A Study On The Numeration Of Jinpingmei Cihua

Jinpingmei Cihua is a saga novel written in vernacular Chinese in Ming Dynasty and also published in Ming Dynasty. Its extremely colloquial language basically reflects the language used in the mid-late period of Ming Dynasty and it is the precious literature to study Modern Chinese. The numerals of Jinpingmei Cihua and its numeration not only show some inherits from the ancient Chinese but also produced some new forms with the striking feature of the times. To study the numerals and the numeration of Jinpingmei Cihua will undoubtedly have great theoretical significance and important referential value to the study of Modern Chinese and the study of the history of Chinese grammar.The study of numerals, playing an important role in the grammar study, is weak on the contrary now. This paper takes the object of study by Jinpingmei Cihua, carries on the analysis, the research to the numeration. The research contains three aspects:First, based on the former research, I construct a numerals system of Jinpingmei Cihua and divided the numerals into six kinds which involve cardinal number, ordinal number, fraction number, multiple number, approximate number and imaginary number. Each kind is described at length by the union of quantitative statistics and qualitative analysis and combining the static description and dynamic analysis.Second, Syntax functions of numerals, especially the numeration, were depicted elaborately. This study includes the union of noun and quantifier, the union of verb and quantifier, syntactic elements, the use of"numerals noun".Finally, comparative studies about some special numerals and numerations. Collecting some relative literature can help to make clear about clues of the development of those numerations, summarize the rules of the evolvement and point out differences and similarities of several individual numerations.