A Study Of The Chinese Zeroed-Subject Construction From The Perspective Of Cognitive Linguistics

This thesis makes an attempt to investigate the Chinese subject-absent sentences by means of qualitative research within the theoretical framework of Cognitive Linguistics.In the field of linguistic formalism,there is a type of sentence that has no subject in a genuine sense and that is simultaneously context-independent,termed as Subjectless Sentence.However,the notion is constantly challenged and rejected in some previous research,and no consensus has been arrived at.Hence,it is hypothesized that the linguistic theory of formalism fails to provide a unified and self-contained explanation for subject-absent sentences,so this study makes an attempt to offer a new analytical approach to the controversies over the so-called Subjectless Sentences within the framework of Cognitive Linguistics.Along with the stand that all the linguistic properties,including syntax,semantics,pragmatics,discoursal functions,etc.,form as a continuum of symbolic structure with no strict meaningful division between them,the so-called Subjectless Sentences are deemed as the instantiations sharing the same grammatical construction,namely Zeroed-Subject Construction,with all the linguistic properties residing in,rather than a merely grammatical structure.To approach the Chinese Zeroed-Subject Construction,three research questions are addressed as follows:1.What is characterized by the Chinese Zeroed-Subject Construction from the perspective of Cognitive Linguistics?2.How can the Chinese Zeroed-Subject Construction be analyzed as a cognitive construction?3.Why can a subject in the Chinese Zeroed-Subject Construction be zeroed in form?The study has arrived at the major findings as follows: first,based on the usage-based view of Cognitive Linguistics that linguistic patterns emerge from countless instances of use in discourse contexts,it is assumed that the zeroed subject in the Zeroed-Subject Construction is actually a cognitive feature that is shaped by diachronic frequent reinforcement in similar discoursal contexts,thus,the Zeroed-Subject Construction is diachronic in nature;second,the Zeroed-Subject Construction is a linguistic phenomenon---Anaphora: in discoursal contexts,the topic,for its continuity,tends to project itself or parasite itself on the subject of each clause so as to form a reference-point relationship,and the topic in a topic chain may dominates the subject in each clause,coreferential or non-coreferential with the topic,to conduct a form shift(from visible form to zero form),according to the principles of Accessibility and Topic Coercion,for the pursuit of linguistic economy.To the extent that the context information is firmly entrenched in the mind,the latent subject in a Zeroed-Subject Construction can be identified and added automatically at the moment that the Zeroed-Subject Construction is encountered;third,not all the zeroed-subject clauses in a topic chain share the Zeroed-Subject Construction that carries the constructional meaning---windowing a topic chain of the high frequency in use,with a discoursal topic as the antecedent of high familiarity and easy accessibility to both the speakers and the addresses.In conclusion,the research outcomes are of both theoretical and pragmatic implications and help for the relevant research concerning Cognitive Linguistics,second language acquisition,teaching Chinese as a foreign language.On the one hand,it is of some implication to the component-absent language phenomenon in Chinese,such as the "objectless sentences","predicateless sentences" or "non-subject-object sentences" to be approached under Cognitive Linguistics,so as to provide more evidence to the validity and the explanatory power of this theory.On the other hand,the research findings also shed light on second language acquisition and teaching Chinese as a foreign language.