A Study Of The De-construction In Chinese From The Perspective Of Cognitive Grammar

The de-construction is a very common and frequently-used syntactic construction in modern Chinese, and it has been studied by many linguists both at home and abroad. They have provided full and detailed descriptions of the construction, analyzing and explaining it from different perspectives. The previous studies have enabled people to understand the de-construction thoroughly, and laid a good foundation for subsequent studies. However, the previous studies fail to reach unanimous agreement on the syntactic nature and the meaning of the de-construction, and few of them touch upon constraints on the use of the construction. Within the framework of cognitive grammar and guided by the cognitive reference theory and the cognitive context theory, this thesis has done research on the syntactic nature, meaning, and constraints on the use of the de-construction.Under the guidance of the cognitive reference theory, the thesis has investigated into the syntactic nature and meaning of the de-construction. The result of the investigation reveals the following facts:(1) The de-construction is a typical reference point construction. The component before de is the reference point and de is the target.(2) The meaning of the de-construction as a reference point construction is reflected in the reference point relationship. Different forms of the construction signify different kinds of relationships, including the possessive relation, the temporal relation, the characteristic relation, the part and whole relation, etc.(3) As an invariable and indispensible element in the de-construction, de is the syntactic head of the construction; it designates a specific member of the dominion of the reference point.Based on the investigation above, the thesis has dealt with constraints on the use of the de-construction with the cognitive context theory. It holds that the de-construction can not be used at random. Contextual factors exert constraints on its use. The thesis has classified the de-construction into the frozen de-construction and the non-frozen de-construction. Restricted by the systemic context, the meaning and the referent of the frozen de-construction is obvious, and thus it can be used independently. With regard to the non-frozen de-construction, it can not stand alone, for its systemic context is unable to make its referent definite. Therefore, the non-frozen de-construction has to appear in sentences or larger language environments to receive constraints from specific situational and syntagmatic contexts. Under such circumstances, its meaning becomes definite and easy for people to understand.The study conducted in this thesis will be of some help to people in their comprehensive grasp of the syntactic nature and meaning of the de-construction, and be of some referential value to people in their reasonable and correct use of the de-construction.