Acknowledgements
Preface
Chapter One Introduction
Chapter Two Cognitive Chinese Grammar： A Framework
1.Cognitive Resources
2.A Cognitive—linguistic Perspective on Grammar
3.Academic Labeling
4.Implicit and Explicit Linguistic Knowledge
Chapter Three Instruments as Objects
1.Introduction
2.Definition of Instrument
3.Constraints on Instrument Objects
4.Summary
Chapter Four The Unlikely Objects of 吃（Chī）
1.Introduction
2.A Classification of吃+Object Combinations
3.The Semantic Network of吃
4.The Productivity of the 吃+Object Construction
5.Summary and Discussion
Chapter Five The Bǎ（把）—Construction
1.Introduction
2.Previous Studies
3.An Anatomy of the bǎ—construction
4.The Semantic Characteristics of the Main Verb
5.The Semantic Characteristics of the Pre—posed Object
6.The Many Faces of the Result Element
7.The Semantic Characteristics of the Subject
8.Anomalous Instances of the bǎ—construction
9.The bǎ—construction and the Shǐ（使）—construction in
Comparison and Contrast
10.Summary and Discussion
Chapter Six Resultative Constructions
1.Introduction
2.Conceptual Motivations
3.The Make—up of Verb—result Structures
4.The Verb—copying Resultative Construction
5.The de（得）—resultative Construction
6.Directional Lexemes as Result Elements
7.Inversion in Resultatives
8.Summary
Chapter Seven The Double—Object Construction
1.Introduction： Settling the Dust
2.The Double—object Schema and Its Constructional Meaning
3.The Semantics of the Verb
4.The Curious Case of the“NP1+V+他+（Numeral）NP2”
Template
5.Pseudo—double—object Structures
6.Summary
Chapter Eight The Existential Construction
1.Introduction： Issues and Non—issues
2.The Chinese Existential Construction： An Anatomy
3.The Locative NP
4.The Predicate Verb
5.The Locatum NP
6.The Disappearance—emergence Construction
7.Summary and Discussion
Chapter Nine Nominal Predicates
1.Introduction
2.Patterns with Nominal Predicates
3.Cognitive Operations Behind Nominal—predicate Templates
4.“Inherently Predicative”NPs and Pattern（e）
5.Nouns Functioning as Adjectives
6.Summary and Discussion
Chapter Ten The Double—subject Construction
1.Introduction： A Delimitation
2.Aligning the Base and the Profile
3.Other Double—subject Constructions
4.Summary
Chapter Eleven The Bèi（被）—construction
1.Introduction
2.The Bèi—construction，a Sketch
3.The Patient—subject
4.The Nature of the Agent NP and the Predicate
5.The Newfangled Bèi—schema
6.Summary
Chapter Twelve Conclusion and Prospectus
References
Contrary—to—expectation scenarios are likely to heighten the awareness of the interlocutors，thereby enhancing the conceptual salience of the entities involved and improving the acceptability of their corresponding noun phrases by the Pre—posed Object slot of the bǎ—construction.We could think of another account for the acceptability of the indefinite pre—posed object：一支铅笔（a pencil）may not be as"brand—new unanchored"as it appears； by pragmatic inference"I"asked him for a pen because"T"had thought that he had some writing instruments at his disposal among which there could be a pen，thus 一支铅笔 could be more or less"brand_new anchored"in the sense that it is anchored in his possession（or"my"knowledge about his possession）of writing instruments.And the contrary—to—expectation account and the"brand—new anchored"account are of course not mutually exclusive.
bǎ—sentences like those in（57）and（58）smack of dialectical flavor，and are usually found only in spoken language（Zhang Xianliang et al.，2008：154）.The pre—posed objects appear to be indefinite with the measure word个，which could be regarded as a simplified form of一个.A more curious question is why 老王 in（58）is acceptable despite the fact that it is a proper noun and is not supposed to be introduced by an indefinite determiner.Chen Xiaoyang（2007）suggests that the measure word 个 in cases like（57）and（58）is a semantically rarified marker for"counter—expectation，"which accentuates the contrast between the speaker's expectation and what has actually happened，and which at the same time expresses the speaker's personal（usually negative）opinion regarding the situation described.Therefore 个 in such sentences as（57）and（58）is not to be equated with 一个，the number word—not being restorable.
