Cognitive Comparative Study Of Mirrored Increased Scalar Resultative Constructions

“X+Y+X+chu+P” and “X+Y+X+dao+P” are both increased scalar resultative constructions.On account of interactions between constants “chu” and “dao”,the two constructions are in mirror mode.There has been little attention paid to mirrored resultative constructions in regard to previous research.This thesis attempts to explore the commonalities and differences between the two constructions from a perspective of cognitive comparison based on the theoretical framework of construction grammar,and then interprets symmetric and asymmetric relations of mirrored constructions,which can throw new lights on cognitive construction comparison research.Further study will be analyzed via two aspects: synchronic comparison and diachronic comparison.In the first place,the thesis categorizes the two constructions respectively in terms of distance iconicity principle.Then,synchronic comparison primarily concerns two dimensions: semantic comparison as well as pragmatic comparison.Semantic comparison focuses on contrasting four pairs of categorized synonymous resultative sub-constructions;pragmatic comparison pays close attention to both universal and particular pragmatic functions of the two constructions.In the light of mutual mapping relations concerning “reality(semantics and pragmatics)——cognition——language(structure)”,this thesis makes a thorough investigation on cognitive mechanisms which motivate the phenomenon of homograph(here we refer to two constructions with similar structures but different semantic meanings or two constructions with similar structures but different pragmatic functions).Diachronic comparison chiefly involves constructionalization and construction meaning extension.Constructionalization comparison covers evolution comparison within constructions as well as inheritance comparison of related constructions.Construction meaning extension comparison centers on different semantic evolution rules between the two constructions.This thesis employs qualitative-quantitative combined method and description-interpretation combined approach to make a comprehensive cognitive comparison analysis on specific corpus.After thorough probing,it turns out that: the two constructions present a high degree of symmetry in cognitive structure.On synchronic level,the two are displayed as symmetric asymmetry in regard to cognitive semantics and pragmatics;nevertheless,in terms of diachronic level,thetwo constructions are in asymmetric symmetry relations.Symmetry is the most typical mirror relation,whereas asymmetry,asymmetric symmetry and symmetric asymmetry are atypical mirror relations.Through investigation,the thesis intends to elucidate the similarities and differences between the two constructions roundly and amply,which is supposed to offer a rather distinct research framework for mirrored constructions study.Furthermore,mirrored constructions are deemed as particular elements of construction comparison.Therefore,its research methods are also of great enlightenments to the exploration of general construction comparison.