Factivity reversion and magic effect in non-factive construction"X bugan xiangxin Y"(X不敢相信Y):"Unwilling suspension of disbelief due to the contradiction with fact"
This paper discusses the factivity status of"X bugan xiangxin Y"(X不敢相信Y,"X can't believe Y")based on its three different construction meanings.It is pointed out that,since xinagxin(相信,"believe")is a non-factive verb expressing belief,the construction"X bugan xiangxin Y"is non-factive(which does not presuppose the truth value of the proposition y denoted by the object Y).However,due to the psychological effect(i.e.magic effect)caused by the surprise that fact overthrows the belief,the construction can become factive and presupposes that y is true.As a result of this reversion of factivity,strong conventional meaning emerges as"x unwillingly suspends the disbelief about y because y is unexpectedly true".Accordingly,in specific contexts,driven by the doubt of x who refuses to suspend the disbelief about y,a weak conventional meaning("x is unwilling to suspend the disbelief about y because y is obviously false")can be unlocked and the construction becomes counter-factive(which presupposes that y is false).It is worthy of note that the counter-factive and non-factive instantiations of this construction are absolutely outnumbered by the factive instantiations.
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