A cognitive linguistics study of English adjectives: a quantitative approach

本文主要研究英语形容词与其所在构式之间的关系。理论上，这项工作借鉴了认知功能语言学，而它的分析在很大程度上是基于对语料库中的数据进行密集的定量/统计分析。数据来自ICE-GB等共时语料库，也来自CLMET3.0和DCPSE等历时语料库。本文运用一系列定量的方法，考察了形容词在定语结构和表语结构中的用法。它还揭示了英语形容词在这两个结构中是如何随着时间的推移而发展的。

The present research project is focused on the relationship between English adjectives and the constructions that they appear in. Theoretically, the work draws on cognitive-functional linguistics, while its analyses are heavily based on intensive quantitative/statistical analyses of data taken from corpora. The data comes from a synchronic corpus such as ICE-GB and also from diachronic corpora such as CLMET3.0 and DCPSE. By using a series of quantitative methods, the present work shows how adjectives are used in the attributive and predicative constructions. It also reveals how English adjectives have developed over time in these two constructions.