Education, Language and Sociology Research ISSN 2690-3644 (Print) ISSN 2690-3652 (Online) Vol. 4, No. 3, 2023 www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr 127 Original Paper The Baseline/Elaboration Model for the Constructional Meaning of Chinese “V1OV2de” Construction Zhang Xin1* 1 School of Foreign Languages, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, China * Zhang Xin, School of Foreign Languages, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, 650500, China Received: June 29, 2023 Accepted: July 20, 2023 Online Published: August 11, 2023 doi:10.22158/elsr.v4n3p127 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/elsr.v4n3p127 Abstract Chinese “V1OV2de” construction has its special syntactic features. The traditional grammar of formal linguistics finds it difficult to analyse this atypical and marginal construction, but the theory of baseline/elaboration in Cognitive Grammar can provide a solution for it. The paper studies the constructional meaning of “V1OV2de” construction based on the theory of baseline/elaboration model. It draws a conclusion that “V1OV2de” construction has two constructional meanings: “cause-effect relationship” and “non-cause-effect relationship”. In addition, it also discusses the reasons why the verb appears for the second time in “V1OV2de” construction. The constructional meanings of “V1OV2de” construction are generated because of the two same verbs. Keywords baseline/elaboration model, “v1ov2de” construction, constructional meaning 1. Introduction Chinese “V1OV2de” construction is a pervasive expression in our daily communication, such as “眼睛 充血, 熬夜熬的” and “上学迟到了, 堵车堵的”. Chinese “V1OV2de” construction poses a challenge to the concept of form-meaning mapping, the theoretical foundation of Construction Grammar. Goldberg (1995, 2006) proposed that a construction that has special forms, meaning and functions is form-meaning mapping. A construction has its independent construction status in terms of its unpredictable form, meaning and function. Although a construction has its predictable form, meaning and function, this construction is used frequently. The same is true of the construction that has predictable form, meaning and function, such as “I Love You”. The unpredictability of forms refers to the grammatical rules can not interpret the form of a construction. The unpredictability of meaning and function refers to the meaning and function of a construction are not a few words comprised of it, such as “What’s X Doing Y”. Its www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr Education, Language and Sociology Research Vol. 4, No. 3, 2023 128 Published by SCHOLINK INC. constructional meaning indicates that someone shows surprise, dissatisfaction and rage. As mentioned above, Chinese “V1OV2de” construction has its independent construction status because of the two same verbs. The grammatical rules can not give an explanation to this special syntactic form. The form of Chinese “V1OV2de” construction is unpredictable. The same is true of its meaning, namely, constructional meaning. We will elaborate on it in chapter three. There are few studies on Chinese “V1OV2de” construction and the previous studies are limited to the properties of “de”. Huang Guoying (1982) thinks “de” is a cause of a state of an affair. This paper does not agree with his view. Liu Xueqin (2012) reckons “的” comes from “得”. Liu Xueqin (2012), Tang Ling (2016) and Chen Yu (2021) view Chinese “V1OV2de” construction as verb-copying construction. However, there is no study on the constructional meaning of Chinese “V1OV2de” construction. In addition, the previous studies have not given a reason why there are the two same verbs in Chinese “V1OV2de” construction yet. The paper based on the theory of baseline/elaboration model mainly solves two questions: “What is the constructional meaning of Chinese “V1OV2de” construction?” and “The reasons why there are the two same verbs in Chinese “V1OV2de” construction”. 2. Theoretical Basis: Baseline/Elaboration Model The theory of Baseline/Elaboration was proposed by Langacker (2016), a famous cognitive linguist. Baseline, a term in computer science, was introduced into the study of language. The theory of baseline/elaboration demonstrates a dynamic conceptual process of the meaning of a construction. Many aspects of language and cognition all involve asymmetry (Langacker, 2016). The theory of baseline/elaboration aims to analyse these asymmetric phenomena. The fundamental feature of language is that complex structures are generated from simple structures (Liu C. W. & Liu C. D., 2019). This point is interpreted by the theory of baseline/elaboration perfectly. The theory of baseline/elaboration can totally be a perfect tool to analyse Chinese “V1OV2de” construction in terms of its asymmetry. The theory of baseline/elaboration embraces three elements: baseline, elaboration operations and elaboration. The baseline has some kind of priority - being already established, in place, or under control - and is generally more substantive than elaborating elements (Langacker, 2016). Elaboration operations refers to some cognitive operations processing the baseline. Elaboration produces a higher-level and complex baseline. Elaboration operations (E), like a bridge, connect baseline (B) and elaboration (BE). Figure 1. Baseline and Elaboration (Langacker, 2016) The cognition of humans for the world derives from body experience. Let us look at an example to understand the theory of baseline/elaboration. Suppose a ten-year-old kid’s height is baseline (B), www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr Education, Language and Sociology Research Vol. 4, No. 3, 2023 129 Published by SCHOLINK INC. physical growth and development are elaboration operations (E). Finally, a twenty-year-old kid’s height is elaboration (BE). Let us look at another example in language, a simple sentence “This girl broke the vase”. The nouns “girl” and “vase” and the verb “break” construct the baseline “girl break vase”, a lower- level structure. The demonstrative pronoun “this” and definite article “the” elaborate on “girl” and “vase” respectively. The Simple Past Tense elaborates on “break”. With these elaboration operations, the final elaboration, a higher-level structure, “This girl broke the vase” is generated. Elaboration does not mean an ending. Namely, elaboration, as a new baseline, can continue to have some elaboration operations. Ultimately, a new elaboration can be generated again. So seriality is an essential feature of the theory of baseline/elaboration. Figure 2. Baseline and Elaboration (Langacker, 2016) 3. The Baseline/Elaboration Model for Chinese “V1OV2de” Construction (1) 昨天买了个菠萝, 今天我的牙齿又酸又疼, 都是吃菠萝吃的。 (2) 这本书在哪得到的？收书收的。 Sentence (1) “昨天买了个菠萝, 今天我的牙齿又酸又疼” means “I bought a pineapple yesterday, and I have sore teeth today”. As a dialogue and communication scene between the two sides, it activates the relationship between pineapples and sore teeth in speaker’s and hearer’s mind. Eating pineapple results in sore teeth. The baseline, being already established, is more substantive than elaboration. So the latter part “V1O 吃菠萝” of sentence (1) means eating pineapples. It is primarily established as a baseline, a lower-level structure, in communicators’ cognition from a dialogue and communication scene. The baseline “V1O 吃菠萝” is processed and elaborated by “V2 吃的”, so elaboration “V1OV2de 吃菠萝吃 的” is generated as a higher-level structure. In the meanwhile, the dialogue and communication scene “昨天买了个菠萝, 今天我的牙齿又酸又疼” is still highly activated. So elaboration “V1OV2de 吃菠 萝吃的” explains the relationship between pineapples and sore teeth. “V1OV2de 吃菠萝吃的” means the speaker ate too many pineapples. It is the reason why the speaker has sore teeth. Sentence (2) “这本书在哪得到的?” means “Where did you get this book?”. As a dialogue and communication scene between the two sides, it activates the relationship between a hearer and a book in communicator’s mind. So the latter part “V1O 收书” of sentence (2) means collecting books. It is primarily established as a baseline, a lower-level structure, in communicators’ cognition from a dialogue and communication scene. The baseline “V1O 收书” is processed and elaborated by “V2 收的”, so elaboration “V1OV2de 收书收的” is generated as a higher-level structure. In the meanwhile, the dialogue and communication scene “这本书在哪得到的?” is still highly activated. So elaboration “V1OV2de 收 书收的” means “I get this book from collecting books”. It explains the origin of this book, not a reason. www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr Education, Language and Sociology Research Vol. 4, No. 3, 2023 130 Published by SCHOLINK INC. The two sentences above are abbreviated from “吃菠萝吃酸疼的” and “收书收到的”. It is duo to the economy of language. In the long history of human beings, people usually want to use the least cognitive effort to obtain the greatest cognitive effect, so the syntactic expression of Chinese “V1OV2de” construction is reasonable to some extent. By comparing sentence (1) with sentence (2), we find that there are two constructional meanings for Chinese “V1OV2de” construction: “cause-effect relationship” and “non-cause-effect relationship”. 4. Reasons for the Two Same Verbs in Chinese “V1OV2de” Construction The preceding chapters have analyzed two constructional meanings for Chinese “V1OV2de” construction: “cause-effect relationship” and “non-cause-effect relationship”. This chapter continue to explain why there are the two same verbs in Chinese “V1OV2de” construction. 4.1 The Avoidance of Semantic Ambiguity: The Formation of Constructional Meanings Let us take an attempt to omit the second verb “V2” in this construction. The two sentences will turn into the following sentences. (3) 昨天买了个菠萝, 今天我的牙齿又酸又疼, 都是吃菠萝的 (4) 这本书在哪得到的？收书的 Obviously, we can not grasp the meanings of the two sentences after omitting the second verb “V2”. “吃 菠萝的” means eating pineapples de, and “收书的” means collecting books de. They can not correspond to grammatical rules. The semantic meaning is unclear. Langacker (1987) believes that syntax is serial and progressive, and the following syntactic components inherit or activate the conceptual information contained in the preceding syntactic components. So the second verb “V2” can not be omitted. The second verb “V2” conforms the sentence to syntactic rules and avoids semantic ambiguity. The elaboration “V1OV2de 吃菠萝吃的” and “V1OV2de 收书收的” can accurately express the semantic meaning of sentences. It is precisely because of the existence of the verb “V2” that the constructional meaning of the Chinese “V1OV2” structure is generated, that is “cause-effect relationship” and “non-cause-effect relationship”. 4.2 Figure/Ground Theory The theory of Figure and Ground, proposed by Edgar Rubin, is a famous theory in psychology. Figure refers to the most prominent entity or event in the human brain’s cognition, and ground refers to the less prominent parts that set off the figure. Edgar Rubin’s Face and Vase diagram best embodies the figure/ground theory, and also proves that there is indeed “cognitive prominence” in our human brain cognition. In sentence (1), the communicators construct conversational scene “have sore teeth after buying pineapples”. Firstly, in communicators’ cognition, The event of “吃菠萝 eating pineapples” will be prioritized and highlighted, but eating pineapples can not accurately express the reasons why the speaker has sore teeth. As the syntax progresses, “V2吃的” will get more highlighted and become figure. At the same time, the cognitive prominence of “V1O 吃菠萝” will be reduced and become ground. The cognitive prominence of “V2吃的” is stronger than “V1O 吃菠萝”. “V2吃的” stands for a state of action, www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/elsr Education, Language and Sociology Research Vol. 4, No. 3, 2023 131 Published by SCHOLINK INC. and it is precisely because of the excessive performance of this state of action that it leads to sore teeth. “V1OV2de 吃菠萝吃的” means the speaker ate too many pineapples, so he has sore teeth. In sentence (2), the communicators construct conversational scene “Where did you get this book?”. Firstly, in communicators’ cognition, The event of “收书 collecting books” will be prioritized and highlighted, but collecting books can not accurately express semantic meaning. As the syntax progresses, “V2收的” will get more highlighted and become figure. At the same time, the cognitive prominence of “V1O 收书” will be reduced and become ground. The cognitive prominence of “V2收的” is stronger than “V1O 收书”. However, sentence (2) does not indicate a cause-effect relationship, it only explains the origin of the book, thus expressing the non cause-effect relationship. 5. Conclusion This study uses baseline/elaboration model as a methodological tool to explore the constructional meanings of Chinese “V1OV2de” construction and the reasons why there are the two same verbs. It finds that Chinese “V1OV2de” construction has two constructional meanings: “cause-effect relationship” and “non-cause-effect relationship”. In Chinese “V1OV2de” construction, its constructional meanings are generated because of the two same verbs. Owning to figure/ground theory, the ground “V1O” sets off the figure “V2de”. If the second verb “V2” is performed excessively, it will cause a state of an affair. So it indicates cause-effect relationship. 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