| Acknowledgements | 第1-4页 |
| Abstract (English) | 第4-6页 |
| Abstract (Chinese) | 第6-8页 |
| List of Figures and table | 第8-9页 |
| Contents | 第9-13页 |
| Chapter Ⅰ Introduction | 第13-19页 |
| ·Preliminary remarks | 第13-14页 |
| ·What it argues about ergativity in literature | 第14-15页 |
| ·The concept of English ergative | 第15-17页 |
| ·The purpose | 第17页 |
| ·The scope | 第17-19页 |
| Chapter Ⅱ The English ergative sentence as a construction | 第19-24页 |
| ·Introductory remarks | 第19页 |
| ·Two different views on English ergative | 第19-22页 |
| ·The morphological view | 第19-20页 |
| ·The syntactic view | 第20-22页 |
| ·The English ergative sentence as construction | 第22-23页 |
| ·Summary | 第23-24页 |
| Chapter Ⅲ A brief introduction to Construction Grammar and the theories of Iconicity and Grammaticalization | 第24-40页 |
| ·General remarks | 第24页 |
| ·The definitions and terms | 第24-33页 |
| ·The concept of constructions | 第24-25页 |
| ·Construction Grammar | 第25-27页 |
| ·Views of Construction Grammar to syntax | 第27-29页 |
| ·The nature of verb meaning | 第29-30页 |
| ·The nature of construction meaning | 第30-32页 |
| ·The integration of verb and construction | 第32-33页 |
| ·Iconicity | 第33-34页 |
| ·Grammaticalization | 第34-39页 |
| ·General remarks | 第34-35页 |
| ·What grammaticalization is | 第35-36页 |
| ·Some basic notions in grammaticalization | 第36-39页 |
| ·Summary and conclusion | 第39-40页 |
| Chapter Ⅳ The existence of the English ergative construction and the semantic constraints | 第40-55页 |
| ·General remarks | 第40-41页 |
| ·Some notions concerning with the syntax | 第41-44页 |
| ·Some concepts of grammatical relations | 第41-43页 |
| ·Grammatical roles and semantic roles | 第43-44页 |
| ·Two variations of realization of grammatical roles and semantic roles in English | 第44-45页 |
| ·The semantic representation of the English ergative construction | 第45-48页 |
| ·The constraints of the English ergative construction | 第48-54页 |
| ·The status of the preverbal NP | 第48-51页 |
| ·The English ergative does not presuppose an Agent | 第51-52页 |
| ·The event in the English ergative is a specific one, not a generic one | 第52-54页 |
| ·Summary and conclusion | 第54-55页 |
| Chapter Ⅴ The English ergative verbs | 第55-64页 |
| ·Explanatory remarks | 第55-56页 |
| ·Four categories of the English ergative verbs | 第56-63页 |
| ·Category A: [CHANGE]+[in SOME MANNER] | 第57-58页 |
| ·Category B: [CHANGE]+[PROCESS]+[by/in/through/from/V-ing | 第58-60页 |
| ·Category C: [CHANGE]+[with CREATION OF THE V-ING] | 第60-61页 |
| ·Category D: [CHANGE]+[ACTION]+[of the V-ING] | 第61-63页 |
| ·Summary and conclusion | 第63-64页 |
| Chapter Ⅵ Towards the motivations of English ergative construction | 第64-75页 |
| ·General remarks | 第64页 |
| ·English ergative construction as results of the iconicity between syntactic roles and argument roles; and the iconicity between syntactic structure and semantic structure | 第64-67页 |
| ·English ergative construction as the result of grammaticalization of the related semantic and pragmatic factors | 第67-73页 |
| ·English ergative construction as the result of the grammaticalization of cross-linguistic study | 第68-69页 |
| ·The grammaticalization of V-ERGs | 第69-71页 |
| ·The grammaticalization of the same V-ERGS in different constructions | 第71-72页 |
| ·The grammaticaization of the patient-subject | 第72-73页 |
| ·Summary and conclusion | 第73-75页 |
| Chapter Ⅶ Conclusion and summary | 第75-79页 |
| ·General remarks | 第75-76页 |
| ·As a construction | 第76页 |
| ·The Construction Grammar and other cognitive theories | 第76页 |
| ·The meaning of the English eragtive construction | 第76-77页 |
| ·The categories of V-ERGs | 第77页 |
| ·Motivation of English ergative construction | 第77-78页 |
| ·Unsolved problems and the preceding studies | 第78-79页 |
| Notes | 第79-82页 |
| Bibliography | 第82-86页 |
