前言 中文摘要 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 The subject of the research 1.1.1 The Ba-construction in discourse 1.1.2 The diachronic development of the Ba- construction 1.2 Theoretical assumptions 1.2.1 Language as a communicative instrument Functionalism in linguistics 1.2.2 Language as a cognitive activity -- Cognitive linguistics 1.2.3 A functional-cognitive integrated approach 1.3 Research objectives 1.4 Research approaches 1.4.1 Research approach to the meaning of the Ba- construction 1.4.2 Research approach to the English realizations of the Ba-construction 1.5 Outline of the study CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF LITERATURE 2.1 Ideational meaning 2.1.1 Disposal and the verb in the Ba-construction 2.1.2 Disposal and the verb-object relations in the Ba-construction 2.1.3 Topic-comment approach 2.1.4 Cognitive approaches 2.2 Interpersonal meaning 2.3 Textual meaning 2.3.1 The information structure of the Ba- construction 2.3.2 The cohesive function of the Ba-construction 2.3.3 The semantic context of the Ba-construction 2.4 Summary and critical evaluation 2.4.1 Summary of understandings of the meaning of the Ba-construction 2.4.2 Critical evaluations of the previous studies CHAPTER THREE THEORETICAL HYPOTHESES AND RESEARCH FRAMEWORKS 3.1 Some hypotheses of the meaning of the Ba- construction 3.1.1 General hypotheses 3.1.2 Specific hypotheses 3.2 Research frameworks 3.2.1 Causative semantics and the ideational meaning of the Ba-construction 3.2.2 Appraisal Theory and the interpersonal