An Adaptation Study Of Chinese Existential Constructions In Hong Lou Meng

Existential constructions (ECs) possess its own special pragmatic functions, which are commonly found in literary works or daily speech. Therefore, the investigation into this linguistic phenomenon is of practical importance. Many studies of ECs have been carried out both at home and abroad. Most of these studies focus on the internal structure of this construction, such as the features of existential verbs, constraints on the postverbal NPs, the syntactic status of there in English there-existential sentences, etc. While few studies deal with the pragmatical function of ECs in actual use. What process is involved when people choose to use ECs? The present thesis attempts to apply the Theory of Adaptation proposed by Verschueren (1999) to the analysis of the use of Chinese ECs. It aims at showing that the selection of ECs in language use is a dynamic process of adaptation, in which language users adapt to temporal dimension, structures and contexts.According to the Theory of Adaptation, the use of language is a continuous process of making linguistic choices. Hence, the use of ECs is also a linguistic choice-making process, in which language users make adaptation consciously or unconsciously to achieve successful communication goals. The reason why people can make such choices when they use ECs is that existential constructions have three properties, i.e. variability, negotiability and adaptability. Variability of ECs refers to all the possible linguistic forms which are available for asserting existence, appearance, or disappearance of somebody or something. Negotiability of ECs means that choices are not made mechanically or according to strict rules, but rather on the basis of highly flexible principles and strategies. Adaptability enables human beings to make negotiable choices from numerous ECs so as to satisfy communicative needs. Based on the existential constructions collected from the first 80 chapters of Hong Lou Meng, this thesis analyzes the adaptive objectives and the salience in the process of choosing ECs.It is argued that the use of ECs in Hong Lou Meng adapts to Cao Xueqin's age, his intention, the linguistic context of the novel and some communicative contexts, such as the mental world, culture, and his cognition of the world.