A Cognitive Approach To [Degree Modifier+NP] Construction

This paper adopts a construction-based approach in combination with cognitive semantics tenets to rethink the mystified "Adv. + Noun combination" in the Chinese language. Without precedent, English data are also discussed so that a uniform picture of the redefined [Degree Modifier + NP] construction, treated as an instantiation of the Degree Modifier Construction, can be presented. My analyses, both qualitative (the Lexical Concept Scaling Co-selection Model) and quantitative (type frequency of degree modifiers and the contrastive properties connotated in the NPs), have testified that 1) the [Degree Modifier + NP] construction is an independent composite structure that results from the dynamics of semantics and syntax of words and phrases; 2) the composite structure has its preference for high degree modifiers which obligatorily provide a perspective to interpret the follow-up NPs; whereas the NP pool tends to license those NPs with contrastive properties connotated in the relevant entities or oftentimes in actual discourse the NPs are imposed to have contrastive properties; 3) the two component elements operate on the same schematic structure—gradability, which largely reflects the role of human cognitive capacities of metaphor and metonymy. Both the well-formedness and interpretability of the [Degree Modifier + NP] construction are elaborated in this research and major theoretical implications are summarized as follows: 1) human knowledge is structured in a constructional networking linked by nodes of lexical concepts; 2) construction is a context where lexical items realize their meaning shifting; 3) the construal of linguistic entities largely depends upon human cognitive resources and cultural models.