A Study Of Chinese Construction "(S)+W+si+(O)+le"

“(S)+W+si+(O)+le” is an abstract construction, which is summarized fromsome instances in oral Chinese, such as “re+si+le”“ji+si+le”“weiqv+si+le”and so on. It belongs to the Predicate-Complement structure, the expression of highdegree. The meanings of substantives of its constituents “si le” has grmmaticalized，when it combines with predicate W, it means “somebody\something’s some kindproperties and states reach an extreme degree”.This paper aims to explore the degree construction “(S)+W+si+(O)+le” mainlyon the base of Construction Grammar. It is established both on synchronic level anddiachronic level, using the theory Tradition Structure Grammar, Grammaticalizationand Cognitive Grammar to analyze the degree construction “(S)+W+si+(O)+le”systematically and comprehensively. My research has mainly discussed the followingissues: the core meanings and the syntactic and semantic features of this constructionand its constituents; the relationship between the different constituent in thisconstruction; the constraints between this construction and its constituents; thecognitive mechanism for the core meaning development and its motivation.My research contains six chapters:Chapter one, Introduction. This part is divided into five parts, including theobject and scope of this study, the purpose and significance of this research,theoretical basis and methodology, data collection and literature review. This partdefines the content and methods of my research on the micro level.Chapter two, we prove“(S)+W+si+(O)+le” structure is a construction based onthe definition of construction which is described by Goldberg (1995). We found thatits core meaning is “somebody\something’s some kind properties and states reach anextreme degree”. It expresses meaning from two aspects: object and subject. This partalso established the interactive mapping relation, there are argument roles: sentiment,causer and dative, the predicate can be filled in with some verbs and adjectives.Chapter three, this chapter analyze the construction structure. First of all, wediscuss the characteristics of its constituents on the base of Construction Grammar,we found that its constituents can divide into two members: variants S O W andconstants SI LE. The types of S and O are basically similar, except that O does notcontain event proposition, other grammatical components are subject, object andevent proposition. The types of W contain part of verb and adjectives which expresspeople’s physical feelings, emotion feelings and mental impression. The constant “si”and “le” has respectively involved into an adverb and auxiliary word throughgrammaticalization. Also, they both play very important roles in constituting“(S)+W+si+(O)+le” construction. In the second section, we mainly discussed therelationship between the different constituents and the constraints from constructionto its constituents. We drew the conclusions that constant “si” restricts variants S OW on so many aspects, such as syntax, semantics, pragmatics and rhythm. As for the constraints from construction to its constituents, mainly reflect three aspects: theincrease meaning of predicate, the combination between the participant roles andargument roles, the relationship between the meanings of predicates and construction.Chapter four, this chapter we focuses on the mechanism and the cognitivedevelopment of“(S)+W+si+(O)+le” construction. We thought that its creationmechanism is analogy and reanalysis, and its cognitive motivation is metaphor. Afteranalyzing the diachronic development of this construction, we found the constructioncame from “V si (0)” structure, so obviously it has the justification. As the “(S)+W+si+(O)+le” construction is an abstract pattern from many practical instances, wedescribed its image schema, which can help us to understand this construction better.Chapter five, we summed up this research and pointed out four conclusions andits weakness, of course there are still some problems to overcome in the future study.