Research On Universal Quantification Expressions In Chinese

This dissertation studies the system of universal quantification expression in Chinese from a diachronic perspective and it consists of the following nine chapters.Chapter One is an introduction. It first defines the object and scope of this study and provides an overview of the current research as well as the objectives and methodology of this dissertation. It also gives an introduction to the period division of Chinese language history and the source of corpus.Chapter Two discusses the lexical system of the universal quantification expression in Chinese. According to the ideational feature of each word, the lexical system of the universal quantification expression has been classified into two categories, superposed universality and holistic universality. The superposed universality includes collective reference, arbitrary reference and distributive reference. The holistic universality involves one reference of entirety.Chapter Three takes the verb with the meaning of'accomplishment'as an example to argue that'accomplishment>universal quantification'is one of the semantic sources of universal quantification expression. Those universal quantification expressions come from these verbs can be found in two syntactic structures. (1) S+～+VP (2) (S)+[-+NP]+VP, in which the NP must have a meaning of'scope'. The image scheme for syntactic structure (1) is a set scheme which is superposed universality and refers to "every", "all". The image for structure (2) can be both set scheme and whole scheme while the former refers to "every", "all" and the latter is holistic universality and refers to "whole", "entire". This chapter also concludes that universal quantification expression has the properties of definiteness and discreteness.Chapter Four discusses the universal quantification expression with negative words. According to the meaning expressed, this format can be of two types, the universal affirmative and the universal negative. For universal affirmative construction, this chapter confines its study to the Neg……Neg……construction which contains negative words both in the front and in the rear. For universal negative construction, it takes "cong(conglai)" "zai" "chu" and "liao" as examples and examines the sentences with these words before the negative words. Based on the result, this chapter presents the "universal quantification>strengthened negative>modality" continuum of evolution and two semantic evolution modes, "beginning>universal quantification", "accomplishment>universal quantification".Chapter Five discusses the universal quantification expression with interrogative words. According to different combinations, this kind of format is classified into three categories:(1) Interrogative word used together with negative word. In this "WH·Neg……" construction, interrogative words are usually "shu(who)" "he(what)" "na(which)" "shenme(what)" "shui(who)" and negative words are "bu(no)" "wu(without)" "mei(have not)" "wei(not yet)". (2) Interrogative word used together with adverb "ye/dou".In this "WH……ye/dou……" construction, interrogative words are usually "na(which)" "shenme(what)" and "shui(who)". (3) Combination of the same interrogative word. In this "WH……WH……" construction, interrogative words are usually those in the "shui(who)"group, "na(which)"group and "zenme(how)" group.Chapter Six discusses the universal quantification expression with quantifier. According to the meaning expressed, this format can be of two types, the universal affirmative and the universal negative."yi+NP+inclusive adverbs" has been taken as an example to illustrate the universal affirmative construction in which the NP must have a meaning of'scope'. The universal negative construction is illustrated using the combination of numeral word "yi" with negative word "bu(no)" "wu(without)" and "mei(have not)". According to the positional relation of the negative word and "yi", two types of this construction are presented and followed by a discussion of its diachronic development and features. These two types are (1) negative word in front and "yi" in the rear, (2) "yi" in front and negative word in the rear.Taking "shi X shi Y" and "ruo X ruo Y" as examples, Chapter Seven discusses the universal quantification expression with antonymous morphemes. It makes a deep probe into the evolution of "shi X shi Y" and the reasons causing the emerging of universality. It argues that the emerging and development of universality of "shi X shi Y" are closely related to the lexical evolution of "shi" and the antonymy of X and Y. This chapter also points out that in all ethnic groups, it's universal and it's a basic cognitive style using two antonymous morphemes in pairs to cover the entire semantic field. The usage, property and grammatical process of "ruo X ruo Y" are also discussed.Chapter Eight discusses the universal quantification expression with arbitrary conditional conjunction and focuses on its evolutionary direction. Taking "wu XY", "wu X wu Y" and "buwen" for examples, this chapter illustrates the diachronic evolutionary process of arbitrary conditional construction. Prior to discussion of the evolutionary process of universal quantification expression to modality, this chapter briefly introduces the usage and developing process of conjunction "wulun", explains the syntactic and pragmatic usage of "wulunruhe", highlights the reason and developing process of modality function of "wulunruhe". This process has experienced the solidification of construction, the indistinction of referentiality of interrogatives and the extinction of adverb "ye/dou". It also has experienced the syntactic degradation of clause, "complex sentence>complicated sentence>simple sentence", and gradually becomes an embedded adverbial of a predicative component in a simple sentence from the front clause in a complex sentence. Accordingly, the semantic role of the universal quantification component has shifted from core argument to non-argument and under the restriction of pragmatic inference, the arbitrary conditional construction gains the modality of "yiding(certainly)" which is conveyed by the universal quantification component. In addition to "wulunruhe(no matter what/in any case)", there are some other relevant constructions and words bear the modality and on the basis of that, this chapter presents the "universal quantification>modality" continuum.Chapter Nine is further discussion and conclusion. Components expressing either an universal quantity or a large quantity or a small one, can all develop into modality, therefore, the conclusion can be reached that quantity has a very close relations with modality in Chinese. Based on the result, this dissertation puts forward the evolution mode of "quantity>modality".