Cognitive Mechanism Of X And Y Idiomatic Construction: An A~+BC Model

As one of the most common coordinating words in English, and links two structurally and semantically parallel elements according to traditional grammar. In fact, however, in many X and Y structures(X and Y represent the coordinators respectively), X and Y are not completely parallel, and the whole meaning of the structure is not the simple plus of the meaning of X and Y. There are a large number of X and Y structures in English idioms. Apart from coordination, their whole meanings have extended to addition, repetition, contrast, cause-effect, and so on. Then, how are the extended meanings are formed, and how to explain the non-parallelism of X and Y? The researches on this structure at home and abroad have made a lot of achievements, including the studies on and and the superficial descriptions of the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic features of X and Y structure. Though some scholars have analyzed the meaning extension of the structure based on the theories of Cognitive Linguistics and Cognitive Construction Grammar, there is still no powerful theoretical model and statistical supporting.Under the theoretical background of Cognitive Linguistics and Cognitive Construction Grammar, this thesis regards X and Y structure as an independent construction, and proposes A+BC model based on Autonomy/ Dependence Alignment Theory, Blending Theory and Construction Coercion Theory to explore the meaning formation mechanism of X and Y supported by a closed corpus. Through an analysis of the prosodic, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic features of 610 items of phrasal X and Y idiomatic construction collected from Zonghe Yingyu Chengyu Cidian(2006), this study proves that A+BC model is effective in explaining the formation mechanism of the construction. The findings are as follows:1. The components of about 30% of the items have a rhyming effect, among which alliteration occurs most frequently.2. The syntactic structure of the conjuncts X and Y need not to be parallel for the analogies at the semantic level seems more important. The construction can function as subjects, predicates, objects, attributes, adverbs, complements and even independent sentences.3. The semantic relation between X element and Y element ranges a lot. Apart from “coordinating”, the constructional meaning of X and Y idioms can be classified into five types: a. addition; b. repetition; c. contrast; d. sequence; e. cause-effect. The formation of the constructional meaning is a result of the co-working of A/D Alignment, Conceptual Blending and Construction Coercion. Also, Metaphor and metonymy are always applied in their meaning formation.4. The construction has five pragmatic features, namely: a. concision; b. highlighting; c. vividness in image; d. humor and wisdom; e. innovativeness.The main construction of the study lies in:1. An integrated new theoretical model aiming at explaining the formation mechanism of X and Y idiomatic construction is created for the first time.2. An exhausted collection and a closed corpus of 610 items of X and Y idiomatic construction are made for the first time, and every item is analyzed from the perspectives of prosodic, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic features to help prove the power of the new theoretical model;3. Some ways of thinking in western nations are mined and reflected during the analysis.At last, the author proposes that there still exist shortcomings in this study and some suggestions are made for further study.