Domain-general Cognitive Processes And Multiple Argument Realization Of Mandarin Object

The dissertation aims to offer an overall explanation and prediction of multiple argument realization (MAR) of mandarin Chinese object, including1) transitive verb plus nonargument object, such as "eat canteen" and2) intransitive verb plus object like "fly Shanghai". Specifically, four research questions brought about by the above two kinds of MAR, viz. their semantics, syntax, the mapping algorithm from semantics to syntax and their partial productivity, are clearly answered.Contra the claim in the literature that AR be examined from either the mainstream bottom-up verb-centered perspective or the top-down construction-centered perspective, we demonstrate that it can also be considered by a lexical-constructional approach based on domain-general cognitive processes. Hence the conclusion we are drawn to is that the two MAR of mandarin Chinese object are largely determined by three subcategories of domain-general cognitive processes, namely construal operations, chunking and rich memory storage.Firstly, we offer an examination of the claim that MAR of mandarin Chinese object is determined via three sorts of construal operations consisting of fictivity, specificity and focal prominence. First of all, we consider the three different ways that fictivity acts on MAR, including1)Fictive plane is structural plane;2) Fictive plane is type plane and3) Fictive plane is metaphor and its instantiation. The first way deals with the two procedures that structural knowledge in structural plane sanctions MAR as well as the two filters by which unacceptable utterances are ruled out. And it is claimed that the partial productivity of MAR of mandarin Chinese object is closely related to the links between object and the event in the structural plane represented by the verb. Then the second way proves that the two kinds of type planes, comprised of "thing" and "process" coding by bare nouns (e.g."canteen") and habitual verbs (e.g. the event of "having a meal") respectively, are also shown to be relevant to MAR of mandarin Chinese object. Finally, it is noted that there are two possibilities that MAR might be determined by metaphor and its instantiation. One is that a verb may exhibit a new meaning via metaphor; the other is that a verb bears a contextual meaning due to one or several metaphor/metonymy taken by its object.Besides, the mutual reinforcement of two other types of construal, namely despecificity and the decrease of focal prominence, are also sensitive to MAR of mandarin Chinese. Four specific dimensions of such mutual reinforcement, including type, delimitation, grounding and discourse status as well as two defocusing strategies that are brought about by the mutual reinforcement, viz. the omission of noun phrases and type representation are touched upon to show how they interact with MAR.The dissertation also investigates the effects of chunking and rich memory storage (two other categories of domain-general cognitive processes) on MAR of mandarin Chinese object. First, it is certified that MAR of mandarin Chinese object is essentially a subcategory of noun incorporation. Hence its semantics may be shifted by noun incorporation known as the attenuation of analyzability or compositionality and eventually the increasing of autonomy. That is to say, language users would regard MAR of mandarin Chinese object as a single unit. Second, there are two strategies by which rich memory storage plays a crucial role in determining MAR of mandarin Chinese object, both of which are manifested as the mutual reinforcement of exemplar representation, context and frequency. The first one relates to the implications originated from the interaction between context and a specific exemplar of existing constructions. The implications would then be abstracted as the meaning of new constructions by language users while the delimitation of certain cognitive domains under the principle of economy would motivates the form of new constructions. And the second strategy is that an exemplar of existing constructions would be entrenched directly as a new construction impacted by token frequency.What differs the dissertation from previous research is that AR, the core topic in the study of semantics-syntax interface in theoretical linguistics, is explained and predicted under the framework of cognitive grammar. Although the three kinds of domain-general cognitive processes have been hot topics in the literature of cognitive grammar, still a descriptive application in MAR, which could complement related research conducted by generative grammarians and other functionalists, is rarely seen.