| According to China‘s Standards of English Language Ability(2018),the higher levels users of English are at,the more natural and idiomatic expressions their performance is characterized by.According to Fillmore et al.‘s classification of idioms(1988),one is substantive idioms that have fixed lexical items as components,and the other is formal idioms that have frames for different lexical items to fill in.This study is focused on formal idioms,one of which is verb-particle combination that was previously called phrasal verb as well.As a case study,V OFF combination is to be investigated because it is revealed by previous research that Chinese students use less OFF than other particles.This study intends to figure out which verb types are strongly associated with V OFF construction and its prototypical meaning as well as the cognitive mechanism in the meaning extension of it.Based on the analytical framework termed as CMM model which is constructed by the combination of Construction grammar,Macro-event study and Metophtonymy,the present study,above all,takes verb-particle combination as a construction by which the traditional definitions of phrasal verbs as verbs or phrases are unified.Moreover,traditional studies either emphasized on verb meanings or overemphasized the contribution of particle to meaning construction of the structure.By contrast,this study regards both verbs and particles as a whole construction that has independent meaning of its components.In this study,both constructional semantics and verb semantics will be designated by event types that are realized as Macro-event including Motion event,State Change Event and Temporal Contouring Event.Depending on different verbs filling in the slot of the construction,verb-particle constructions have different constructional meanings within different event types,but they are not unstructured,but organized with central sense and extensions from this sense.Furthermore,this study also explores the cognitive mechanisms underlying semantic extensions of the verb-particle construction,which include metonymy,metaphtonymy,and metaphor.Based on the data from COCA,this study starts by a quantitative study which is intended to pinpoint the central sense of V OFF construction with the help of software R and collustructional analysis calculating the collustrutional strength between verb collexmes and V OFF construction.Base on lexical meanings of verbs,collexmes that are significantly collocated with V OFF constructions are classified into 10 groups.They are(1)motion verbs;(2)split verbs;(3)verbs of contact;(4)state verbs;(5)verbs of change;(6)verbs of body;(7)verbs of possession;(8)verbs of consumption;(9)verbs of cognition;(10)verbs of communication.The sub-groups are further generalized to four clusters:(1)motion verbs;(2)verbs of departure;(3)verbs of states and changes;(4)social verbs.OF all verb types,motion verbs accounts for the largest percentage and are followed by split verbs.Given that verbs of departure are also motion verbs,verbs of departure are incorporated to motion verbs,resulting in three verb types of this study.Then,the three verb types fall into the slot of V OFF constructions with directional meaning,resultative meaning and temporal meaning within motion event,the state change event,and the temporal contouring event respectively.In order to delve into similarities and differences in the semantic features of the three macro-events,this study examines the framing event and co-event of each macro-event.Framing events include figural entity,activation process,association function and ground,among which Figural entity and Ground entity are investigated together because they are inextricably linked,Activation process and Co-event are examined together because they are both mapped onto the verb of this construction.The findings are as follows.As for Figural entity,motion events have objective and movable figural entities,while state change events and temporal contouring events have abstract figural entities.Ground entity in all macro-events can be explicitly expressed or implicitly implied.It is starting location or/both final location in motion event;the presence or absence of a particular property in state change event;initial stage and final stage in temporal contouring.As for Activation process,it is motion in motion event,change in state change event,continuation and termination in temporal event.As for Co-event,it can be Cause or Manner in motion event depending on whether there is causal agentive chain in sentential context.It is Cause in State Change Event and Manner in Temporal Contouring Event.As for Association function,it is Path determined by figural entity and ground in motion event,different Phases of states in state change event,and temporal contour in temporal contouring event.Finally,based on the similarities and differences in the semantic features of constructional meanings within macro-events,this study also explores the cognitive mechanism in semantic extensions of V OFF construction.Firstly,within motion event,the meanings of V OFF constructions are extended by cognitive operation of metonymy,which elaborates the relation of FROM NEAR TO FAR as FROM IN TO OUT,and FROM UP/DOWN TO DOWN/UP.Secondly,the metonymy INITIAL/FINAL STATE FOR STATE CHANGE EVENT within the metaphor STATE CHANGE IS MOTION enables the meaning extension from directional meaning of motion event to resultative meaning of state change event.The cognitive mechanisms involving both metonymy and metaphor are termed as metaphtonymy.Thirdly,based on the similarity in the semantic structures of motion event and temporal contouring event,the metaphor TIME IS MOTION is motivated.Furthermore,it is pointed out that semantic role of SOURCE is profiled in motion event,while that of GOAL is profiled in state change event.And both SOURCE and GOAL are profiled in temporal contouring event.By calculating the collostruction strength between the verb and V OFF construction,analyzing the semantic features of three macro-event types,and exploring the cognitive mechanism that underlies the semantic extensions,this study theoretically expands the study of both macro-event theory and construction grammar,methodologically provides a more objective way for the study of construction grammar,and practically inspires educators to help NNSs better grasp the semantically complicated V OFF construction. |
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