A Construction Grammar Approach To The Para-attributive Construction "NP₁ De（的）NP₂ + V De（得）C"

The para-attributive construction“NP₁de（的）NP₂+V de（得）C”（such as“Ta-de lanqiu da-de hao”[他的篮球打得好]）has attracted much attention due to its mismatch of form and meaning.Many scholars have tried to describe and explain it from different perspectives,such as Traditional Grammar,Transformational-Generative Grammar,Systemic-Functional Grammar,Cognitive Grammar,Construction Grammar and so on.However,there are still some controversies:（1）The analysis of the syntactic features of the para-attributive construction is not thorough enough,especially the nature and function of“de（的）”in it;（2）The generalization of the meaning of the para-attributive construction is not sufficient.It is widely believed that the para-attributive construction represents the meaning of subjective evaluation among linguists;（3）The discussion of the pragmatic functions of the para-attributive construction needs to be deepened.The previous studies pointed out the similarities and differences between the para-attributive construction and other related constructions,for example,the verb-copying construction,the double-subject construction and so on,but did not explain the special pragmatic functions of the para-attributive construction clearly;（4）The research on the mechanisms of the para-attributive construction is not systematic and is conducted mainly from the perspective of Transformational-Generative Grammar;（5）The analysis of the motivations of the para-attributive construction is not deep enough,and most of them only emphasize the principle of economy.As a theory of language research,Construction Grammar holds the usage-based view of language and believes that a construction is a pair of form and meaning.Investigating the form and meaning of the para-attributive construction from the perspective of Construction Grammar provides a new way to solve the problem of“syntax-semantics mismatches”.In view of this,the study adopts the qualitative analysis method and the comparative research method to reanalyze the modern Chinese para-attributive construction“NP₁de（的）NP₂+V de（得）C”from the perspective of Construction Grammar on the basis of natural and authentic data in the corpora trying to answer the three research questions:（1）What are the syntactic and semantic features of the para-attributive construction“NP₁de（的）NP₂+V de（得）C”?（2）What are the cognitive mechanisms of the para-attributive construction“NP₁de（的）NP₂+V de（得）C”?（3）What are the cognitive motivations of the para-attributive construction“NP₁de（的）NP₂+V de（得）C”?The main findings are as follows:（1）As the half-schematic construction,the para-attributive construction“NP₁de（的）NP₂+V de（得）C”is composed of four variants“NP₁”,“NP₂”,“V”,“C”and two invariants“de（的）”and“de（得）”.The construction has special syntactic and semantic restrictions on the items entering its slots:The nouns entering the slot“NP₁”as the agent roles have the animate characteristics;the nouns entering the slot“NP₂”as the patient roles have the non-referential characteristics;the verbs allowed into the slot“V”are transitive verbs and are mostly action verbs and monosyllabic verbs,with the characteristics[+unboundedness]which means that they cannot be followed by“le”[了],“zhe”[着],and“guo”[过];the complements with“de（得）”as the descriptive complements,potential complements,or resultative complements modify the events“NP₁V NP₂”activated by the verbs;the invariant“de（的）”as the constructional particle has the cognitive grounding effect on strengthening the relationship between“NP₁”and“NP₂”and improving the demonstrativeness and accessibility of the event“NP₁V NP₂”.The meaning of the para-attributive construction“NP₁de（的）NP₂+V de（得）C”can be summarized as:the description or evaluation of the event“NP₁V NP₂”activated by the verb.The pragmatic structure of the para-attributive construction is“topic-comment”and its information distribution is“given information+new information”.The para-attributive construction is more concise than the verb-copying construction and clearer than the double-subject construction.（2）The para-attributive construction“NP₁de（的）NP₂+V de（得）C”is not transformed from the deep structure believed by the transformational-generative linguists,but formed under the joint effect of different cognitive mechanisms,such as construal,situational metonymy,and blending and analogy.The para-attributive construction derives from the blending of the verb-copying construction and the special attributive construction（which can be understood in two ways after the emergence of the para-attributive construction）based on selecting the core elements of the event（the agent“NP₁”and the patient“NP₂”）to refer to the whole event“NP₁V NP₂”through construal and situational metonymy and is generalized through analogy.（3）The formation and use of the para-attributive construction“NP₁de（的）NP₂+V de（得）C”is the result of multiple factors.Firstly,the para-attributive construction is based on human bodily experience structure which is the product of our understanding and generalization of the real world.The special way of prominence of the construction reflects the reality of human experience and cognition.Secondly,different from the double-subject construction,the distance between“NP₁”and“NP₂”in the para-attributive construction is corresponding to its conceptual distance in human cognition,which follows the principle of distance iconicity.Finally,the para-attributive construction takes both expressiveness and sufficiency into account and balances the principle of maximized expressive power and the principle of econymy.On the basis of the previous studies,the study explores the modern Chinese para-attributive construction“NP₁de（的）NP₂+V de（得）C”from the perspective of Construction Grammar,discusses its syntactic and semantic features,and reveals its cognitive mechanisms and cognitive motivations,which has some theoretical and practical significance.Firstly,the thesis improves the study on the para-attributive construction“NP₁de（的）NP₂+V de（得）C”itself.Secondly,the study of the para-attributive construction“NP₁de（的）NP₂+V de（得）C”which is a typical case of the phenomenon of syntactic-semantic mismatches helps to solve the problem of syntactic-semantic mismatches.Finally,the study also has some enlightenment for teaching Chinese as a foreign language,translation,and computer linguistics.