Study On Subjectivity Of Because-causal Complex Sentences

Because-causal complex sentences (abbreviated as because-CCS) are a kind of complex sentences with"effect"expressed in the main clauses and"cause"expressed in the subordinate clauses, and the subordinate clauses are introduced by the conjunction because. Because-CCS are commonly used linguistic means for expressing causal relations in English. In language use, the causal relations expressed by because-CCS are complex and diversified, which has aroused the research interests of many scholars at home and abroad. So far, the researches on because-CCS are mainly concerned with the classifications. Based on the criterion of whether the causal sentence accords with logic, or the criterion of the speaker's construal, etc, because-CCS are classified into objective/subjective CCS, direct/indirect CCS, logical/evidential CCS, content domain/ epistemic domain/speech act domain CCS, etc. However, these classifications are either too general to give a thorough description of the diversified meanings of because-CCS, or the classifying criteria are too vague to identify.Language not only expresses propositional meanings, but also conveys the speaker's construal of a situation as well as his attitudes and affects, so subjectivity exists in language. The present study takes the subjectivity of because-CCS as the research object to explore the cognitive mechanism underlying the diversified meanings of because-CCS, and attempts to provide a classification of because-CCS so that a thorough description of the diversified meanings and a subjectivity continuum consisting of different types of because-CCS can be made.This thesis is composed of six chapters. Chapter One is a brief introduction of the study, including the motivation of the study, the necessity of the study, the aims and significance of the study, the methodology adopted for the present study and the organization of the thesis. Chapter Two reviews the relevant concepts and previous researches on because-CCS. Chapter Three introduces the theoretical foundations for this study—the theory of subjectivity and subjectification. Chapter Four conducts a thorough analysis and classification of because-CCS. Based on the logical sufficient cause and the sufficient cause in cognition, in combination with the nature of the main clause, the way of reasoning and the types of speech act, because-CCS are classified into logical class, cognitive class, inferential class based on deduction, inferential class based on abduction, locutionary act class and illocutionary act class. Chapter Five analyzes and contrasts the degree of subjectivity in different types of because-CCS in the framework of Langacker's conceptualist view of subjectivity, points out the subjectification process of because-CCS, and proposes a subjectivity continuum of because-CCS. Chapter Six is the conclusion of this study.The research findings show that on the basis of logical sufficient cause, the subjectivity of because-CCS is realized through subjectification in the cognitive style, the reasoning style and the construal style, and subjectivity in different types of because-CCS constructs a continuum: the subjectivity of logical because-CCS < the subjectivity of cognitive because-CCS < the subjectivity of inferential because-CCS based on deduction < the subjectivity of inferential because-CCS based on abduction < the subjectivity of speech act because-CCS. This study uncovers that the cognitive mechanism underlying the diversified meanings of because-CCS is the subjectification of because-CCS, and this study can provide a new perspective of subjectivity analysis of other linguistic expressions.