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ence of cultural, social, and political fac-
tors on word order. This study is relevant
because attributive constructions bear
significant cognitive load, making it easy
to identify various cognitive processes.
The typology and word order in noun
and verb structures in different variants
of the Chinese language were discussed
in the work of C. Yurayong and E. Sand-
man (2023). The analysis revealed that
extralinguistic factors, particularly socio-
linguistic ones, significantly influence
word order. However, this study only
considered simple sentences, with no at-
tention given to the specifics of construct-
ing complex sentences. Differences be-
tween Chinese and English syntactic
structures were explored in the work of
J. Xu and Z. Liu (2022), indicating that in
the English language, the word order in
a complex sentence retains the primacy
of the main clause. The study primarily
focuses on understanding the basic sen-
tence construction formulas in the Chi-
nese language but does not delve into
attributive constructions in detail. The
development of cognitive linguistics in
China was examined by Q. Wan and
Z. Lin (2021), emphasising a brief over-
view of the historical development of sci-
An analysis of cognitive processes in
terms of the construction of syntactic pat-
terns during the conceptualisation of the
world is necessary for examining nation-
al consciousness, mentality, and the fea-
tures of mental, particularly cognitive,
activity. When examining word order,
linguistic and structural mechanisms are
investigated, and cognitive foundations
of the culture of a particular nation are
also reproduced. Researching sentence
and text construction is relevant for un-
derstanding how to communicate effec-
tively with foreigners, considering cul-
tural and linguistic features. Thus, cogni-
tive mechanisms of syntax construction,
especially word order, facilitate efficient
cross-cultural communication (Chen and
Ke, 2008). Understanding the underlying
processes in the Chinese language is di-
rectly related to the study of cognitive
characteristics, particularly the founda-
tions of world perception and basic val-
ues. It is cognition that enables an under-
standing of the syntactic regularities spe-
cific to a particular language. The study
of attributive constructions allows form-
ing an idea of diachronic and synchronic
processes occurring in the Chinese lan-
guage, specifically addressing the influ-
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ence and exploring the characteristics of
the Chinese language from the perspec-
tive of cognitive mechanisms. However,
this study did not specifically address
cognitive mechanisms affecting attribu-
tive constructions. Study of X. Ma et al.
(2020) is based on the examination of
Chinese and English languages charac-
terised by different interlinguistic struc-
tural asymmetry. The study highlighted
how asymmetrical word order mismatch-
es significantly impact the speed and
quality of translation. While documenting
the problem of cognitive perception of
information in different world languages,
this study lacked detailed exploration.
The specificity of language understanding
was discussed in the work of T. Ness et
al. (2023), particularly focusing on con-
flicting signals and cognitive control
needed to resolve cognitive conflicts. The
study presented the concept that cogni-
tive control is used for effective informa-
tion processing, but it did not delve into
the connection between cognitive and
structural mechanisms.
The purpose of this study is to ex-
amine the basic principles for construct-
ing attributive constructions in the Chi-
nese language, particularly those such
as “from the reference object to the tar-
get”, “from the whole to the parts”,
“from events to their results”, “from
restrictive determiners to descriptive
determiners”, “from larger to smaller”,
and to establish the correlation between
cognitive processes and word order in
multiple attributive constructions in the
Chinese language. The subject of the
study is syntactic speech patterns (ex-
amples of attributive constructions in
the Chinese language).
Key issues in contemporary linguistic
research include forming connections
between structural mechanisms and
their cognitive conditioning, analysing
the influence of cognitive features of lan-
guages in text translation, and examin-
ing the impact of cognitive processes in
different world languages on informa-
tion processing speed and data transmis-
sion. Thus, investigating the cognitive
nature of linguistic units, especially syn-
tactic ones, is often presented in a com-
parative-contrastive context.
Word order asymmetry significantly
affects the speed and quality of transla-
tion, as indicated by A.M.H.A. Al-
Rubai’i (2004). This is primarily because
even brief cognitive overload can lead
to a reduction in the level of text com-
prehension. The study also identified
that more problems arise when translat-
ing expressive and informative passages
than when conveying oral speech. Ad-
jectives in the Chinese language have a
dual nature: they can be formed from
relative clauses and be directly linked
to nouns. F.H. Liu (2016) examined
predicative and non-predicative adjec-
tives in the Chinese language, conduct-
ing a comparative-contrastive analysis
with syntactic constructions in English
and Italian. The study by W. Paul (2021)
Haiyong yu
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provides empirical data to confirm that
there is no asymmetry in predicates in
the Chinese language: neither root nor
non-root. The study explored the nature
of small sentences in the Chinese lan-
guage and compared them with syntac-
tic patterns in English. Results of the
research by D.J. McLaughlin et al. (2024)
demonstrated that processing speech
from multiple speakers or accented
speech requires significant cognitive ef-
fort. Therefore, this study documented
differences in cognitive processes when
processing speech from native and non-
native speakers with accents.
When examining the cognitive nature
of languages, it is important to consider
the features of translating language
pairs. A. Öztürk (2020) described how
translation occurs between English and
Turkish and from Turkish to English.
Propositional analysis determined that
more accurate sentence patterns were
obtained when translating from Turkish
to English. The early stage of grammar
writing revealed that approaches corre-
sponding to Western grammars were
often applied to the Chinese language.
H. Chappell and A. Peyraube (2014)
draw attention to the use of inflectional
categories typical of European languag-
es in the Chinese language. It should be
noted that the Chinese language differs
in using analytical means to express
grammatical categories. The influence of
interactive and cognitive mechanisms on
the evolution of protolinguistic struc-
tures in different languages worldwide
is noted by M. Pleyer (2023). It specifies
that among the main mechanisms, con-
structivisation, conceptualisation, inter-
active coordination, modification, rou-
tinisation, and schematisation can be
identified. Thus, the structures of mod-
ern languages have been constructed
based on various principles rooted in the
mentality of their speakers. From the
perspective of cognitive linguistics, in
addition to explicatures (explicit speech
messages), implicatures are also distin-
guished, represented by encoded mes-
sages. The study by G. Desagulier and
P. Monneret (2023) is based on examin-
ing contextual pragmatics in connection
with semantic tools, particularly explor-
ing context-dependent processes such as
semantic presupposition, conventional
implicature, and explicature.
Therefore, modern linguistic fields
are associated with the study of several
languages, language pairs for cognitive
comparison of each. Specifically, the
principles of constructing syntactic mod-
els in different languages play a crucial
role in contemporary linguistics and im-
pact the study of other linguistic levels.
The theoretical basis of the study re-
lies on linguistic concepts of constructing
syntactic patterns such as “from larger
to smaller”, “from the reference object
to the target”, “from events to their re-
sults”, “from the whole to the parts”,
“from restrictive determiners to descrip-
tive determiners”. The study examines
how these principles are implemented
at the level of attributive constructions
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in the Chinese language and how their
usage can be interpreted from the per-
spective of cognitive processes.
Cognitive analysis in this study was
used to identify features in how Chi-
nese people perceive spatial-temporal
relationships between objects, establish
the correlation between cognitive pro-
cesses of Chinese language speakers
and word order in attributive construc-
tions. This method also involved ex-
tracting the principles of implementing
cognitive orientations of Chinese speak-
ers based on examples of syntactic
speech patterns, creating models illus-
trating the implementation of these
principles, and presenting them graph-
ically through diagrams. From a cogni-
tive perspective, principles of construct-
ing attributive constructions, such as
“from the whole to the parts”, “from
events to their results”, “from the refer-
ence object to the target”, “from larger
to smaller”, “from restrictive determin-
ers to descriptive determiners”, “from
larger to smaller”, were considered.
Structural analysis in this study was ap-
plied to determine models of attributive
constructions built according to the
principles mentioned above.
The process of creating a schematic
structure of multiple attributive con-
structions was oriented towards the syn-
tactic patterns of Chinese speech. After
analysing these patterns, the main trends
in their construction were investigated,
including “from events to their results”,
“from larger to smaller”, “from the
whole to the parts”, “from the reference
object to the target”, “from restrictive
determiners to descriptive determiners”.
Syntactic analysis in this study was
used to compare the linear sequence of
syntactic units in attributive construc-
tions in the Chinese language. Specifi-
cally, sentences were examined in terms
of syntactic elements such as restrictive
and descriptive determiners, time, place,
action, description, subject, and others.
The study of syntactic patterns of at-
tributive constructions occurred along-
side the analysis of the cognitive condi-
tioning of their usage by Chinese lan-
guage speakers.
The analytic-synthetic method in this
study involved a detailed analysis of
theoretical information, approaches to
examining multiple attributive construc-
tions in different languages, the interac-
tion between linguistic and cognitive
processes, and the analysis of cognitive
processes influencing syntactic patterns.
This method was also used to define the
scope of the issues of interest to contem-
porary linguistic science, particularly
cognitive linguistics.
Thus, in this study, various methods of
analysis were employed, including syn-
tactic analysis (analysing syntactic ele-
ments and their functions in attributive
constructions), structural analysis (model-
ling structural principles used to construct
attributive constructions), and the analyt-
ic-synthetic method (analysing, synthesis-
ing, and specifying theoretical hypothe-
ses, processing theoretical information,
including terminology, studying new re-
search, and approaches to the analysis of
attributive constructions). It is worth not-
ing that each of the mentioned methods
was necessary for a detailed study of
models for constructing attributive con-
structions in the Chinese language.
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The influence of cognitive processes
on Chinese national consciousness can
be traced through the formation of syn-
tactic patterns and models for construct-
ing attributive constructions. These con-
structions have undergone a long evolu-
tionary path and are currently defined
as syntactic structures in which one word
or phrase (determiner) modifies another
word or phrase (central word), providing
additional information about it. In the
Chinese language, the determiner usu-
ally precedes the central (modified) word
and can provide information about quan-
tity, quality, possession, location, or oth-
er characteristics of the central word.
Despite determiners being secondary
sentence elements in the Chinese lan-
guage, their role in interpersonal com-
munication cannot be underestimated.
Attributive constructions help more ac-
curately describe and complement the
key information in a statement, explain-
ing the characteristics of the described
object, such as “red apple” – 红苹果, “my
friend” – 我的朋友）, “the design of a
square” – 正方形图案. These are all fur-
ther extensions of the concepts of “object
of purpose” and “Reference object” that
we can see, or we can think of an expres-
sion as being derived from another ex-
pression, is a specific perception process
and language expression. To examine the
word order in attributive constructions
from a cognitive perspective, it is essen-
tial to focus on the specific perception of
spatial relations between objects by Chi-
nese language speakers. The principle
“from the reference object to the target
object” is used in the Chinese language
to identify spatial relations. The target
object contains the essential information
that needs to be conveyed, while the ref-
erence object provides additional infor-
mation contributing to a more compre-
hensive understanding of the nature or
characteristics of the target object. For
example, “my book” – 我的书 (“book” –
target, “on the shelf” – reference), “cafe
on the street” – 街道旁的咖啡厅 (“cafe” –
target, “curbside” – reference), “sister
brought back from abroad clothes” – 姐
姐从国外带回来的衣服 (“clothes” – target
object, “sister brought back from
abroad” – reference object).
As the Chinese language speakers’
consciousness has a stable tendency to
perceive an object from the reference
object to the target object, this principle
is also applicable to describing the cogni-
tive features of word order in Chinese
attributive constructions. In this case, the
modifier serves as the reference object,
and the central word becomes the target
object in the attributive construction.
When describing an object using attribu-
tive constructions in the Chinese lan-
guage, there is a tendency to present
additional information first (for example,
ownership, location, characteristics)
about the object and then specify the
name of the object. At the same time, the
analysis of these examples, “street side”
as a “reference object” to determine the
“target object”, “coffee shop” spatial re-
lationship; “my” as “reference object” to
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determine the “target object” and “book”
of the ownership; “square” as “reference
object” to determine the “target object”
and “pattern” shape characteristics;
“red” as a “reference object” to deter-
mine the “target object” and “apple”
spectral attributes; “sister brought back
from abroad” as a reference to determine
the “target” “clothing” source. In these
examples, the target object is derived
from the reference object, in other words,
“book” and “on the shelf” are the rela-
tion between place and category in ma-
terial space. In cognitive linguistics, “the
individual exists in the category”, this
kind of expression shows the “vacuity”
of place relation. Therefore, we can get
the following correspondence. The cafe
down the street – the cafe is down the
street; my book – the book is mine; the
square pattern – the pattern is square;
the red apple – the apple is red; the book
my sister brought back from abroad –
the book my sister brought back from
abroad; the book on the shelf – the book
is on the shelf.
The word order in multiple attribu-
tive constructions can also be explained
from the perspective of this concept, as
there is also a “reference object – target
object” relationship between the compo-
nents of multiple attributive construc-
tions. To confirm this hypothesis, the
word order in multiple attributive con-
structions in the Chinese language was
analysed (Table 1).
Table 1.-
Attributive construction
examples
Explanation of construction using the “reference object –
target object” principle
“我家后面的那些花很漂
亮” – “The flowers be-
hind my house are very
beautiful”
“我家” (“my house”) is the reference object for “后面” (“be-
hind”), “后面” (“behind”) serves as the reference object for
“那些” (“those”), and “那些” (“those”) is, in turn, the refer-
ence object for the central word “花” (“flowers”).
“学校门口的那辆自行车很
新” – “That bicycle at the
school entrance is brand
new”
“学校” (“school”) is the reference object for “门口” (“en-
trance”), “门口” (“entrance”) serves as the reference object
for “那辆” (“that”), and “那辆” (“that”) is, in turn, the ref-
erence object for the central word “自行车” (“bicycle”).
“桌子上的那本书非常有
趣” – “That book on the
table is very interesting”
“桌子” (table) is the reference object for “上” (“on”), “上”
(“on”) serves as the reference object for “那本” (“that”),
and “那本” (“that”) is, in turn, the reference object for the
central word “书” (“book”).
“办公室里的那台电脑很
快” – “That computer in
the office is very fast”
“办公室” (“office”) is the reference object for “里” (“in”),
“里” (“in”) serves as the reference object for “那台”
(“that”), and “那台” (“that”) is, in turn, the reference object
for the central word “电脑” (“computer”).
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These examples illustrate the principle
of organising information in the Chinese
language from a general context or refer-
ence object to its narrowing, that is, the
transition to a specific target object. Thus,
the order of multiple attribute attributes
reflects the Chinese way of thinking,
which is to arrange elements from the
reference object to the target object. The
Chinese language has a unique structure
of attributive constructions that reflects
the peculiarities of Chinese thinking and
the order of presenting information. Un-
like English and many other European
languages, where attributive words usu-
ally follow the noun, in the Chinese lan-
guage, they precede the noun. The word
order in Chinese attributive constructions
reflects the following principles of Chi-
nese thinking: “from general to specific”,
“from whole to parts”, “from events to
their results” (Table 2).
Table 2
The name
of the principle Examples of attributive constructions
From general to
specific
“我公司的财务部门” – “financial department of my company”.
Here, “我公司” (“my company”) refers to more general information,
and “财务部门” (“financial department”) indicates a specific struc-
tural part of the company.
From whole to
parts
“汽车的发动机” – “car engine”, “汽 车” (“car”) refers to the whole,
and “发动机” (“engine”) is a part of it.
From events to
their results
“暴风雨引起的洪水” – “flood caused by the storm”, “暴 风雨”
(“storm”) – event, “洪水” (“flood”) – the result.
strictly follow the Chinese understand-
ing of spatial and temporal sequences.
For example, “上个月在会议上见到的那
个穿蓝色衬衫的男士是我的老师” can be
translated as “The man in the blue shirt
whom I saw at the meeting last month
is my teacher”. The structure of this sen-
tence looks like this: “上个月” – “last
month” (time), “在会议上” – “at the
meeting” (place), “见到的” – “whom I
saw” (action), “穿蓝色衬衫的” – “wear-
ing a blue shirt” (description), “男士” –
“man” (subject). Another way of organ-
ising sentence structure in the Chinese
language is by coordinating its elements
according to the principle “from restric-
In these examples, the sentence struc-
ture and the position of the attributive
demonstrate the cognitive ability of Chi-
nese thinking to organise information
from the broader context to a narrower
and more detailed description. The ten-
dency to structure attributive construc-
tions emphasises the principles of order-
ing information in the Chinese language
and the cultural aspects of thinking as-
sociated with them. Chinese attributive
constructions not only adhere to gram-
matical rules but also reflect a deeper
understanding of how information is
organised by language speakers. In most
cases, multiple attributive constructions
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tive determiners to descriptive determin-
ers”. The use of this method in attribu-
tive constructions from the perspective
of cognitive linguistics is explained by
the fact that restrictive determiners pre-
cede descriptive constructions in the
Chinese language, aligning with the idea
of consistency between thought and lan-
guage. When Chinese speakers describe
an object, they tend to first provide in-
formation that restricts its scope, thereby
narrowing down the presented data, and
then describe the object to more deeply
convey its content.
In the Chinese language, restrictive
determiners are often used to identify
time, place, quantity, or a specific type
of action, while descriptive determiners
include characteristics or properties of
the object. For example, “三个穿红衣服
的孩子在公园里玩耍” can be translated
as “Three children in red clothes are
playing in the park”. The restrictive de-
terminer “三个” (“three”) indicates the
quantity, while the descriptive determin-
er “穿红衣服的” (“wearing red clothes”)
characterises the appearance. In this con-
text, the general number of children
(three) is first restricted, and then their
clothing (red) is described, following the
logic of specifying details. In the sentence
“这本我昨天买的新书非常有趣” (“this
new book that I bought yesterday is fas-
cinating”), the restrictive determiner “我
昨天买的” (“that I bought yesterday”)
indicates the temporal context and the
action related to the book, while the de-
scriptive determiner “新” (“new”) char-
acterises the state of the book. The sen-
tence begins by specifying the time and
action, narrowing down the context of
the book (“我昨天买的” – “that I bought
yesterday”), and only after that, its de-
scription is provided (“新” – “new”).
Thus, the order in which restrictive de-
terminers precede descriptive ones re-
flects the consistency between the Chi-
nese way of thinking and the language
structure. In these examples, the tenden-
cy of the Chinese language to establish
context using restrictive determiners,
followed by providing additional details
using descriptive determiners, is reflect-
ed. This word order in multiple attribu-
tive constructions demonstrates the Chi-
nese cognitive inclination toward sequen-
tially specifying information from more
general to more specific: first, the context
is established, or the scope of the object
or subject is restricted, and then the de-
scription of their characteristics follows.
In the course of investigating the re-
lationship between the placement of at-
tributive components and the degree of
their semantic proximity to the central
word, it was determined that the prin-
ciple of semantic similarity is an essential
cognitive basis for determining word
order. Human perception of the objective
world and the concepts formed as a re-
sult are reflected in language structure,
and the Chinese are accustomed to es-
tablishing relationships between seman-
tic elements through the distance be-
tween syntactic components (Yitong,
2020). Thus, semantic similarity implies
correspondence between the distance
separating concepts of a particular object
and the distance between corresponding
syntactic components. In multiple Chi-
nese attributive constructions, the dis-
tance between the central word and each
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of the attributions indicates the degree
of their semantic proximity, directly re-
lated to human consciousness and na-
tional mentality. The classification of
object properties by individuals depends
on their ability to determine characteris-
tics that do not change, meaning the abil-
ity to classify object properties is linked
to people’s perception of its stability. The
better the subject understands the prop-
erties of a certain object, the stronger the
degree of their psychological rootedness.
This principle leads to the formation of
a more stable concept in the minds of
language speakers. The position of the
attributive marker “的”, which is located
further from the central word, can also
be explained by the principle of semantic
similarity. Attributions conceptually dis-
tant from the central word usually rep-
resent freely structured components that
easily combine with other components.
Consequently, such attributions are more
likely to be accompanied by the struc-
tural particle “的”. In Chinese linguistics,
the terms “close attributor” and “distant
attributor” are used to denote these types
of attributions.
Close attributors usually relate to cat-
egories such as ownership or physical
characteristics directly connected to the
modified word and do not require the
use of “的”. For example, in the construc-
tion “我妈妈做的蛋糕” (“the cake made
by my mom”), the phrase “我妈妈” (“my
mom”) is a close attributor, indicating a
direct connection (ownership). However,
since the attributive construction is ex-
panded by the action “做” (“make”), the
entire phrase requires “的” (“made by”)
to connect the attributor indicating the
action with the central word “蛋糕”
(“cake”). In this case, “的” (“made by”)
is used to link the attributor that indi-
cates the action with the central word.
In the context of “那个刚买的小黄车”
(“that little yellow bike just bought”), a
temporal attributor “刚买的” (“just
bought”) is used, which is conceptually
more distant from “小黄车” (“little yel-
low bike”). Therefore, it is necessary to
move the phrase “的小黄” (“little yel-
low”) closer to the word “车” (“bike”)
to describe its characteristics.
The order of multiple attributive con-
structions in the Chinese language and
their connection with the thinking of
Chinese individuals can also be explained
from the perspective of the principle of
information processing complexity. Com-
ponents that are easy to process usually
come before those that are more challeng-
ing to process, and this rule can find its
explanation in psychology and cognitive
science. In particular, this principle can
be summarised as follows: if multiple at-
tributions are placed next to each other,
the attribution denoting material is typi-
cally positioned before the one denoting
functionality. For example, in the phrase
“铁制锅盖” (“iron pot lid”), “铁制”
(“made of iron”) serves as the material
attribution and serves as the basis for
perceiving the object, while “锅盖” (“pot
lid”) becomes the functional attribution
describing the purpose of the object. In
the context of “塑料收纳盒” (“plastic
storage container”), “塑料” (“made of
plastic”) represents the material attribu-
tion indicating what the object is made
of, and “收纳盒” (“storage container”) is
the functional attribution describing the
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object’s intended use. From the perspec-
tive of cognitive linguistics, the process
of linguistic expression involves the psy-
chological processing of perceived infor-
mation at different speeds. Attributions
denoting material contain information
that can be visually perceived, whereas
functional attributions require a certain
amount of time for cognitive processing
and the creation of a closer connection
with the object being defined. Thus, the
cognitive process from external appear-
ance to internal essence predominantly
corresponds to the principle of iconicity
in language.
In summary, the study of the funda-
mental principles and created models of
attributive constructions has demonstrat-
ed that from a cognitive standpoint, the
Chinese language possesses characteris-
tics such as presenting the whole before
its parts, events before results, focusing
first on the anchor object and then on the
target, and initially emphasising restric-
tive determiners followed by descriptive
determiners. The word order in the Chi-
nese language has evolved based on an-
cient syntactic patterns, formed using
elements such as the object, subject, ac-
tion, time, place, and others.
Considering iconicity and word order
in the context of the Chinese language,
it is worth noting the correlation between
the linguistic elements used and the tem-
poral, spatial, and causal characteristics
through which objects and subjects are
described. In the study of A. Morbiato
(2019), the nature of the structural organ-
isation of speech in the Chinese language
was investigated based on conceptual
(cognitive) principles of its construction,
with particular emphasis on the princi-
ples of temporal sequence and “from the
whole to the parts”. The main achieve-
ment of the analysis was the discovery
that these principles operate not only
within a sentence but also at the level of
discourse and text. The study of the con-
struction of attributive constructions in
the Chinese language revealed a broader
understanding of the cognitive principles
of structural-linguistic interaction than
presented by the researcher. In particular,
in addition to the “from the whole to the
parts” principle highlighted in both
works, other principles such as “from
larger to smaller”, “from events to their
results”, “from the reference object to the
target object”, and “from restrictive de-
terminers to descriptive determiners”
were also demonstrated.
In the Chinese language, unlike Eng-
lish and many other languages, subor-
dinate clause structures related to the
object are less complex than structures
related to the subject. As asserted by F.
Hsiao and E. Gibson (2003), in the Chi-
nese language, the word order entails
that constructions related to the subject
precede it. This study discovered that
the processing of syntactic structures is
much faster and easier for speakers
when the word order remains un-
changed. In the examination of attribu-
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tive constructions in this study, unlike
the researchers, attention was focused
on the connections between structural
and cognitive features of speech produc-
tion in the Chinese language. Thus, the
mechanisms of word order were ex-
plained through the cognitive processes
of language speakers.
K.H. Cheon et al. (2020) consider em-
bedding the main centre and subordi-
nate clauses as the main syntactic op-
erations for speech production in the
Chinese language. However, the authors
emphasised that it is practically impos-
sible to evaluate the influence of syntac-
tic constraints in isolation, as there is
always the influence of semantic and
pragmatic interactions at the structural
level. In this research, experimental data
were presented to confirm the aforemen-
tioned. The study demonstrated how
syntactic processing of complex sentenc-
es occurs in language speakers. Thus, in
the study of the researchers, the influ-
ence of semantic-pragmatic aspects of
sentence construction was assessed,
while in this study, attributive construc-
tions were characterised from a cognitive
perspective. A common factor in both
works was the interpretation of the in-
terdependence between linguistic struc-
tures and cognitive processes.
The following approaches are used
to compare the syntactic and typological
nature of different languages. For in-
stance, in the work of D. Alves et al.
(2023), the features of three main con-
cepts were examined:
– based on the frequency analysis of
patterns representing the word order
concerning the arrangement of com-
ponents within syntactic nodes;
– based on the arrangement of main
and subordinate clauses;
– based on the investigation of the
placement of verbs and objects.
By analysing the data from these ap-
proaches, language clusters were formed.
In examining attributive constructions in
this study from a cognitive linguistic
perspective, an approach similar to the
researchers was used, particularly focus-
ing on the placement of objects, subjects,
and action-expressing verbs.
H. Haider (2016) concluded, in the
study of adjectives in different languag-
es worldwide, that most languages pre-
dominantly feature descriptive adjec-
tives, while resultative adjectives are
relatively rare. The use of resultative
adjectives is usually based on the appli-
cation of complex verbal predicates (for
example, with verb particles). This study
presented a comparative analysis of the
nature of adjectives in German, Hungar-
ian, Japanese, Chinese, Romanian, and
other languages. In this study, the spec-
ificity of introducing attributive con-
structions into sentences and their inter-
action with other structural elements
was analysed. The findings of the re-
searcher mainly pertain to the structure
of simple sentences, while this study
focuses on examining the mechanisms
of constructing complex sentences with
attributive semantics.
In analysing linguistic resources, the
method of determining cognitive conflict
is employed to track conflicting informa-
tion from a semantic perspective for sub-
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sequent cognitive control. The study of
N. Simi et al. (2023) demonstrated that
detecting cognitive conflict does not fa-
cilitate the processing of ambiguous sen-
tences, a claim supported by experimen-
tal results. The developed mechanism
could be improved by adjusting the in-
tervals between different trials and de-
pending on the type of conflict (seman-
tic, pragmatic, syntactic). The concept of
cognitive control is also applicable to the
study of attributive adjectives, allowing
tracking of how structural patterns are
built and how cognitive factors influence
this process. It should be noted that this
study primarily explores the relationship
between the pragmatics of using attribu-
tive constructions in the Chinese lan-
guage, focusing on structural and lin-
guistic aspects. In the work by the re-
searchers, cognitive mechanisms for
constructing sentences are meticulously
investigated. Examining the relation-
ships between linguistic and cognitive
processes is not a new endeavour in lin-
guistic science.
In the study of F. Amici et al. (2019),
an analysis of the impact of non-linguis-
tic stimuli on memorisation and recall in
African, Asian, and European languages
was conducted. The analysis of syntactic
patterns in this study revealed that, be-
sides syntax and word order, non-lin-
guistic stimuli also influence information
memorisation. These stimuli include
cognitive mechanisms contributing to
structuring and forming messages. In
this study, the relationship between lin-
guistic, structural, and cognitive factors
influencing the construction of speech
patterns in Chinese language speakers
was also explored. The researchers open
new horizons for exploring cognitive
processes and their influence on various
languages worldwide in their study.
The word order in the Chinese lan-
guage is primarily influenced by informa-
tional or communicative factors, such as
identification, focus, and foregrounding.
Moreover, the impact of word order is
explained through terms like subject, di-
rect object, and indirect object. In the
study by A. Tremblay (2005), attention is
focused on the mandatory preverbal posi-
tion of the subject in the Chinese lan-
guage and the postverbal position of the
indirect object. The direct object can be in
two positions: postverbal and immedi-
ately following the indirect object. The
study of attributive constructions re-
vealed that in the Chinese language, they
strictly appear in preverbal position in the
main sentence. The direction of interac-
tion between the object or subject and its
characteristic can vary: “from whole to
parts”, “from anchor object to target ob-
ject”, “from events to their results”, “from
larger to smaller”, “from restrictive deter-
miners to descriptive determiners”. In the
analysis of syntactic patterns in the Chi-
nese language in this study, a broader
terminology was used compared to the
researcher’s work, including “anchor ob-
ject”, “target object”, “restrictive deter-
miner”, and “descriptive determiner”.
Thus, the study of the relationship
between structural, linguistic, and cogni-
tive mechanisms in speech construction
across different languages holds a sig-
nificant place in global linguistic science.
This is driven by the desire to under-
stand all nuances of the interaction be-
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tween language and thought. The range
of fundamental questions related to the
construction of syntactic patterns is ex-
tensive, from determining the depen-
dency of sentence constituent positions
to cognitive processing of speech pat-
terns, from describing objects and sub-
jects to developing cognitive control
principles. It should be noted that ques-
tions related to the analysis of the influ-
ence of language on thought, and vice
versa, have been examined both in a
broad context and through the analysis
of specific languages.
The study concluded that in the Chi-
nese language, the syntactic structure
and word order in attributive construc-
tions are linked to the cognitive process-
es of language speakers and the ways
information about the external world is
processed. Chinese cognitive strategies
are aimed at describing objects in accor-
dance with principles such as “from the
whole to the parts”, “from events to their
results”, “from the reference object to the
target object”, “from restrictive deter-
miners to descriptive determiners”, and
“from larger to smaller”. These strategies
demonstrated the features of national
consciousness and its evolution in the
development of cognitive abilities.
In Chinese, an attributive usually pre-
cedes the central (modified) word, pro-
viding additional information about
various characteristics of the central
word, including its physical qualities
(colour, material, height), location, pur-
pose, and others. The results of the study
showed that the principles of “from a
reference object to a target object”, “from
whole to parts”, “from more to less” in
definitional constructions were used to
gradually narrow the meaning of char-
acteristics from one or more reference
words to the target word. It is notewor-
thy that attributive constructions strictly
adhere to the cognitive perception of the
Chinese regarding spatial and temporal
sequences, as realised in the principle of
“from events to results”. The principle
of “from restrictive determiners to de-
scriptive determiners” is explained from
the perspective of cognitive specificity,
wherein Chinese thinking operates to
limit the range of objects and then spec-
ify their characteristics. Descriptive de-
terminers represent properties, while
restrictive determiners involve aspects
like place, time, and quantity of items.
The cognitive nature of the principle of
semantic similarity is conditioned by
Chinese perception of the distance be-
tween semantic elements (concepts) and
structural elements (syntactic units). The
degree of their semantic closeness in the
Chinese language depends on national
mentality and the perception of reality.
The principle of information processing
complexity states that more challenging-
to-process elements come after those
processed with ease.
Thus, the speed of cognitive informa-
tion processing can vary. To make it easy
for Chinese language speakers to extract
the necessary information, especially from
attributive constructions, the above-men-
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tioned principles of word order organisa-
tion are utilised. The primary parameter
for constructing sentences in the Chinese
language involves moving from the exter-
nal to the internal, from the whole to the
specific, while adhering to spatial and
temporal sequences. Future priority tasks
may include the utilisation of knowledge
about the mentality and national con-
sciousness of language speakers to en-
hance automatic information processing,
overcoming cognitive deviations in com-
munication between speakers and non-
speakers of different languages world-
wide, and studying contexts regarding
word order and syntactic patterns.
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