Exceptive construction

Pragma-rhetorical effectiveness in semantic illogicality

Bibliographic Data

ID19487178
AuthorsXiaohong Liu (0000-0002-1585-2527, Southwest University), Guojin Hou (0000-0003-0949-4302, University High School)
Year2026
Volume13
Issue1
Pages100-126
Publication date2026-05-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Chinese Linguistics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2213-8706 • E-ISSN: 2213-8714
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/ijchl.00046.liu
OpenAlexW7161993921
LanguageEN
References cited25

Exceptive construction (EC), an interesting pragma-rhetorical phenomenon, frequently occurs in Chinese interpersonal encounters. It refers to an utterance that achieves pragma-rhetorical effectiveness through superficial semantic incongruity. This is realized by a combination of affirmative and negative components and by the exclusion of one thing alongside the inclusion of another, establishing a meronymic or partitive relationship between the two parts. Few studies considered various contextual factors in actual use of EC or explained from a pragma-rhetorical perspective the reason why Chinese speakers often choose EC in interpersonal encounters, hence descriptive inadequacy and explanatory inadequacy. Drawing on the Pragma-rhetorical Principle and data from the classical Chinese novel A Dream of Red Mansions , this paper conducts a qualitative plus quantitative corpus-based analysis of EC’s syntactic, semantic properties and pragma-rhetorical function and effect in Chinese contexts. It is hoped that this study will offer insights for understanding traditional rhetorical devices from a pragma-rhetorical perspective, as well as contrastive studies of Chinese and English

Interpersonal communication · Pragmatics · Rhetorical question · Utterance · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation

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