A Diachronic Comparative Study Of Semantic Constraints And Syntactic Features In English And Chinese "Temporal Quantitative Construction"

Based on the theory of Construction Grammar,this thesis makes a diachronic comparative study on the evolution,semantic constraints and syntactic features of English and Chinese Temporal Quantitative Construction by means of quantitative and qualitative methods.The purpose of the study is to reveal the inherent rules and make cognitive interpretations.The results are as follows.In terms of the diachronic evolution,there are asymmetries of English and Chinese construction types.The diachronic developmental sequence is not one-to-one correspondence,which are“MP+old>MP+long>MP+young”in English and“MP+chang(长;long)>MP+da(大;old)/MP+jiu(旧;old)>MP+changduan(长短;long and short)>MP+xiao(小;young)/MP+chen(陈;old)/MP+xin(新;new)/MP+daxiao(大小;old and young)”in Chinese.In the later period,there exist constructions with negative temporal adjectives in English and Chinese.Besides,the results also indicate that there is a prominent tendency for English and Chinese constructions to present the characteristic of strong stability in the evolution of structural types.English constructions,by contrast,are more stable in the matter of this feature.And Chinese constructions have more subconstructions.Ultimately,as for the evolution of semantic types,the way of expressing quantity relies mainly on precise quantity while estimated quantity subsidiary.However,Chinese constructions towards the estimated quantity are more inclusive than that of English constructions.In the aspect of semantic constraint,the similarities embody in the universality of constraints in English and Chinese temporal nouns of“MP”.Additionally,English and Chinese constructions with the feature of gregariousness in numerals are approximately similar.Partial corresponding constructions even reflect the same trend of gregariousness.Differences of the temporal nouns that are easy to enter the construction mainly focus on the incomplete correspondence and the use frequency.As for the difference of numerals,it reflects in the opposite trend of gregariousness in partial corresponding constructions.At the mention of semantic constraint of“X”,temporal adjectives in English and Chinese constructions give expression to the strong constraints.Most of them are positive whose tendency of the positive semantics become increasingly evident over time.Nevertheless,not all constructions completely exclude the negative temporal adjectives.For the differences,the temporal adjectives in English and Chinese constructions do not match all the time.The adjective“new”is not used in English construction while“xin(新;new)”is available in Chinese construction.What’s more,“daxiao(大小;old and young)”and“changduan(长短;long and short)”are unique to the Chinese constructions.As for the syntactic features,both of them cannot be modified by degree adverbs and have no forms of comparative and superlative.Meanwhile it can clearly be seen that English and Chinese constructions can serve as the attributive and complement.The differences mainly center on the syntactic functional load.English constructions are often used as the predicative while Chinese constructions are used as the attributive.However,there are also differences in the syntactic position of attributive in the construction.Most of the constructions possess the function of post-attributive in English and pre-attributive in Chinese.Comparatively speaking,the syntactic functions of Chinese constructions are more plentiful such as predicate,object,and subject.In the cognitive explanation,similarities and differences among the diachronic evolution,semantic constraints and syntactic features of English and Chinese Temporal Quantitative Constructions are the result of the negotiation and competition among the internal and external factors of the construction.First of all,the diachronic evolution is related to the meaning of the argument and the overall construction,function of the construction,pragmatic needs of the objective reality and the cognitive processing in English and Chinese.Secondly,the semantic constraints of temporal nouns in “MP” structure mainly derive from the objective reality,cognitive processing,culture and the economic principles of language world.For the constraint of numerals,it comes from the effect of the overall constructive meaning,biological and cultural attributes of the objective reality that affect the constructive meaning.About the constraint of the temporal adjectives in “X”,it can be explained from the hierarchy of pragmatics.Finally,the rationalization of the syntactic features results from fusion between the structural semantics and syntactic semantics in the construction linking.The discrepancy in language types also brings about the difference in the syntactic functional load in English and Chinese.