The English Middle Construction (EMC), as a piculiar syntactic structure, shares its semantic features, but diversifies in its syntactic configuration compared with other languages. This paper tries to have a contrast...The English Middle Construction (EMC), as a piculiar syntactic structure, shares its semantic features, but diversifies in its syntactic configuration compared with other languages. This paper tries to have a contrast study of the Middle Construcitons between English and Chinese and find the two languages share the same semantic features that the incompatibility between the semantic quantitatives (SQs) of the Adverb (Adjunct in the syntactic term) and the SQs of the Verb denoted by the predicate of MC leads to the deactivization of the predicate by means of the Adjunct, functioning as a quantitative device, assign delimitation to the predicate, hence ensures the grammaticality of the construction. But syntatically, we agree that the NP Movement Approach accounts for the formation of EMC, while we argue in Chinese it is the verb raising that results in the MC. This paper first represents the structural representation of the English Middle Construction; then the structural analysis is elaborated in comparison with that in Chinese, based on the previous studies; and finally the motivations of the Ecs in the perspective of syntactic and semantic functions are explored and hence a new hypothesis is raised to probe the similar construction in Chinese.展开更多
Temporal adverbial clause is an important language structure and exhibits different features in English and Chinese,which brings about difficulties for Chinese EFL learners.Based on the theory of Dependency Grammar,th...Temporal adverbial clause is an important language structure and exhibits different features in English and Chinese,which brings about difficulties for Chinese EFL learners.Based on the theory of Dependency Grammar,the study attempts to investigate the ordering distribution of temporal adverbial clauses by Chinese EFL learners at the beginning,intermediate and advanced levels.The results show that:1)Chinese EFL learners at different proficiencies tend to precede temporal adverbial clause to main clause.With the increase of proficiency,the postposition of temporal adverbial clauses by learners increases and is approaching to the ordering preference of target language.2)The ordering distribution of subordinators for temporal adverbial clauses by Chinese EFL learners is consistent with native English,showing a tendency of 100%preposition,which ascribes to the high frequency and salience of subordinators in English.3)MDD is one of the significant motivations that cause the preference of prepositional temporal adverbial clauses by Chinese EFL learners.As a kind of natural language,interlanguage has a unique cognitive mechanism which distinguishes from both native and target language.This study provides a more comprehensive theoretical reference for learners at different proficiencies to understand and learn temporal adverbial clauses,as well as data support from empirical research for language teaching.展开更多
文摘The English Middle Construction (EMC), as a piculiar syntactic structure, shares its semantic features, but diversifies in its syntactic configuration compared with other languages. This paper tries to have a contrast study of the Middle Construcitons between English and Chinese and find the two languages share the same semantic features that the incompatibility between the semantic quantitatives (SQs) of the Adverb (Adjunct in the syntactic term) and the SQs of the Verb denoted by the predicate of MC leads to the deactivization of the predicate by means of the Adjunct, functioning as a quantitative device, assign delimitation to the predicate, hence ensures the grammaticality of the construction. But syntatically, we agree that the NP Movement Approach accounts for the formation of EMC, while we argue in Chinese it is the verb raising that results in the MC. This paper first represents the structural representation of the English Middle Construction; then the structural analysis is elaborated in comparison with that in Chinese, based on the previous studies; and finally the motivations of the Ecs in the perspective of syntactic and semantic functions are explored and hence a new hypothesis is raised to probe the similar construction in Chinese.
基金supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China(No.21BYY186)。
文摘Temporal adverbial clause is an important language structure and exhibits different features in English and Chinese,which brings about difficulties for Chinese EFL learners.Based on the theory of Dependency Grammar,the study attempts to investigate the ordering distribution of temporal adverbial clauses by Chinese EFL learners at the beginning,intermediate and advanced levels.The results show that:1)Chinese EFL learners at different proficiencies tend to precede temporal adverbial clause to main clause.With the increase of proficiency,the postposition of temporal adverbial clauses by learners increases and is approaching to the ordering preference of target language.2)The ordering distribution of subordinators for temporal adverbial clauses by Chinese EFL learners is consistent with native English,showing a tendency of 100%preposition,which ascribes to the high frequency and salience of subordinators in English.3)MDD is one of the significant motivations that cause the preference of prepositional temporal adverbial clauses by Chinese EFL learners.As a kind of natural language,interlanguage has a unique cognitive mechanism which distinguishes from both native and target language.This study provides a more comprehensive theoretical reference for learners at different proficiencies to understand and learn temporal adverbial clauses,as well as data support from empirical research for language teaching.
