,which is influenced by the serialverb construction but also inherited of the definition of the schema rhetorical construction.Chapter 3 examines the prototype and the evolution process of the rhetorical construction"X shenme"(“X??”)from the diachronic perspective,holding the view that this construction first appeared in the Tang Dynasty and the prototype is"Vt shenme"(“Vt??”).Chapter 4 is about the extension of the rhetorical construction"X shenme"(“X??”).Based on the research of construction prototype and schema,this chapter analyzes the expansion process of X,from transitive verbs to intransitive verbs,adjectives,nouns,pronouns,interjections and onomatopoeia.It is believed that its expansion is due to context and metonymy.The expansion process of construction is the process of construction change to constructionalization.The form of X is becoming rich,while the role of the interrogative pronouns"shenme"is becoming weak.The integrity of them is constantly strengthening.Chapter 5 is the comparison of the relevant construction of "X shenme"(“X??”).Mainly from the perspective of diachrony,distribution and degree,this chapter discusses the relationship between the"X shenme"(“X??”)and the two other constructions"X shenme Y"(“X??Y”) and"X shenme X"(“X??X”)which are similar in forms and functions.It is concluded that the construction"X shenme"(“X??”) and"X shenme Y"(“X??Y”) may be the homogenous complementary constructions;the construction"X shenme Y"(“X??Y”)is based on the construction"X shenme"(“X??”) and its function is to further strengthen negation.