A Review of ‘Prototypical Causative Construction’

Abstract

This study investigated the definition and semantic relations of ‘causative constructions,’ selection of ‘prototypical causative constructions’ and characteristics of their semantic elements in modern Chinese language. First, it examined the definition of ‘causative constructions’ and semantic relations in such constructions which include ‘causing situations’ and ‘caused situations.’ Second, this study investigated the categorization of conventional causative constructions from the perspective of prototype theory and suggested a necessity of selecting ‘prototypical causative constructions.’ Third, after reviewing the selection criteria of ‘prototypical causative constructions,’ those which are most close to ‘prototypical causative constructions’ were chosen through error rate and the present state of acquirement, time order principle, distance order principle and usage frequency. Fourth, the semantic elements of the prototypical causative constructions – causer, driving force, cause and results – were analyzed.