A Study On The Grounding Mechanism Of The English Delexical Verbal Construction

The English Delexical Verbal Construction(hereafter,English DVC)consists of a delexical verb,an indefinite article a or an and an eventive noun,such as take a bath,have a try,do a dance and so on.The previous studies include domains like traditional linguistics,generative linguistics,functional linguistics,and cognitive linguistics.Most linguists not only focus on the semantic and syntactic features but the generative mechanism of the simple verb and the meaning of the eventive noun.However,they rarely touch the grounding mechanism.Thus,this thesis aims to explore the grounding mechanism of the English DVC.This thesis proposes that the grounding mechanism of the English DVC is embodied at three levels:baseline level,basic level and interactive level.This thesis draws the following three conclusions:First,at the baseline level,the conceptual prototype of the English DVC is an event.It serves as a baseline for the progression of both conceptual structure and grammatical structure.The subject describes its event participants while the nominal grounding of an eventive noun indicates the content of an event.Also,the tense reflects the location in baseline reality.A baseline clause of English DVC includes its specific event participants and the temporal existence compared with the speech time.Thus,the baseline grounding is divided into nominal grounding and temporal grounding.Second,at the basic level,a basic clause of the English DVC is elaborated by its baseline clause.These two constitute a baseline/elaboration organization.The perspective adjustment comprises progressive and perfect constructions which reflects the perspective of the speaker.The modal variation includes a group of baseline modal verbs and their elaborated forms.Other clause-external elements also have the grounding function of indicating the assessment of the speaker on the possibility of an event.The finite verbal insertion refers to a schematic verb that replaces the grounded English DVC to function as the head of a clause.The negative alternation symbolizes the other options apart from the occurrence of an event.Third,at the interactive level,a basic clause of the English DVC as a proposition represents the epistemic assessment on the occurrence of an event that is subject to the interaction and negotiation of different conceptualizers.The polarity and its focusing suggest the possibility of negotiation;The speaker focuses on an option which attempts to the inclusion or exclusion of the hearer.The speech-act interaction includes command and question with grounding functions but only polarity questions reflect the epistemic assessment of the speaker on the occurrence of an event.Lastly,the major findings are summarized and some limitations as well as implications are also offered to inspire the relevant studies in the future.