Abstract
Based on the framework of Bandura's social learning theory and Edward T. Hall's inter cultural communication competence theory, this thesis discusses the potential effect ofindividual's cognitive cultural, behavioural and environmental aspects on inter-culturalcommunication, postulating cultural intelligence （CQ） as a key driver of cultural adaptationand team performances among culturally diverse students.
Throughout an empirical case study of 7 post-graduate programmes at Imperial CollegeBusiness School, the thesis observes, investigates and analyses 322 international participantsin seven-month time. Drawing upon 5 different components, i.e., self-efficacy, contactapproach, cultural intelligence, diversity and team performances, 4 sets of measurement itemsproving by researchers in relevant fields were adopted to assess and compare the potentialimpact of target group's cognitive, motivational and behavioural CQ changes throughoutexperimental education over time, as well as their effects on team collaboration andperformance. SPSS is adopted to justify the validity and reliability of collected data, while apath map analysis has been generated with coefficients, variance and correlations explained indetails.
The five hypotheses have been justified, illustrating 3 significant findings: Self-efficacyand contact theories are positively connected with cultural intelligence development;Cognitive and motivational cultural intelligence are directly related to positive teamperformances; while behavioural cultural intelligence is connected with team performancethrough the mediation of perceived team-efficacy; Culturally diverse student teams cannotperform as well as culturally homogeneous teams at the initial stage, but the performancegrowth rate and long-term competitive advantage are eventually greater than less diverseteams with the help of cultural intelligence. The result can have two-fold implications. Forstudents, learning cultural differences and improving language capability is far from enoughto work efficiently in culturally diverse contact, new skills and contact approach should alsobe acquired for both cultural adaptation and communication. For educators, such experientialeducation as Imperial College Business School is worth following since it might work betterand more efficient in students' cultural intelligence development than the traditionalknowledge based cultural education. Limitation of the analysis as well as suggestions forfurther study is also discussed in the final part.
ABSTRACT
There have been many studies on the verbs of placement （VOP for short） and theconstructions containing these verbs. However, these previous studies have not paidsufficient attention to the differences existing among the various Chinese constructionscontaining VOP as well as those existing between the Chinese constructions containingVOP and their English counterparts. This paper makes a comparison of those differenttypes of Chinese constructions containing VOP, and it also compares these Chineseconstructions with their English counterparts. Besides, it attempts to account for suchdifferences in relation to the Normal Stress Constraint （NSC）， the Post-verbal Constraintas well as the L/S-syntax distinction made in the generative theory of syntax.
First, the Chinese construction NP1+V+NP2+PLoc is different from the otherconstructions containing VOP in that in this construction, the object and the locativeprepositional phrase co-occur after the verb. In the other Chinese constructionscontaining VOP, however, either the object or the locative prepositional phrase occursafter the verb. All the constructions in the latter group comply with the NSC andPost-verbal Constraint whereas the construction NP1+V+NP2+PLoc apparently doesnot. However, if we regard this construction as a pivotal construction, where theverb-like item zai（在） taking the P position acts as a predicate element capable ofassigning the normal stress to the locative noun, then the construction in question doesnot violate NSC. Moreover, this pivotal construction may be analyzed as beingcomprised of two separable clauses: NP1 + V + NP2 and NP2 + PLoc. In each of them,only the object occurs after the verb. The construction therefore doesn't violate thePost-verbal Constraint, either.
Second, this thesis determines the typical constructions containing VOP in Chineseand English. The typical construction containing VOP in Chinese is NP1+PP+V+NP2while that in English is NP1+V+NP2+PP in English. The difference existing betweenthese two constructions apparently lies in word order. In the typical English construction,the prepositional phrase occurs after the verb but it occurs in a preverbal position in thetypical Chinese construction. We think that it is due to the Post-verbal Constraintattested in Chinese only that gives rise to this difference. Generally, only the object ofthe verb and the resultative element can occur post-verbally in a Chinese clause. Theprepositional phrase indicating location or instrument, however, has to occur in apreverbal position. This applies to the typical Chinese construction containing a VOP aswell.
Finally, the extension-type construction found in English can not be found inChinese. According to our analysis, English verbs of placement such as pocket andbutter, which can enter the extension-type construction, are derived from theircorresponding nominal form. In the derivative process, the nouns incorporaterespectively with the light verbs CAUSE and BECOME through syntactic operations atthe lexical syntactic level, ultimately forming the denominal VOPs taking the matrixverb position. Such syntactic operations in L-syntax are, however, unavailable inChinese according to Lin （2001）。 Therefore, the denominal VOP is not yieldable inChinese, resulting in the absence of extension-type construction in Chinese.
Abstract
War metaphors are used in both Chinese and English. This paper, based on ConceptualMetaphor Theory, makes the contrastive analysis of English and Chinese war metaphors onthe mapping process from the source domain （war） to the target domain （other fields）。 Thispaper finds out that English and Chinese war metaphors have similarities and differences. Thenumber of Chinese war metaphors is more than that in English, and the range of Chinese warmetaphors is broader than that in English. The metaphorical words in English tend to benouns, while those in Chinese verbs. English and Chinese war metaphors have similarities,indicating the similarities of human metaphorical thought. And learning about the differentfeatures of English and Chinese war metaphors can avoid the misuse of externalcommunication.
ABSTRACT
Cognate Object Construction （COC for short） in English is a special linguisticphenomenon. It is formed by an intransitive verb and its cognate noun somehowmodified. Many domestic and foreign scholars have described its syntactic andcognitive properties from different angles, but still there remain things inconclusive.
For example, must there be a modifier before the cognate object （CO） If so, whatmotivates the necessity of modifying the CO? Since the predicate verb in the COC isintransitive, what makes it possible for it to take an object? Is there any instantiationof COC in Chinese? What are the differences between the construction V-yi-V inChinese and the COC in English? In this thesis, we attempt to provide answers tothese questions.
Firstly, we approach the necessity of qualifying the CO from pragmatic andcognitive perspectives. From the viewpoint of pragmatic informational focus, themodifier of the CO expresses non-presupposed information and carries the normalstress. Therefore, it constitutes the natural focus of an entire sentence. On the otherhand, in the light of the cognitive mechanisms developed in the construal theory, themodifier of the CO highlights the difference between the profile （i.e. the specificevent denoted by the CO linked with the property characterized by the modifierphrase） and the base （i.e. the event kind denoted by the predicate verb）， andmetaphorically alludes to the path along which the subject referent （i.e. the trajector）moves against the background event （i.e. the landmark） designated by the predicateverb towards a telic point which is the specific event denoted by the CO together withits modifier. In another sense, the modifying element brings prominence to theresultativeness as well as boundedness of the verb-denoted event in its beingsummarily scanned by the CO.
Secondly, by adopting a construction grammar approach, the thesis tentativelyexplains the cause for the transitive use of the intransitive verb in the COC. Wecompare the COC with typical transitive constructions based on Hopper &Thompson's （1980） view on transitivity and conclude that COC is likewise atransitive construction. Meanwhile, the thesis reformulates the constructional meaningof the COC as being “X volitionally does the act of Z in a bounded qualified Y way”.
Thereby the intransitive verb is coerced by the construction to take an object.
Lastly, the thesis describes the semantic and syntactic features of the ChineseV-yi-V construction and compares it with the COC in English, drawing the followingconclusions: while these two constructions share a similar surface form and bothinvolve a semantic bleaching of the verb and the bounded reading of the construction,there are remarkable differences between the CO in COC and the “yi-V” in “V-yi-V” in terms of both syntactic properties and semantic features. Therefore, the ChineseV-yi-V construction is not a true COC.
