Article published in:
Cognitive Linguistic Studies
Vol. 1:2 (2014) ► pp. 218–235

A Cognitive Grammar approach to the SLocPAdjC in Mandarin Chinese

| School of Foreign Languages, Henan University (China)
SLocPAdjC (Locative subject + adjective-predicate construction) is an idiosyncratic construction in Mandarin Chinese. It has its own specific structural and cognitive properties which are different from those of other constructions. Its structural properties are that it has locative phrases as its subject and adjective phrases as its predicate without the help of any linking verb. In addition, only state adjectives, and not property adjectives, can normally occur in SLocPAdjC as predicates. As is observed from the Cognitive Grammar perspective, what the predicate describes in SLocPAdjC is not the subject proper, but a certain facet of the spatial region of the entity designated by the subject. This depends on two cognitive mechanisms. One is the spatial region profiling mechanism of the subject, and the other is the active zone activating mechanism of the predicate. The former means that the signified entity of the nominal phrase in the subject functions as the base. The postposition serves to profile a certain spatial region of the base and makes this region a prominent candidate for the predicate to describe. The latter means that the adjective in the predicate, based on the cognitive domain it belongs to, activates a certain facet of or in the spatial region as the active zone which eventually becomes the actual matter to be described by the predicate. What’s more important, the meaning of the SLocPAdjC in Mandarin Chinese resides in the joint function of the profiling mechanism of the subject and the activating mechanism of the adjective-predicate.
Keywords: Locative subject + adjective-predicate construction, Cognitive Grammar, spatial region profiling mechanism, active zone activating mechanism
Published online: 03 April 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/cogls.1.2.04zha
References
Chao, Y.R
(1968) A grammar of spoken Chinese. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Croft, W
(2012) Verbs: Aspect and causal relations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dik, S
(1981) Functional grammar (3rd ed.). Dordrecht: Foris Publications.Google Scholar
(1997) The theory of functional grammar, Part 1: The structure of the clause (2nd ed.). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Fan, K.T., & Zhang, Y.J
(2000) Xiandai hanyu yufa fenxi [Grammatical analysis of modern Chinese]. Shangahi: Huadong Normal University Press.Google Scholar
Fan, X
(Ed.) (1998) Hanyu de juzi leixing [Sentence types of Chinese]. Taiyuan: Shuhai Press.Google Scholar
Fang, J.M
(2003) Xiandai hanyu kongjian mingcixing chengfen de zhichengxing [Referentiality of spatial noun phrases in Mandarin Chinese]. In Zhongguo yuwen zazhishe [Editorial Office of Studies of the Chinese Language]. (Ed.). Yufa yanjiu yu tansuo (12) [Studies and explorations in grammar] (pp. 196–209). Beijing: The Commercial Press.Google Scholar
Givón, T
(1984) Syntax: A functional-typological introduction (Vol. 11). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, A.E
(1995) Constructions: A construction grammar approach to argument structure. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Hawkins, B.W
(1984) The semantics of English spatial prepositions. Ph.D. dissertation. San Diego: University of California, San Diego.
Huang, C.T.J., Li, Y.H.A., & Li, Y.F
(2009) The syntax of Chinese. New York: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jackendoff, R
(2012) A user’s guide to thought and meaning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Langacker, R.W
(1984) Active zones. Proceedings of the tenth annual meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 101, 172–188. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1987a) Grammatical ramifications of the setting/participant distinction. Proceedings of the thirteenth annual meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, 131, 383–394. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1987b) Foundations of cognitive grammar: Theoretical prerequisites (Vol. 11). Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
(1988) An overview of cognitive grammar. In B. Rudzka-Ostyn (Ed.), Topics in cognitive linguistics (pp. 3–48). Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1991) Foundations of cognitive grammar: Descriptive application (Vol. 21). Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
(1993) Grammatical traces of some ‘invisible’ semantic constructs. Language Sciences, 15(4), 323–355. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1997) The contextual basis of cognitive semantics. In J. Nuyts & E. Pederson (Eds.) Language and conceptualization (pp. 229–252). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1999a) Grammar and conceptualization. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(1999b) Losing control: Grammaticization, subjectification, and transparency. In A. Blank & P. Koch. (Eds.). Historical semantics and cognition (pp. 147–175). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2008) Cognitive grammar: A basic introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
(2009) Investigations in cognitive grammar. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Y.H., Pan, W.Y., & Gu, W
(2001) Shiyong xiandai hanyu yufa [Practical modern Chinese grammar]. Beijing: The Commercial Press.Google Scholar
Qi, H.Y
(1996) Biaoshi jingtai weizhi de yizhong lingdongju [A zero-verb sentence expressing static position]. Journal of Nanjing Normal University (Social Science Edition), 31, 125–131.Google Scholar
(2014) Xiandai hanyu xianshi kongjian de renzhi yanjiu [Cognitive studies on the actual space in Mandarin Chinese]. Beijing: The Commercial press.Google Scholar
Radden, G., & Dirven, R
(2007) Cognitive English grammar. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Saeed, J.I
(2009) Semantics (3rd ed.). West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.Google Scholar
Shen, J.X
(1997) Xingrongci jufa gongneng de biaoji moshi [The markedness model of the syntactic functions of adjectives]. Zhongguo yuwen [Studies of the Chinese Language], 41, 242–250.Google Scholar
Shi, Y.W
(1982) Guanyu mingci he chusuoci de zhuanhua [On the transformation between nouns and locative nouns]. Hanyu xuexi [Chinese Language Learning], 11, 6–9.Google Scholar
Taylor, J.R
(2002) Cognitive grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
(2012) The mental corpus: How language is represented in the mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Wen, L
(1984) Chusuo, shijian he fangwei [Place, time and location]. Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press.Google Scholar
Zhu, D.X
(1956) Xiandai hanyu xingrongci yanjiu [Studies on modern Chinese adjectives]. Yuyan yanjiu [Studies in Language and Linguistics], 11, 83–112.Google Scholar
(1982) Yufa jiangyi [Lectures on grammar]. Beijing: The Commercial Press.Google Scholar
(1999) Zhu Dexi wenji (2) [Collected writings of Zhu Dexi]. Beijing: The Commercial press.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Zhang, Keding
2017. Frames of reference and the encoding of spatial location in Mandarin Chinese. Cognitive Linguistic Studies 4:2 ► pp. 355 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 08 april 2022. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.