The Flip-flop Structure Of Mandarin Chinese In Perspective Of Cognitive-Construction Grammar

Under the guidance of Cognitive-Construction Grammar,this paper is dedicated to revealing the forming process of the flip-flop structure and explaining the reason why the exchange of arguments on the subject and object position brings about no interference in the semantical expression from the perspective of a lexicalconstructional approach.The flip-flop structure,one kind of Multiple Argument Realization,is a special syntactic type in Mandarin Chinese with its uniqueness in that the exchange of arguments on the traditional subject and object position does not interfere in the original semantical meaning(e.g.Shi-ge ren chi yi-guo fan;yi-guo fan chi shi-ge ren.Xiao bei he lv cha;lv cha he xiao bei.)Different with previous researches by various linguists,construal in Cognitive Grammar is employed as the main theoretical construct in accompany with fundamental principles from Construction Grammar in order to put emphasis on the multiple argument realization.Since the role of a lexicon and that of a construction are respectively emphasized by Cognitive Grammar and Construction Grammar,it is reasonable to come to a final conclusion that the flip-flop structure is an independent construction with its form and meaning.A thorough conclusion of two rules and two tables in regard to the syntactic characteristics and semantical characteristics of this construction is presented in order to innovatively elaborate the detailed information about the form and meaning.What’s more,it is innovative to involve various constituents including the clause,the verb and Noun Phrases and to propose five constructional meanings and two optional meanings.Above all,this paper is aimed at making a more reasonable interpretation of the flipflop construction,which thus makes contributions to the grammar system of Chinese,extends the application and explanation of Cognitive Grammar and Construction Grammar,brings convenience to the teaching process in Teaching Chinese as a Second Language and promotes a widespread globalization of Chinese.