A Study On The Noun-centered Exocentric Constructions In Modern Chinese

Guided by the theories of exocentric-endocentric construction and decategorization of nouns, the main purpose of this article is to study the phrases which are composed by nouns or centered by noun or nouns but not belonged to the category of endocentric constructions in modern Chinese. These noun-centered exocentric constructions have almost lost all of the categorial characteristics of nouns and played the roles of predicate or adverbial modifier or complement in Chinese clauses.In detail, the noun-centered exocentric constructions in modern Chinese included three different structures: the coordinate phrases, the modifier-head phrases and the special subject-predicate phrases. The coordinate phrases included the reduplicative forms and non-reduplicative form while the special subject-predicate phrases meant the phrases which played the role of clause component but not the clause itself.Based on the analyses of modern Chinese, the author believe that there are a lot of noun-centered exocentric constructions in modern Chinese. These phrases are very special exocentric constructions which composed by nouns or centered by noun or nouns, but had not the characteristics of nouns. A study on these noun-centered exocentric constructions will not only deepen our understanding of Chinese phrases, rethink about the phrase-standarded opinions in the research of Chinese grammar, but also enrich and develop the theories of exocentric-endocentric construction and decategorization of nouns and then gain quite profound sense in these theories themselves and the applications of them.