This study investigates the counter-expectation information structure in Modern Chinese,involving the relation-ships between the information units,the variant models of the complete information structure,and their cognitive-prag-matic mechanisms.First,"condition""expectation"and"counter-expectation"are the three main information units of the counter-expectation information structure.The relationships between"condition"and"expectation"involve cause-and-effect and analogy,abiding by the principles of proximity and similarity in Gestalt Principles.While"counter-expec-tation"is the negation of"expectation",conforming to the principle of prominence.And the connection between"condi-tion"and"counter-expectation"is bridged by"expectation",according to the principle of closure.Second,it is discov-ered that"condition+counter-expectation"and"independent counter-expectation"are the two most frequently used vari-ant models of the counter-expectation information structure,based on the statistics on CNKI and the software analysis of VOSviewer.The default of"expectation"in these variant models is due to the collaboration of mechanisms like stereotyp-ical relations,metonymy,quantity iconicity and language economy.
counter-expectation information structureinformation unitscognitive-pragmatic mechanisms
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
