| Acknowledgements | 第1-6页 |
| Table of contents | 第6-10页 |
| 中文摘要 | 第10-14页 |
| Abstract | 第14-20页 |
| Chapter 1 Introduction | 第20-35页 |
| ·Middle constructions in languages | 第20-22页 |
| ·The middle construction and middle semantics | 第22-26页 |
| ·Studies on middles: past and present | 第26-31页 |
| ·Methodology and procedures | 第31-32页 |
| ·Goals of this study | 第32-33页 |
| ·A sketch map of the thesis | 第33-35页 |
| Chapter 2 Characteristics of Middles in West-Germanic Languages | 第35-54页 |
| ·Semantic classification of middles | 第35-38页 |
| ·The syntactic features of middles in West-Germanic languages | 第38-41页 |
| ·Passive-participant subject and active morphology | 第38-39页 |
| ·Tense and aspect | 第39-40页 |
| ·Adverbial | 第40-41页 |
| ·Semantic characteristics of middles in West-Germanic languages | 第41-49页 |
| ·Agent irrelevance and the implicit argument | 第42-45页 |
| ·Time-irrelevance and genericity, non-eventiveness | 第45-47页 |
| ·Passive participant and responsibility of subject, causative modality | 第47-49页 |
| ·Selectionai restrictions on verbs and adverbials in middles | 第49-52页 |
| ·Middable verbs | 第49-50页 |
| ·Selectionai restriction on adverbial | 第50-52页 |
| 2. 5 Summary | 第52-54页 |
| Chapter 3 The Realization of Middle Semantics in Chinese | 第54-84页 |
| ·Chinese qilai construction | 第54-55页 |
| ·A preliminary syntactic analysis of the qilai construction | 第55-61页 |
| ·Chinese qilai constructions are not elliptical structures | 第55-58页 |
| ·The structural parsing of qilai construction | 第58-60页 |
| ·Chinese qilai construction is active in morphology | 第60-61页 |
| ·Middle voice verbs and the middle construction | 第61-63页 |
| ·The realization of middle semantics in the qilai constructions | 第63-74页 |
| ·The implicit argument and the irrelevance of agent | 第63-65页 |
| ·The realization of non-eventiveness | 第65-69页 |
| ·Modality and responsibility of subject | 第69-71页 |
| ·Genericity | 第71-72页 |
| ·Adverb and adverbial effect | 第72-74页 |
| ·Restrictions on qilai construction | 第74-76页 |
| ·The status and junction of qilai | 第76-78页 |
| ·Other issues in middles | 第78-83页 |
| ·对于/就……而言/来说 andfor-phrase | 第78-81页 |
| ·自己 and oneself in middles | 第81-83页 |
| 3. 8 Summary | 第83-84页 |
| Chapter 4 Atypical Middles in Chinese and West-Germanic languages | 第84-108页 |
| ·Syntactic classification of middles | 第84-86页 |
| ·Adjunct middles in West Germanic languages | 第86-92页 |
| ·What is adjunct? | 第86-87页 |
| ·The features of adjunct middles | 第87-92页 |
| ·Adjunct middles in Chinese | 第92-97页 |
| ·Are there adjunct middles in Chinese? | 第92-94页 |
| ·The syntactic and semantic features | 第94页 |
| ·Types of adjuncts in the adjunct middles | 第94-97页 |
| ·The difference between typical and adjunct middles | 第97-99页 |
| ·Adjunct middles in Topic-prominent Chinese | 第99-100页 |
| ·Adjunct middles and instrument-subject clauses | 第100-103页 |
| ·Diverse semantic relations of Chinese verb-object | 第103-104页 |
| ·Impersonal middles | 第104-107页 |
| ·Summary | 第107-108页 |
| Chapter 5 Middles and Tough Constructions | 第108-131页 |
| ·Two hot topics in the past 25 years | 第108页 |
| ·Chinese nanyi construction and English tough construction | 第108-112页 |
| ·Asymmetry between TC and MC | 第112-115页 |
| ·A systematic comparison between TC and facility MC | 第115-129页 |
| ·The irrelevance of agent and the implicit argument | 第115-117页 |
| ·Genericity and non-eventiveness | 第117-119页 |
| ·Modality and responsibility of subject | 第119-120页 |
| ·Tough predicates and middle adverb | 第120-122页 |
| ·Aspectual classes of verb and Affectedness constraint | 第122-125页 |
| ·The subject of TCs and MCs | 第125-127页 |
| ·Semantic Compatibility | 第127-129页 |
| 5. 5 Summary | 第129-131页 |
| Chapter 6 The Two MF Approaches and Their Problems | 第131-148页 |
| ·The movement and non-movement approaches to MF | 第131-132页 |
| ·The main arguments of the Movement Approach | 第132-134页 |
| ·The dilemma for the Movement Approach to MF | 第134-143页 |
| ·Not every middle construction has its active counterpart | 第134-136页 |
| ·Not every active sentence has middle counterpart | 第136-137页 |
| ·Middles often dijferfrom their active paraphrases in meaning | 第137-138页 |
| ·Restrictions on middle formation are not accounted for | 第138-139页 |
| ·Atypical middles | 第139-143页 |
| ·Impersonal middles | 第143页 |
| ·Major arguments of the lexical approach | 第143-145页 |
| ·Problems in the lexical approach | 第145-146页 |
| ·Summary | 第146-148页 |
| Chapter 7 A Cognitive Approach to Middle Construction | 第148-181页 |
| ·The need of a new account | 第148页 |
| ·Theoretical framework | 第148-157页 |
| ·The middle proflie | 第157-168页 |
| ·The construction of meaning and the meaning of construction | 第168-170页 |
| ·Middle construction and virtual reality | 第170-173页 |
| ·Events and properties | 第173-174页 |
| ·Chinese qilai constructions | 第174-175页 |
| ·Impersonal middles and the rejlexive sich in German | 第175-179页 |
| ·Summary | 第179-181页 |
| Chapter 8 Conditions on Middle Formation | 第181-210页 |
| ·Restrictions on MF is a notorious question | 第181-182页 |
| ·The condition on MF | 第182-199页 |
| ·Aspectuality Condition | 第184-187页 |
| ·Responsibility Condition | 第187-193页 |
| ·The interpretive power of the two conditions | 第193-199页 |
| ·Other factors affecting the acceptability of middles | 第199-205页 |
| ·Semantic compatibility | 第199-200页 |
| ·Pragmatic factors | 第200-201页 |
| ·Asymmetry between ease and difficulty | 第201-203页 |
| ·Ambiguity between active and middle interpretations | 第203-205页 |
| ·Productivity of middles | 第205-207页 |
| ·The selection restrictions on MF | 第207-209页 |
| ·Summary | 第209-210页 |
| Chapter 9 Integrating the features of middles | 第210-225页 |
| ·Two central properties of middles | 第210-211页 |
| ·Integrating IA, AM and AE | 第211-214页 |
| ·Integrating tense, genericity and non-eventiveness | 第214-224页 |
| ·Summary | 第224-225页 |
| Chapter 10 Conclusion | 第225-233页 |
| ·Major findings of this study | 第225-230页 |
| ·Implications of this study | 第230-231页 |
| ·Limitations of this study | 第231-232页 |
| ·Suggestions for further research | 第232-233页 |
| References | 第233-250页 |
