Concluding Remarks

Attempting to answer the four questions concerning the degree of event integration displayed by P-C-U verbs in their semantic extension and the manner modality and manipulated related and overlap, this chapter examines and analysis the different mechanisms operated by P-C-U verbs in their extension. It has been shown that P-C-U verbs exhibit different degree on expressing epistemic certainty and the force of manipulation as shown by the colocational restriction with neng ‘can’ and yao ‘must’ (shown in 81 a-c). The overlap between modality and manipulation verbs can be verified by the combination of xiang-yao.

(81) a. 我盼望他明天能/*要來

wo panwang ta mingtian neng/*yao lai

I look forward to he tomorrow could/*must come

‘I expect that he could/(*must) come tomorrow.’

b. 我想要他明天*能/*要來

wo xiangyao ta mingtian *neng/*yao lai I want he tomorrow could/*must come

‘I want him (*could/*must) to come tomorrow.’

c. 我叫他明天*能/要來

wo jiao ta mingtian *neng/yao lai I call he tomorrow *could/must come

‘I request him that he (*could)/must come tomorrow.’

The study has shown that, although at the first glance, P-C-U, modality and manipulation seem to be three distinct verb classes. P-C-U codes one’s stative perceptual experiences, mental process and utterance produced. None of the other party is gotten involved; Modality codes either one’s opinions, assumptions or one’s intention or volition to perform certain act; Manpulation codes one’s desire or intention of forcing the other party to exert certain event. However, the three are interrelated and sometimes could not be clearly cut. By adapting a frame-based approach along with the compatible four-space model of Conceputal Blending, metaphor and inference of speaker’s subjectivity, the semantic extensions of the three target verb classes are accounted for in an appropriate manner.

Chapter 5 Conclusion

This chapter consists of two parts. 5.1 summaries the current study. Then, 5.2 pinpoints aspects for further study.

5.1 Summary

By applying Frame Semantics, Construction Grammar, the theory of Subjectivity and the four-space model of Conceptual Blending to the verbs displaying multiple memberships among P-C-U, manipulation and modality verbs, possible accounts based on the observation of both semantic properties, basic syntactic patterns and lexical, aspectual collocations are provided to the four questions raised in the Introduction:

1) Why do perception, cognition and utterance verbs form a group?

2) Do P-C-U verbs extend to the other verb classes by the same mechanisms?

3) Do P-C-U verbs behave the same in their degree of event integration?

4) How are modality and manipulation related and in what way they overlap?

From the general findings and frame-based analysis of the extension among the P-C-U, modality and manipulation verbs, it is shown clearly that

1) The collocational sequences of cause-effect relations can account for the semantic motivations underlying the grammatical symmetry and the interrelations among verbs of perception, cognition and utterance. To put it in a macroscopic way, one perceives the world via his or her perception and conveys their mental content (including opinion, volition, and intention, etc.) by means of language.

2) The extensions from P-C-U to the other two verb classes are operated by different mechanisms (illustrated in Figure 27-29 individually).

Figure 27: Mechanisms of the Extensions from Perception to Modality and Manipulation

Verbs of perception extend to the other two by metaphor and undergoing grammaticalization resulting in the predicate V-qilai expressing the personal judgment or inference of the perceiver relying on external phenomenon as the evidence or the verbal affix VV-kan /V-kankan which suggest ‘attempting’ aspect.

Figure 28: Mechanisms of the Extensions from Cognition to Modality and Manipulation

perception

epistemic modality

i. metaphor: PHYSIVAL VISION AS KNOWLEDGE ii. V-起來

weakest manipulation

i. metaphor: VISUAL MONITORING AS CONTROL ii. V-看看/VV-看 as precative use

Cognition

1) epistemic modality (猜、認為、相信) 2) deontic modality

( desiderative and volitional verbs 想、計畫)

weaker manipulation

(volition Æ stronger preference) Inference + causative construction X CAUSE Y DO Z NP VP NP VP

Verbs of cognition interact with epistemic modality within the attitudes and perspectives held by cognizer and extend their meanings from volition to intended manipulation via the causative construction X CAUSE Y (lai/qiu) DO Z. As for verbs of utterance, it functions as an epistemic marker which attaches to mental verb or occupies the sentence-initial and sentence-final position to intensify the perspective or the counter-expectation toward a proposition.

Figure 29: Mechanisms of the Extensions from Utterance to Modality and Manipulation

Furthermore, utterance verbs exert the illocutionary force in the communication event and thus offer a prerequisite for various manipulative verbs such as suggest and threaten.

2) The extended meanings from P-C-U to modality and manipulation exhibit different degree on expressing epistemic certainty and the force of manipulation:

perception < cognition < utterance. This is held true for both kan, xiang and shuo at the utterance meaning level in a speaker-hearer interacting scenario and other verbs

Utterance

1) epistemic modality (epistemic marker 說)

2) deontic modality (commissive verbs 答應)

weak or stronger manipulation (advisory verbs 建議)

(directive verbs 叫)

Construction: X CAUSE Y DO Z NP VP NP VP

such as panwang, xiang, xiangyao, jiao, and yao at the level of sentence meaning.

Representation of meanings at different level is construed and tackled within distinct scope under the infrastructure of Frame Semantics. Utterance meaning is specified by the role-internal specifications of FEs while lexical meaning follows the ‘one sense, one frame’ principle and is dealt within the individual frame.

3) The interaction between modality and manipulation verbs can be exhibited by the combination and blending of xiang-yao by the operation of Conceptual Blending with frame convergence and role coercion.

In attempt to probe into the the continuum among P-C-U, modality and manipulation suggested by Givón (1993b), this paper helps to clarify the distinctions among P-C-U verbs in their degree of epistemic certainty of modality use and the force of manipulation in their semantic extension by applying distinct coding means and motivations and how other members of the same verb class extended to another systematically by the integrated framework of Frame Semantics, Construction Grammar, the theory of Subjectivity in the Four-space model of Conceptual Blending.

Further, the representation of utterance and sentence meaning is construed and tackled with at different scopes within the infrastructure of Frame Semantics. The study ultimately provides a unified framework in analyzing and representing semantic extensions.