本文是一篇英语语言学论文，本文应用基于语料库的研究方法，总结“相+X”构式的态句法特征和语义特征，进而分析其演变过程中意义竞争现象的动因。
Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Research Background
The notion of reciprocity lies at the heart of complex social interaction,and it hastherefore been of interest to philosophers,biologists,evolutionary theorists,and othersocial scientists for centuries.The expression of reciprocity is also of interest tolinguists because“reciprocal constructions arguably denote the most complex eventtype to be expressed in most languages by regular grammatical means”(Evans 2008:33).To understand the source of this complexity,consider a simple English sentenceand its reciprocal equivalent,as shown in example 1:
(1a)July saw Tom.(1b)July and Tom saw each other.
In example(1a),the simple clause represent a single proposition:eachparticipant plays a role in the event,as as either the seer or the participant that is seen.However,the reciprocity clause(1b)conveys two very different propositions:Julysees Tom,and Tom sees July.Each participant plays two roles:as the initiator of oneevent and the end of another(Kemmer 1993).In example 1b,July is both a seer and a seen,and so is Tom.Lichtenberk(1985:21)defines this“prototypical reciprocalsituation”as a context in which“there are two participants,A and B,and the relationin which A stands to B is the same as that in which B stands to A.”The complexityfor grammatical encoding thus arises from the need to express multiple events,withmultiple assignations of participant to semantic role,in a single construction.
1.2 Research Significance
“xiang+X”construction is one of the hot topics in the study of reciprocalconstructions from the perspective of Chinese language.Reciprocity lies at the heartof social cognition,and language reciprocity is encoded through reciprocal constructions.As a reciprocal construction of typical token,the evolution of the“xiang+X”construction has been paid much attention.At present,most Westernscholars focus on Indo-European languages and explore the classification criteria andpractical characteristics of reciprocal constructions.Domestic scholars focus on thecharacteristics of a member of the synchronic“xiang+X”construction and summarizeits semantic and syntactic characteristics,but little attention is paid to the diachronicevolution of the“xiang+X”construction,and there is a lack of relevant explanation onthe motivation of competition between different isomorphic meanings of“xiang+X”construction.
Diachronic construction grammar is applied to investigate the semantic andsyntactic evolution of construction,which pays close attention to the developmenttrajectories of individual constructions.Furthermore,taking advantage of constructioncompetition theory to explain the semantic diversity of the same construction.
Observing constructions from more diversified semantic dimensions isconducive to opening up a new perspective and bringing new opportunities for thestudy of reciprocal construction.Therefore,this thesis aims to explore the diachronicevolution of“xiang+X”construction from the two semantic dimensions,that is,thesocial status and semantic role of participants.
Chapter Two Literature Review
2.1 Previous Studies of Reciprocal Constructions
Reciprocal constructions are studied from multiple perspectives,includingmorpho-syntactic typology and valence grammar of reciprocal constructions.
2.1.1 Morpho-syntactic Typology of Reciprocal Constructions
Most of the cross-linguistic studies of reciprocal constructions focus on theIndo-European language,and pay attention to the coding methods of the form leveland the classification criteria of reciprocal constructions.
Lichtenberk(1985)dealt with four situations coded by reciprocal constructions,namely reciprocal situations,reflexive situations,chaining situations and collective situations.He tried to make a conceptual distinction between reciprocal constructionsand the four situations.The former is a formal concept specific to language and thelatter are semantic concepts,real world
