A Study on the Counter-expectation and Semantic Construal

Abstract

This paper examines the meanings, expressive functions, and semantic construal strategy of the adverbs bai ( Open image in new window ), gan ( Open image in new window ), xia ( Open image in new window ), kong ( Open image in new window ), xu ( Open image in new window ), tu ( Open image in new window ), and wang ( Open image in new window ) in Mandarin. We begin by discussing the original meaning of the adverbs through which their implicit negations are then depicted. Then, we explore the counter-expectative function of the implicit negative adverbs and match them with different verbs. The counter-expectation of these implicit negative adverbs were classified and categorized based on the speakers’intentions, which mainly discusses the semantic condition and construal strategy of implicit negative adverbs. Finally, the construal formula in logic and construal process is analyzed. We conclude that bai, gan, xia, kong, xu, tu, and wang in Mandarin have implicit meanings, which negate the felicity condition of an event. The implicit negative adverbs can express the counter-expectation of the speaker, indicating that the actual situation is different from what the speaker expected. Additionally, the semantic construal of the counter-expectation relates to the evaluative function of the event, which corresponds to the optimistic orientation of human beings. The semantic construal of the implicit negation in Mandarin can help process negative information in both machine translation and teaching Chinese as a foreign language.