A Study On English Delexical Verb Construction And Its Semantic Analysis

The choice of this topic is based on the following considerations: first of all,delexical verb construction(DVC for short)has a vital position in English grammar.However,our literature review shows that the existing researches on DVC are mostly confined to traditional structuralist approach and empirical formats.These research findings concentrate on the quantitative and qualitative nature of its fixed collocation,frequency of utilization and overall meaning.However,there are few researches have been found to focus on the generative mechanism of DVC,especially those from the theories of cognitive linguistics.We believe that cognitive linguistics,as a new interdisciplinary theoretical system,would provide a more explanatory and persuasive solution for the study of such language phenomenon.Finally,while the existing researches mainly focus on syntactic representations and semantic explanations of three typical delexical verbs,namely,have,take,and give,there are few researches about make,which is also a typical delexical verb,and especially about the disassembly of its construction.Our studies suggest that,there are strict restrictions on eventive nouns to enter into MAKE-construction,that is,not all eventive nouns are allowed to enter into it.In view of this,the thesis sets to analyze the generative mechanism of DVC and semantic characters of MAKE-construction from internal and external parts,aiming at to provide a reference for the study of DVC from cognitive level.This thesis concludes that:(1)At cognitive level,the generative mechanism of DVC is closely related to prototype category theory,grammatical metaphor,and language economic principle.Decategorization changes the grammatical properties of verb.Then,grammatical metaphor transfers abstract concepts into concrete ones.These two changes guarantee that eventive nouns can enter into MAKE-construction as its object.Finally,the language economy principle ensures a multiple usage of eventive nouns,enabling them to express the meaning of DVC and act as a participant.As a result,they can convey a richer semantic content.(2)At semantic level,firstly,based on the real corpus,we find that delexical verb make shows some typical general semantic features that can mainly be observed in the process of the semantic bleaching,theauxiliation,and the decategorization.Secondly,based on the data from the authoritative dictionaries,we find that indefinite article a/an in the construction has the semantic features of quantity and boundary.Finally,our experimental study of the construction proves that eventive nouns are derived from achievement verbs,semelfactive verbs,activity verbs,and accomplishment verbs.According to their meaning characters,they can be divided into four types including motion type,verbal and sounds type,state change type,and activity type.This thesis is valuable both in theory and practice in terms of theoretical significance,on the one hand,it explores the generative mechanism of DVC and enlarges the application range of cognitive linguistics.Meanwhile,it enriches research perspectives of DVC.On the other hand,this thesis analyzed the semantic characters of DVC from the internal and external by adopting experiment method a new view of DVC.As far as the practical significance is concerned,this study provides an integrated way in analyzing English DVC which would throw some light on other languages' DVC research.And most important of all,it would do some good to both language learners and teachers with their learning and teaching of DVC.