A Cognitive Grammar Study Of English Middle Constructions:A Construal Approach

Within the framework of Cognitive Grammar,this thesis concerns itself with a research on English middle constructions from the perspective of Construal Theory.As a special language construction,English middle construction is an active form in syntax and a passive meaning in semantics.Previous studies have achieved fruitful accomplishments from traditional approach,generative approach,second language acquisition approach and cognitive approach.However,little literature has systematically explored the syntactic characteristics and semantic restrictions as well as cognitive mechanisms of English middle constructions.Cognitive Grammar is based on Embodied Philosophy,which has explanatory on language constructions and the cognitive mechanisms behind.As an important theory of Cognitive Grammar,Construal refers to the cognitive ability of people to observe and describe the same scene in different ways,mainly including four dimensions: scope and background,perspective,prominence and specificity which are involved in observing things(Langacker,1991).The thesis,therefore,takes the dimensions of Construal to study English middle constructions and devotes itself to the following three questions:(1)What are the syntactic characteristics of English middle constructions?(2)What are the semantic restrictions of English middle constructions?(3)What are the cognitive mechanisms of English middle constructions?The thesis identifies itself as a qualitative study.The data sources are from Corpus of Contemporary American English(COCA),the intelligent Web-based Corpus(i Web),grammars and the related literature.The research findings are:(1)In terms of syntactic characteristics,the subject is the patient in typical English middle constructions,and the subject is the telic role of the noun;the middle verb is the accomplishment verb;an adverbial modifier is required;(2)In terms of semantic restrictions,there is a cooperative restriction between the subject and the middle verb as well as the adverbial modifier;(3)In terms of cognitive mechanisms,the formation of English middle constructions has the method of Cognitive Construal behind it,which embodies the interactivity of language communication and the economic principle of language.The research significance of this study is mainly reflected in the following two aspects.On the one hand,it attempts to provide a new approach to the study of English middle constructions.On the other hand,it is expected to shed some light on English teaching concerned.