Construction Grammar Meets Pragmatics : Cross-Linguistic Insights from German and Chinese Gratitude Expressions

This study investigates the semantic–pragmatic interface in Construction Grammar (CxG) through a cross-linguistic corpus analysis of the gratitude constructions “Danke für + X” in German and “Xie Xie + X” in Chinese. To address limited treatment of context-dependent pragmatics in CxG, it proposes a Usage Scenario Model that integrates Frame Semantics and distinguishes between frame-general and frame-specific uses. Based on large newspaper corpora and combining quantitative and qualitative analyses, the study shows that while both constructions encode prototypical gratitude meanings, they differ systematically in pragmatic realization: German favors explicit specification and evaluative modification, whereas Chinese foregrounds the addressee and interactional context. Pragmatic inversions occur in both languages but are more frequent in German and rely on different linguistic mechanisms. Overall, the findings highlight gratitude constructions as dynamic discourse resources and demonstrate the model’s potential for cross-linguistic and diachronic research in CxG.