The syntactic and semantic features of the “X <i>zhōng de</i> [中的] X” construction in modern Chinese and its motivations

Abstract This paper investigates the modern Chinese construction “X zhōng de X” ( 经典中的经典 , jīng diǎn zhōng de jīng diǎn , classic among classics). Drawing on corpus-based method, we retrieved and manually annotated attested instances from BCC and CCL corpora, identified 440 tokens, and analyzed them within the framework of Cognitive Construction Grammar. The analysis focuses on three aspects: (i) the conditions for words to enter the “X” slots in the construction, (ii) the syntactic and semantic features of the construction, (iii) its cognitive motivations. The results show that “X” is flexible in word class but displays a clear preference for disyllabic and semantically salient items. Syntactically, the construction functions mainly as a predicative expression, while semantically it conveys a scalar evaluative meaning equivalent to “highly/most X,” typically with a positive stance. Its productivity is explained by multiple cognitive motivations, including inheritance within a constructional network, analogical extension, communicative efficiency, and pragmatic vagueness. These findings refine the description of the “X zhōng de X” construction and contribute to usage-based accounts of Chinese constructional productivity.