A Study Of Middle Category In Modern Chinese

As a mismatch of form and meaning,Middle Construction has distinguishing features,and has recently been a focus of syntactic studies.Given the fruitful achievements of researches concerning Middle Construction,much room is still there to be explored.Some conduct Chinese Middle Construction research applying the English framework,and some define Middle Construction very differently.The key factor behind all those problems is our lack of knowledge about Middle Construction.Besides,previous studies of Middle Construction generally deal with individual cases of English or Chinese language,as well as comparative studies of the two languages,with systematic studies badly called for.In addition to that,as a cross-linguistic phenomenon,how is Korean Middle Construction different from Chinese one? Do they share the same definition? What are their unique features… Those questions remain unanswered.Based on previous studies of different schools and times,home and abroad,this paper first points out some existing problems worth studying,and from the functional perspective,with the principles and theories of Cognitive Linguistics,Construction Grammar,Grammaticalization,and Inventory Typology,by analyzing real world language samples and applying the methods of deduction,induction,comparison,and the Three-Plane Theory,this paper conducts a systematic study of Chinese Middle Construction.Firstly,this paper identifies the typical features of Middle Category,redefines and classifies Middle Category in Modern Chinese,and compares Middle Category to similar constructions.Then,this paper analyzes the constituents of Middle Category in Modern Chinese from syntactic,semantic,and pragmatic levels(Three-Plane Theory),and compares two types of Middle Constructions,of which the modifying constituents express degree of difficulty.With synchronic and diachronic linguistic evidence,this paper explores the development of Chinese Middle Category based on the grammaticalization path of Middle Category,analyzes the causes motivating the grammaticalization of Chinese Middle Construction,identifies the key features of Middle Category by referring to cross-linguistic forms of Middle Category,uncovers the cognitive motivations behind Middle Category,and eventually discovers the linguistic universals hidden cross-linguistically.This paper has arrived at the following findings:First,this “Middle” thing is a cross-linguistic semantic category rather than a simple syntactic construction.Within this category,there are a series of constructions expressing “Middle” meanings,such as Chinese Middle Constructions.Second,for a middle construction to hold,the agent has to hide,both the agent and the patient tend to be referentially generic,the patient tends to be responsible for the event and meanwhile fall victim to it,the construction reveals the speaker's judgment(modality),and there requires a third constituent functioning as a modifier.The constructional meaning of Middle Construction is that the patient functions like a modifier to the event,which is due to the intrinsic property of the patient.Middle Constructions differ a lot from passive sentences,sentences headed with their patients,“V ? +Complement” constructions,ergative sentences,and sentence structures expressing degree of difficulty.Third,there are two types of structures for Chinese Middle Category:“NP+V??+Modifier”and“NP+Auxiliary+VP”,which have different syntactic marking patterns and are semantically complementary.Different forms function differently:the“V??/?”and the“Modifier”in the structure“NP+V??/?+Modifier”are of“verb-complement”relation;the“Auxiliary”and the“VP”in the structure“NP+Auxiliary+VP”are of“adverbial-verb”relation.Both structures can express degree of difficulty,but vary greatly in constituent restriction,text construction,pairing pattern,and language style.Fourth,the“NP+Auxiliary+VP”structure is the first Middle Construction in Chinese language,the“Auxiliary+VP”structure being a dynamic construction gradually lexicalized.With the Chinese“verb-complement”construction formed and developed,the“NP+V??/?+Modifier”structure followed.The lexicalization and grammaticalization of the two types of structures result from the combined effects of various factors such as reanalysis,metaphor and metonymy,analogy,and rhythm.Fifth,Middle Category is a parasitic category.According to cross-linguisticstudies,Middle Category does not have its own formal markings,which means that it has to borrow from other constructions.Chinese Middle Category wears the coat of“NP+V??/?+Modifier”and“NP+Auxiliary+VP”,which is realized by the functional shift of the two mighty categories:the V-directional compound and the auxiliary.