Research on the Separable and Combinable Object NP Construction

CAI Li

There is a separable and combinable object NP construction in modern Chinese. The modifier or the central part of it can be moved forward to the beginning as the topic. The combined construction delivers the objective expression， while the separated construction implies the subjective understanding. The transformation is driven by pragmatic factors. Firstly， the article discusses the combined and the separated constructions meanings. Secondly， the article analyzes the form differences which are caused by their meanings. At last， the article discusses the discourse function variation caused by the form transformation and introduces the objective and subjective differences of human natural language expression.

Keywords： construction form， construction meaning， discourse function， subjectivity

I. Introduction

In the separable and combinable object NP construction， the combined construction can be changed into the separated construction by moving forward the modifier or the central part to the beginning as the topic. The combined construction is objective expression， while the separated construction implies the subjective understanding. The transformation is driven by pragmatic factors. The examples are as follows：

（1a） 她選购了白金的项链。

（2a） 小李已经拿出了一个新方案的设想。

（1b） 项链她选购了白金的，不像黄金的那样俗气。（中心语前移）

（2b） 新方案小李已经拿出了一个设想，原来的方案也就搁置一边了。（修饰语前移）

According to the constructions definition proposed by Goldberg （1995）， the separated construction meaning cannot be directly derived from its components. Thus， it is a typical construction. The collection of the combined and separated construction is called the separable and combinable object NP construction. Some scholars did researches on the sentence split and transition based on sentence transformation and generating grammar. They discuss the generation conditions， such as Liu Xiao Lin （2007）， Ren Ying （2009）， Cai Li （2008） and Shen Jia Xuan （2009）. They also discuss the Chinese topic structure， such as Xu Jie （2001） and Shen Yang（2001）， But none did researches on the separable and combinable object NP construction. This article is trying to explore the object NP structure from the cognitive construction grammar.

II. The Combined and Separated Constructions Meaning

The cognitive construction grammar shows that a qualified construction is created when its meaning is integrated with the merged meaning of the verb， the verb participant roles and argument roles. The fusion of the construction roles and argument roles is the consistency of their semantics and characters. This case is the prototype construction， and the verb adds specific instance information to the event represented by the construction （Goldberg， 1995， p. 96）. The combined construction is a prototype construction with the objective statement discourse function. The examples are as follows：

（3a） 大家都选择大屏幕的电视。

（4a） 我刚换了自行车的链条。

In the sentences （3a） and （4a）， “大屏幕的电视” and “自行车的链条” are the objects which the speaker objectively states without expressing “subjectivity”.

The separated construction includes two situations， the modifier or the central part moving forward. The part moving forward is a larger semantic scope， and the component retained is a smaller semantic scope. This is consistent with the “identified degree leading principles” （Lu， 2005， pp. 1-15）. In separated construction， the beginning NP provides a starting point， the end NP is the focus， which need be emphasized. The discourse function is to highlight the focus subjective statement. The end NP is the preferred object of the event subject and the object referred by the core verb. It is necessary to state the reason for the choice， so subsequent components often supplement the preferred focus information. The transformation embodies the speaker’s subjectivity. The examples are as follows：

（3b） 電视大家都选择大屏幕的，比那小电视强多了。（中心语前移）

（4b） 自行车我刚换了链条，骑起来有点紧，过一阵子就好了。（修饰语前移）

In the example （3b）， the central part is moving forward. In addition to the objective statement “大家都选择大屏幕的电视”， the speaker also delivers a subjective understanding. In the sentence， “电视” is separated from the combined object “大屏幕的电视” and moved to the beginning， while retaining the “大屏幕的” at the end， acting as the focus. At the same time， the speaker will contrast the “大屏幕的 （电视）” with the “小电视”through subsequent supplementary information， highlighting the sentence focus， which is that “大屏幕的” will be better.

In the example （4b）， “自行车” is moved to the beginning， while the central part “链条” is remained at the end as the focus. “骑起来有点紧” acts as the supplementary information and further states the bike using state after changing and the using feeling which is “过一阵子就好了”.

The Arguments-Structure Construction Grammar （Goldberg， 2007） points out that the interaction between the construction and the verb is reflected in two aspects. On the one hand， the construction defines the integration method with the verbs and the verbs type. On the other hand， the construction specifies the way that the events represented by the verb integrate with the events represented by the construction itself. The examples are as follows：

（5a） 游客村民们都乐意接待有文化的，比没文化的更显文明。

（5b） 村民们都乐意接待有文化的游客，比没文化的更显文明。

In the example （5b）， it is not appropriate after adding “比没文化的更显文明”. “村民们都乐意接待有文化的游客” does not reflect the pragmatic intention based on the subjective attitude， so it is incompatible with the subsequent component “比没文化的更显文明”. Therefore， the case isn’t logical. But there isn’t this problem in example （5a）. “游客村民们都乐意接待有文化的” reflects that the speaker emphasizes the focus information “有文化的”. “比没文化的更显文明” further explains the reason and expresses the consistent pragmatic intention.

Both constructions admit the objective facts expressed by the sentences， but the separated construction expresses a more implicit meaning based on the subjective attitude.

III. The Combined and Separated Constructions Form

In the combined construction， both the modifier and the central part are background liners. When the speaker emphasizes the “subjectivity”， the cognitive mode will be adjusted. On the one hand， the central part with small semantic scope is retained at the end， the modifier is moved forward to the beginning， acting as the sentence highlight topic. On the other hand， the central part with a large semantic range is moved forward to the beginning， retaining the modifier at the end， acting as the sentence focus. The examples are as follows：

（6a） 学院完成了留学生招生的审核工作。

（6b） 留学生招生学院完成了审核工作，其他工作还没展开。（修饰语前移）

（7a） 我最中意实木家具。

（7b） 家具我最中意实木的，既环保又耐看。（中心语前移）

The object NP2 internal components’positions are different in the two types of constructions. In the combined construction， “留学生招生的审核工作” and “实木家具” acts as an object component after the verb. In the separated construction， the speaker highlights the sentence topic through moving the modifier “留学生招生” to the beginning and retaining the central part “审核工作” at the end. The speaker highlights the focus through moving the central part “家具” to the beginning and retaining the modifier “实木 （的）” at the end.

The two construction syntactic structures are different. The combined construction is a SVO structure. Both separated cases consist of the topic and the narrative structures， “NP2-1” and “NP2-2” act as the topic at the beginning， followed by the subsequent topic components. In addition， the independence is also different. The combined construction expresses the complete semantics from which the obedient can get sufficient information. The separated construction cannot directly complete the sentence and its subsequent components is necessary.

The two constructions have different focus. In the combined construction， NP2-2 is the sentence focus， such as “审核工作” and “家具”. In separated object NP， modifiers is moved forward and “審核工作” is retained at the end， which is consistent with the combined construction focus， such as （6b）， both emphasizing some part related to the whole process. The central part “家具” is moved forward and acts as the beginning topic， the modifier “实木 （的）” becomes the focus component inconsistent with the combined construction focus. The combined construction emphasizes on the whole things， but the separated construction emphasizes on some component related to the things described by the topic as the whole， such as （7b）.

The two constructions arguments are different. There is a semantic interactive relationship between the construction and its components. On the one hand， the construction restricts the emergence and highlight of the components； on the other hand， some of the components will integrate into the construction under certain conditions. Three arguments of the separated construction NP2-1， NP1 and NP2-2， point to the event semantic framework object， the event subject and object respectively. There is no direct semantic relationship between the event object and the core verb.

In the combined construction， the core verb only has two direct arguments. The two direct arguments perfectly fused with the event subject and the event object. In the separated construction， the two verb arguments are able to fuse with the subject and the object， but no other verb argument fuses with the topic located at the beginning.

In conclusion， the combined and separated constructions are different in NP2 internal structure， syntactic structure， pragmatic focus and construction arguments， while the different construction forms are determined by the different meanings.

IV. The Separable and Combinable Construction Pragmatic Function Variation

The combined construction semantics is to describe an objective fact or an existent objective phenomenon. Its pragmatic function is that the speakers hope to deliver an objective information to information receiver according to the contextual expression need. The separated construction includes two situations. When the modifier moves forward and acts as the topic， the construction emphasizes the topic and the subsequent components services the topic. When the central part moves forward and acts as the topic， the construction describes the event attributes which are alleged by the topic. The separated construction pragmatic function is that the information sender， combining with the language environment， conveys the different subjective cognition and feelings to information receiver. Lyons （1977） points out that subjectivity means that the speaker shows his attitude， position， and emotion while speaking， and leave a self-mark on the discourse. The separated construction reflects the subjective understanding.

4.1 The Objective Description of the Combined construction

The combined construction fuses with the modern Chinese SVO formula completely. The structure expounds an objective fact. The expression is complete. The examples are as follows：

（8a） 孩子撕了那本书的封面，（那本书）就像一个人破了相，十分难看。

（9a） 我们选择小户型的房子，（小户型的房子）比大户型的经济实惠。

The language information flows from the old information S （孩子， 我们） and V （撕， 选择）， to the new information O （那本书的封面， 小户型的房子）. The information sender encodes the sentence according to the natural information flow， hoping the information receiver to understand the objective facts themselves. The event subject “孩子” establishes the relationship with the event object “那本书的封面” through the core verb“撕”， and put the event new information “那本书的封面” as the focus information at the end， and convey the objective fact to the information receiver that “孩子撕了那本书的封面”. The event subject “我们” establishes the relationship with the event object “小户型的房子” through the core verb “选择” ， takes the event new information “小户型的房子” as the focus at the end， and conveys the objective fact to the information receiver that “我们选择小户型的房子”. In the combined construction， the information sender conveys objective information to the receiver under the specific context without subjective view.

4.2 The Subjective Understanding of the Separated Construction

The construction pragmatic function is a dynamic analysis. The dynamic pragmatic function will change accordingly because both the static construction form and meaning change. “Subjectivity” is a language characteristic and the expressive component of the speaker “self” contained in the discourse. Edward Finegan（1995， p. 135） noted that the subjectivity is mainly reflected in “speaker’s perspective， affection and epistemic modality”. “Perspective” is the speaker’s observation perspective. “Affection” includes feelings， intentions， attitude， etc. “Epistemic modality” is mainly related to modal verbs and adverbs.

The separated constructions， one is created by moving the central part to the beginning， and the another is created by moving the modifier to the beginning. This transformation is intended by highlighting the relevant information. It reflects the subjective cognition and understanding.

The encoder moves the modifier to the beginning as the topic. It reflects that the event is unpleasant. The construction tends to negative meaning and shows the speaker’s subjective “empathy”. Speakers move the central part to the beginning as the topic. Both constructions are new structures formed by the encoder， reflecting the encoder’s understanding.

（8b） 那本書被孩子撕了封面，就像一个人破了相，十分难看。（修饰语前移）

In example （8a）， the encoders only elaborate on objective information， without any subjective perspective. But when the modifier “那本书” is moved forward to the beginning. The topic is changed， and “被” is added to the construction. The topic at the beginning suffered different losses. For example （8b） “那本书” suffered “烂了封面”. At this time， the encoder identifies himself with one of the participants describing the event， shifting affection to the event relevant object. In the speaker’s opinion， the topic becomes the suffered subject， the victim of the event. The speaker’s “affection” mainly focuses on the relevant object， such as “那本书”. The relevant object suffers losses， thus the speaker transfers the affection and produces “sympathy” for the relevant object who suffers losses. It is further confirmed from the context （8b） that “那本书” was damaged by “孩子撕了封面” in a “十分难看” state. The speaker moved the affection to “那本书” because of its suffering.

The separated construction （8b） is changed from the combined construction（8a） by moving the modifier to the beginning as the topic. It is a new construction formed by the encoder recombining the components according to the language environment， reflecting the encoder’s understanding. For example （8b）， it compares the book good situation before torn and the bad situation after torn， through the subsequent supplementary information “就像一个人破了相，十分难看”， thus forming a positive and negative comparation， highlighting the loss of the topic “那本书” caused by the “被撕了封面”. The above construction highlights the relevant object loss which concerned by the subjective understanding.

（9b） 房子我们选择小户型的，比大户型的经济实惠。（中心语前移）

In the combined constructions （9a）， the speaker’s perspective stays on the focus. When the combined construction was transformed into the separated one， the speaker’s perspective has changed， from “房子” to“小户型的”. “小户型” refers to the size of “房子”. With the transformation， the speaker’s perspective transformed from “房子” to “大小”， especially “小户型的”. The subjective perspective will change because of different observing points.

The separated construction （9b） is transformed by moving forward the central part to the beginning as the topic， reflecting the speaker’s need to highlight focus information. Through the transformation， the sentence （9b） highlights the focus information “小户型的”. In the subsequent supplementary information， the speaker further states the reason for his choice， for example， the sentence （9b） compares “小戶型” with “大户型”， forming a positive and negative comparation of “小户型比大户型经济实惠”， indicating that “小户型的” is a better choice. The transformation leads to the highlighted focus change. Both reflect the speaker’s perception subjectivity.

The separated construction of modifiers moved forward changes the topic of the construction. The speaker highlights the topic through subsequent statements， prominent contrast， positive and negative comparation. The separated construction of the central part moved forward changes the focus， and the speaker highlights the attribute characteristics by clarifying the reasons， prominent contrast， positive and negative comparation.

V. Conclusion

The combined construction conveys the objective facts， while the separated construction expresses the subjective understanding by emphasizing the topic or the focus and gives a hidden meaning based on the speaker’s subjective attitude.

The separated construction of modifiers moved forward highlights the topic. Through the subjective understanding， speakers highlight the loss suffered by the relevant object which the topic concerned. It reflects the subjective “empathy”. The separated construction of the central part moved forward highlights the focus， highlights the attribute， and further confirms the his choices in the subsequent components. The article analyzes the differences between the separated construction and the combined construction from the subjective and objective perspectives and promotes the study of other grammar phenomena in modern Chinese from the subjective and objective perspectives. The pragmatic-driven study of the separable and combinable constructions is instructive to explore the Chinese constructions inheritance.

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