The Word Class Labeling Of V+O Compounds From The Perspective Of The Theory Of Norms And Exploitations

In recent years, with the advancement of China’s international status, studyingChinese as the second language has set off a new upsurge in the world. Thus thedemand for learner’s dictionaries increases dramatically and the requirement for thequality of dictionary compiling became demanding. As the key and difficult point ofteaching and learning, many scholars have paid plenty attention to the study. In recentyears, studies on this field increase dramatically.V+O detachable compounds take a great proportion and are representative of theso-called detachable words. Former researchers have conducted plenty studies and gotfruitful results on the study of V+O detachable compounds, while studies on wordclass labeling of detachable words are rare. Word class labeling as the core technologyof learner’s dictionaries of Chinese as a second language, of which a slight move inpart may affect the situation as a whole and then directly affect the micro and macrostructures and even the quality of the whole dictionary. Study on word classes has ahistory of more than2000years, while problems and controversies of word classesand word class labeling still remain, especially in the typical analyticlanguage--Chinese. Moreover, the word class labeling of detachable words is far morecomplex. Though Wang Renqiang (2010) mentioned the word class labeling ofdetachable words, more systematic research is needed.Based on the Modern Chinese Corpus of the National Language Committee ofChina (CN corpus), this thesis is intended to make an empirical study on the wordclass labeling of V+O detachable compounds, from the perspective of Hanks’ TheTheory of Norms and Exploitations and Wang Renqiang’s Two-Level Word ClassCategorization. The research shows that compounds with high frequency have highpossibility of being both at word and phrase levels, while those with low frequencyhave low detachable frequency and only have high possibility of being at word levelrather than phrase level. Moreover, at the word level, according to the investigation ofusage pattern, we find word classes of V+O detachable words are not merely consfined to verbs, and with higher frequency, the more multiple word classes are.Likewise, at the phrase level, with the higher frequency, the more detachable formsare. However, these compounds are uniformly labeled as phrase-words in TheCommercial Press Learner’s Dictionary of Contemporary Chinese (CPLDCC)without distinction of words or phrases, and usages as verbs and phrases are listedtogether in exemplifications, which probably mislead users. Moreover, thoughmultiple class membership has been noticed in CPLDCC, the number and types arefar more less than those found in CN corpus. Finally, as to the phrase level, wesuggest that compounds with high frequency should be exemplified by preferentialinserted elements, and those with low frequency only be recorded at word level ratherthan phrase level. Through discussion, the reasons probably lie in the following threeaspects: theoretically, the compilers are lack of advanced guidance and influenced byPrinciple of Simplicity; procedurally, the relevance of syntax and lexicon is cut off;methodologically, investigation is not based on large balanced corpus.This thesis not only provides guidance for the treatment of V+O compounds indictionaries of Chinese as a second language, but also deepens the study of Chineseword classes and word class labeling.