A Cognitive Research on the Chinese "Hao Bu+AP" Construction

徐利岩

Abstract： In cognitive linguistics， Chinese "Hao Bu+AP" construction is a structure which can not be fully inferred from its components has special structural features. Based on the analysis of its structural features in four levels of voice， syntax， semantics and pragmatics， combined with the constructional coercion， this paper explores the cognitive motivation of the construction， and proves that there is an interaction between lexical meaning and construction meaning， which helps cognitive semantic analysis.

Key Words： the "Hao Bu+AP" construction; redundant negation; constructional coercion; Interaction

1. Introduction

Redundant negation is a kind of linguistic phenomenon which contains negation elements such as "不、沒、别、非、未"， but in fact it does not mean negation. It is more common in daily life.

Many linguists in China have explored the negation of redundancy. The research perspectives and viewpoints have some reference significance for this study， but also lead to the author's in-depth thinking： does this construction have corresponding structural features in the phonetic， syntactic， semantic and pragmatic levels？ How does a sentence produce meaning under constructional coercion and lexical coercion？ What are the corresponding cognitive motivations？ In order to supplement the existing research and further analyze the cognitive semantics of "Hao Bu+AP"， this paper will combine Goldberg's （1995， 2006） cognitive construction grammar theory to deeply analyze the cognitive motivation of "Hao Bu+AP".

2. The theoretical framework of cognitive construction grammar

The concept of "construction" was first proposed by the cognitive linguists Fillmore and Kay who founded the frame semantics. Later， Langacker （2004） also proposed this concept. On the basis of previous linguistic research results， Goldberg made a deep exploration of structure， established the cognitive construction grammar theory， and applied this theory to explain the universal language phenomenon. Goldberg （1995：4） holds that " C is a CONSTRUCTION iff def C is a form-meaning pair such that some aspects of Fi or some aspects of Si is not strictly predictable from C's components parts or from other previously established constructions. " This definition embodies two characteristics of Construction： one is that construction is a pairing of form and meaning; the other is that the meaning of subordinate construction is unpredictable. Later， Goldberg redefined it based on the original definition in 2006. She said： "any format， as long as one aspect of its form or function cannot be predicted by its components or other confirmed structures， is recognized as a structure." （Goldberg 2006：5）

According to the concept of construction， we can find many such expressions （All the examples in this paper are from CCL corpus of China Linguistics Research Center， Peking University）：

例1. 接着又请来“师公”设坛驱鬼，烧纸钱，放鞭炮，吹吹打打好不热闹。

例2. 苏金荣走出大厅，觉得浑身轻飘飘的，好不快活。

例3.他像个坏掉的洋娃娃一样，歪歪斜斜的在家里又走了几步，嘴里嘟嚷着童语：“好不公平喔……不公平……不公平……”然后才终于倒在地上。

例4.好不甘心啊，十七岁都快过完了，好像什么事也没有做。

Through the above linguistic phenomenon， it is not difficult to find that in example 1-2， "Hao Bu+AP" actually expresses the positive meaning， while in example 3-4， it expresses the negative meaning. In addition， "Hao Bu+AP" also expresses the positive and negative usage at the same time. According to the definition of construction， the meaning of "Hao Bu+AP" can not be predicted from its components， which conforms to the general characteristics of construction.

3. An in-depth explanation of the "Hao Bu+ AP" construction

The "Hao Bu+AP" construction consists of three components： "Hao"， "Bu" and "AP". In this construction， "Hao" and "Bu" are degree adverbs， which modify "AP"， but the different semantics of "AP" will affect the overall meaning of the construction. From the perspective of cognitive construction grammar theory， this paper makes a multi-dimensional interpretation of the structural features of "Hao Bu+AP" construction.

3.1Structural characteristics of "Hao Bu+AP"construction

First， on the phonetic level， when the "Hao Bu+ AP" construction expresses the positive meaning， the negative word " Bu " is read as a soft voice， such as： 好不热闹、好不快活; when it expresses the negative meaning， the negative word " Bu " cannot be read as a soft voice， such as： 好不值得、好不講理; when the construction can express both positive and negative meanings， it depend on the context.

Second， on the syntactic level， the "Hao Bu+ AP" construction indicates a strong feeling for "Bu". When expressing positive meaning， the degree of "Hao" is higher than that of "no"， and the modified object is the latter "AP". At this time， "Hao Bu AP" is equal to "Hao AP"， and "Bu" serves as a redundant negative word， but it has no negative effect on the overall meaning. When expressing negative meaning， the degree of "Hao" is lower than that of "Bu"， at this time， "Hao Bu AP" is equal to "Bu AP"， it does not constitute the redundancy negation， "Hao" is the meaning of "Hen".

Third， on the semantic level， if "AP" has different semantic features in the construction， the semantics of the whole construction is also different. When "AP" is a negative， derogatory adjective or an adjective indicating social prosperity， the construction is positive. At this time， "Hao Bu" strengthens the degree of exclamation for adjectives， such as： 好不蹊跷、好不热闹; when "AP" is a moral word， the construction is Negative meaning， such as： 好不道德、好不公平; when "AP" is a word with positive meaning and mood， the construction meaning needs to be judged according to the context， such as： 好不痛快、好不开心. Therefore， the semantic features of "AP" are the determinants of construction semantics.

Fourth， on the pragmatic level， the construction meaning of "Hao Bu+ AP" is closely related to the context. At this time， the communicative discourse has preset the corresponding context. The context must describe the scene characteristics and psychological activities related to affirmation or negation， so the construction meaning needs to be put in the context in order to understand accurately.

To sum up， the different meanings of "Hao Bu+AP" construction have corresponding structural features in phonetic， syntactic， semantic and pragmatic levels， thus producing corresponding construction meanings.

3.2 The interaction between constructional coercion and lexical coercion

According to construction grammar， constructional coercion mainly refers to that when semantic conflict occurs between the meaning of vocabulary and the meaning of construction itself， the potential syntactic environment will produce a coercion operator to have a mandatory impact on the meaning of vocabulary. According to the view of construction repression， it can be inferred that in a construction， if grammatical construction plays a leading role， it is called "constructional coercion"; if vocabulary plays a leading role， it plays a key， adjusting or changing role in the semantic understanding of construction， it can be called "lexical coercion".

Based on Goldberg's concept of interaction between construction and verbs in the theory of construction grammar and Lakoff's （1987：508-509） and Zhang's （1998） interpretation of the interaction between vocabulary and construction， it can be concluded that when analyzing language phenomena， the meaning of sentences should be regarded as the result of the interaction between construction and vocabulary suppression， This also provides a more convincing explanation for the constructional coercion.

When the "AP" of the specific meaning enters into the construction， lexical coercion plays a leading role， and the negative component "Bu" has no practical significance as a redundant negative word， so that the reader can understand it according to the lexical meaning of "AP"， that is， it is willing to define. When another kind of "AP" enters into the construction， the constructional coercion plays a leading role， which belongs to the general negative structure. At this time， the reader understands according to the construction meaning， that is， no definition. At this time， there is a third kind of "AP"， which may cause ambiguity. The final result is to determine which repression plays a leading role according to the context.

Therefore， the meaning of construction is the result of "two-way interaction"， when analyzing the meaning of construction， we should consider both constructional coercion and lexical coercion.

4. Conclusion

The "Hao Bu+AP" construction can produce different meanings in different contexts. It is of great significance to discuss and explain this construction in depth. From the perspective of the structural features of structure， such as voice， syntax， semantics and pragmatics， and the interaction between constructional coercion and lexical coercion， this paper makes a cognitive exploration of "Hao Bu+AP"， reveals the generating motivation of different semantics generated by this structure， and proves that the meaning of a sentence is the result of two-way interaction between constructional coercion and lexical coercion.

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