A Study On The Occurrence Of The Modifier Marker DE 的

The occurrence of de in the syntax has been a controversial issue.This dissertation tries to describe and explain the phenomena of de based on some insights from various theories such as typology,grammaticalization,formalism and functionalism.It deals with these issues by investigating the historical source,grammaticalization,classification,and function of de,and introducing a new framework for Chinese noun phrases.From a diachronic perspective,the functional element de,which has different uses such as modifier maker,focus marker,suffix of adjectives,nominalizer,etc.,is developed from the demonstrative di底in the history by grammaticaliztion.The different uses of de in modern Mandarin Chinese correlate with each other because of the gradualness of the process of grammaticaliztion.Profiling,a term from Langacker,is the basic function of demonstratives. Most uses of modern de maintain this function of profiling due to persistence in grammaticalization.Chinese noun phrases have a distinction between unmarked and marked structures,and their modifier slots can be divided into three kinds:locational,quantificational,and classificational. The quantificational slot is the position occupied by the quantificational modifier of the head noun. Modifiers in this slot function as quantifying.Preceding the quantificational slot is the locational slot.Modifiers within it function as locating.The slot next to the quantificational is the classificational slot.Modifiers within it function as classifying.These three slots constitute a sequence of "locational slot＞quantificational slot＞classificational slot".Noun phrases of three kinds are distinguished correspondingly:locational phrase,quantificational phrase,and classificational phrase.With regard to the occurrence of de in single modifiers,there is a parallelism between the three kinds of noun phrase.As for the occurrence of de in multiple modifiers,the modifiers in three different slots are independent,but the modifiers inside the classificational slot are dependent of each other.These phenomena are described and explained based on the framework of the noun phrase,and the classification and function of de.There is some parallelism between noun phrases and verb phrases.So the framework of noun phrases in this dissertation can also be applied to analyzing the much disputed construction "N de V". This dissertation consists of 8 chapters:1) introduction,2) review of the past studies,3) the historical source,development,classification,and function of de,4) a framework of Chinese noun phrases,5) occurrence of de in single modifiers,6) occurrence of de in multiple modifiers,7) issues about "N de V",9) conclusion.