Modern Chinese Emerging "x" Format Research

The thesis focuses on the newly-developing format "Bei X" in modern Chinese. Based on the systematic carding, analysis and research of the format from the perspective of "Three Layers" i.e. syntax, semantics and pragmatics, it discusses syntactic structure and grammatical function, pragmatic effect and signification of such format as well as its generating and developing system.The thesis commences to analyze the syntactic structure and grammatical function of "Bei X" format, including the research of "X" and "Bei" in "Bei X" format separately as well as their syntactic and grammatical function. Regarding to "X", the corpus is provided with "Bei X" format in the Phoenix Net news and the statistic displays that "X" in "Bei X" can be classified into intransitive verbs, separable verb-object verbs, nouns, word group, adjectives and few one-valence transitive verbs and numerals. The constituent genre in the "X" position maximizes in the word group, separable verb-object verbs taking the second place and nouns and intransitive verbs follow the suit. On such a basis are the typical semantic characteristics abstracted with [+Autonomy], [-Multivalences], [-Action&Finality]. Concerning "Bei", first and foremost "Bei" in "Bei X" format possesses such features as meaning vignette, positioning, productive, multi-constituents after "Bei" and non-monosyllable. In the second place, combing with the previous study that "Bei" has already become grammatical morphemes and possessed the function of affixes, i.e. quasi-affixes, the present study concludes that "Bei" in "Bei X" format has the same characteristic as previous studies. The study of syntactic function of "Bei" is conducted from the corpus of 450 examples with the conclusion that the principal function of "Bei X" format is to be predicate, accounting for 57%, and then follows subject, attribute, object and adverbials, etc. Furthermore, the thesis preliminarily probes into the study of lexicalization and part of speech of such format, proposing that "Bei X" format has already developed into morphology from syntax with the obvious lexicalizing tendency and should be predicating when completely lexicalized.The thesis also elaborates on the pragmatic effect and meaning of newly-developing "Bei X" format and summarizes the pragmatic functions of "Bei X":highlighting the pragmatic meaning, inclining to easier and briefer expression, pragmatic ambiguity and semantic tendency. Fully using the context under which "Bei X" format is produced and applied, the study concludes with three pragmatic meaning of "Bei X", i.e. the one involved is forced out of one's own free will, the one involved is not well-informed but indisguised and the event itself is not true. Carrying on the summarization of pragmatic meaning, the function of inclining to easier and briefer expression is to emphasize that the format omits not only the agent but also the connotative or containing semantic components that the reader need perceive it according to the context. Moreover, the format is expanded into the following three formats by verb valence theory, "Bei+(Agent)+ enforcing/demanding+X" format; "Patient unacknowledged or indisguiesd+Bei+(Agent)+ X" format; "Bei+(Agent)+believed/spoken of+X, the truth of event+opposite to be believed/unacknowleging truth or false"format. The thesis depicts the pragmatic ambiguity from the two aspects, "same format, different structure" and "same structure, different meaning" and different pointing of negative semantic tendency in combination with the preceding three semantic expanding formats.Last but not the least, the thesis goes into the producing and developing systems of "Bei X" format and sums up with the system chart, pointing out the productive course of "Bei X". Firstly the real events are mapped into the passive language structures by means of process of cognition; secondly interpersonal modulated grammatical metaphor generates it by systematic-functional grammar. Thereafter, the analogy system of language makes "Bei X" format appear as word family, resulting in the fact that "Bei X" format becomes phenotype mighty meme and then develops into continuum by duplicating memes.On account of the thesis study, the newly-developing "Bei X" format is not supposed a flash in the pan but at last the profitable supplement of development of "Bei-sentence" format in the linguistic field and lives in the daily conversations and writings.