On The Durative-Iterative Constructions In Mandarin Chinese

In Mandarin Chinese, there are various ways of denoting the durative events. Among them, the Durative-Iterative Constructions (hereafter D-I-Constructions) is typical in describing durative events. But only a few studies have investigated such constructions. Therefore, this dissertation tries to give a more through and systematic investigation on the D-I-Constructions. As the D-I-Constructions are constructed by reduplications, we focus on three typical D-I-Constructions:yi V yi V, V zhe Vzhe, and V lai V gu,. We mainly discuss their syntactic structures, semantic meanings, the features of the V, and the textual function of the three reduplicative patterns respectively. On the basis of the above conclusions, we make a comparison between the D-I-Constructions and the Vzhe construction, including the comparison within the three types of the D-I-Constructions.The Construction yi V yi V(yi shanyi shan, yi zhayi zha. is static-adjectival and is less strongly dynamic. It denotes to the type of state that the action occurs repeatedly one after another in a rhythmic manner within a short time, in which the state means no energy flowing to the objects. The verbs in the constructions are the monosyllabic semelfactive verbs that describe internal events. The sentences following them belong to the type of evaluation sentences. The Construction Vzhe V zhe (zuo zhe zuo zhe, xiao zhe xiao zhe) is constrained to a single function and is often used as a single clause. But it can describe different types of duration, of which the discontinuous-duration type has not been discussed in the previous research. Generally speaking, only the static verbs cannot enter into such constructions, and the achievement verb can be allowed in only if the event is a plural. The sentences following them introduce a new situation which can be classified into two types: resultative and non-resultative. The construction V zhe V zhe emphasizes the cumulative process of the duration, and it would obtain a weak function of offering a reason of’When it is getting long, it will leads to a result’. The Construction Vlai V qu (pao laipao qu, xiang laixiang qu) falls into two types:motion and non-motion, the former one has different directions, and the later one takes different arguments in each atomic event. The verbs within the construction are always verbs of activities and accomplishments. In addition, the Vs in the former type need to satisfy the feature [+bi-directions], and the Vs of the later type can not be intransitive verbs. The former type has many syntactic functions and various semantic types of the sentences following them, on the other hand, those of the latter ones only have single syntactic function and single semantic types of the followed sentences.With the Comparison between the three constructions and the V zhe construction, we are much assured that the D-I-constructions interpret a certain type of duration and iteration, the sentences following them have fixed semantic types accordingly, and fewer verbs are allowed in such constructions than that of the V zhe construction. Then, we compare the three constructions and find out that the feature [+described] allows for richer syntactic functions, while [-described] has a single function. And if the constructions describe states, then the sentences followed make an evaluation; if they describe activities, then the sentences followed have richer semantic types. The constructions with the feature [-described] always have the following sentences with single semantic type which is result. Among these constructions, some constructions emphasize the duration of the verbs and others emphasize the duration of the arguments of the repeated atomic events, corresponding with which, is the difference between the semantic type of the followed sentences, which is a new situation and the result of the argument respectively. In a word, the semantic meanings and the syntactic functions of the constructions are related to their textual functions.The value of the thesis is that it makes a systematic and comparative study on the D-I-Constructions. Comparing with the other ways of describing durative-iterative event, we conclude the properties of the D-I-Constructions and the relations among the syntactic function-semantic meaning-textual function aspects. Methodologically, the analysis on the semantic meanings of the constructions are investigated in the events, not constrained to the constructions, and such taking the semantic background into consideration. And the analysis of the verbs are not restricted to the traditional described way, but analyzing them from the angle of the Constructions, and pay much attention to the relations between the semantic meanings of the constructions and the verbs in them. Furthermore, the research methods in this paper offer a reference for the latter research on the other durative-iterative constructions.