Study Of "-si" Structure In Modern Chinese

"-Si"structure is a frequently used description which expresses the level of motion or qualityof objects. This structure is unsuitable to exist in formal and serious written style due to themeaning of "life ends"in "si",even when "si" has undertaken its grammaticalization, it stillcontains the unwelcomed sense as well as the extreme exaggeration. Foreign students havedifficult understanding and using "-si"structure because inaccuracy occurs in grasping theprimary and grammaticalized meaning. This essay will study "-si"structure in accordance of threedimensions in syntactics,semantics and pragmatics,the effective teaching strategy in teachingChinese as a foreign language as well.Syntactically,"-si"structure has semi-self-contained meaning; it can transform into "S+Vsi+O"structure;"-si"structure has no negative, comparative or interrogative form.Semantically, during the course of its grammaticalization, the transformation of contextand metaphor, the cognitive mechanism, have worked decisively, which make "-si"structureacquire extreme level and stronger subjectivism. On Semantic orientation,"-si"structure willcause ambiguity when1."si"followed no object,2.the subject is the third person,presentingnames of people or pronouns,3.the center of predicate is an adjective that indicates physiologicalfeelings;"S+V si+O"structure will lead to different meaning when1.the subject is thefirst,second or third person, presenting names of people or pronouns, meanwhile, the object is thethird person, presenting names of people or pronouns;2. the predicate has to be divalent motiveverb.Semantically,"-si"structure reflects the derogatory sense of predicate or exaggerating attitudeof speaker, attempting to obtain better rhetoric affect."-si"structure also is possible to transform into "Ba"sentence and "Bei"sentence, however,different predicates decide whether it can change into "Ba"sentence and "Bei"sentence,or onlyinto "Ba"sentence, or only "Bei"sentence;"S+V si+O"has several situations when its subject andobject exchange their position.Finally, the essay will come up with teaching strategy according to three dimensions insyntactics,semantics and pragmatics, trying to use "structure-chunks" theory to design teachingplans for kinds of class types.