A Research On The Chinese Yue X Zuoyou Construction

There is a type of complex structure of approximate quantity commonly found in Modern Chinese,such as“大约 5 左右”.The yue X zuoyou structure is controversial among scholars if its meaning is redundant.Focusing on the yue X zuoyou structure which includes the structure[yue/dayue/yue,rmo X zuoyou/shangxia/qianhou],this thesis aims to explore its synchronic feature,its emergence and the underlying mechanism.Constructionalization proposed by Traugott and Trousdale(2013)is defined as the creation of a formnew-meaningnew pairing,which results from gradual and gradient steps that is referred to as constructional changes.Based on constructionalization theory,this thesis regards the yue X zuoyou structure as a construction,i.e.,the Chinese yue X zuoyou construction,and aims to analyze its synchronic feature,its emergence as well as the underlying mechanism through the following research questions:1.What is the synchronic feature of the yue X zuoyou construction in Modern Chinese?2.How has the Chinese yue X zuoyou construction emerged?What is the mechanism for the emergence of the Chinese yue X zuoyou construction?Conclusion can be drawn as follows through the corpus-based analysis approach with quantitative and qualitative methods:1.The variant X and the postposition[zuoyou/shangxia/qianhou]form the internal hierarchy of the Chinese yue X zuoyou construction.The adverb[yue/dayue/yuemo]and the structure[X zuoyou/shangxia/qianhou]form the external hierarchy of the Chinese yue X zuoyou construction.Serving as an object,an attribute,an adverbial and a predicate,the Chinese yue X zuoyou construction appears in the sentence-medial and sentence-final position,and sometimes in the sentence-initial position as a temporal adverbial.The adverb[yue/dayue/yuemo]and the postposition[zuoyou/shangxia/qianhou]carrying the semantic feature[+uncertainty]equally contribute to the approximate quantity meaning of the Chinese yue X zuoyou construction.2.The precursor and enabler of the emergence of the Chinese yue X zuoyou construction involve the emergence of the modal adverb of estimation[yue/dayue/yuemo]and the emergence of the postposition[zuoyou/shangxia/qianhou]indicating approximate quantity.In the Six Dynasty,yue co-exists with the variant X after a noun or a predicate verb to serve as an attribute or an object.Therefore,the interpretation of yue as a modal adverb of estimation is more appropriate.The emergence of the structure[yueadv X]is a process of constructionalization.The adverb dayue comes into being in the Tang Dynasty,and yuemo occurs in the Southern Song Dynasty consecutively due to the disyllabification of Chinese.The postposition[zuoyou/shangxia/qianhou]is used to indicate approximate space in Pre-Qin Dynasty.It projects from SPACE domain into QUANTITY,TIME and AGE domain under the mechanism of metaphor.The structure[X zuoyou/shangxia/qianhou]is used to indicate approximate quantity from the Song Dynasty.The structure[X zuoyou/shangxia/qianhou]is recruited into the position of post-yue/dayue/yuemo in the structure[yue/dayue/yuemo X],then the Chinese yue X zuoyou construction emerges,while the meaning of approximate quantity doesn’t change.Therefore,the emergence of the Chinese yue X zuoyou construction is a process of constructional change instead of constructionalization.This thesis analyzes neoanalysis and anagolization as the mechanisms of constructionalization of the structure[yuead,,X]and the emergence of the Chinese yue X zuoyou construction.This thesis,reflecting over the achievements and limitations in the previous studies on the Chinese yue X zuoyou construction,attempts to explore the emergence of the Chinese yue X zuoyou construction as well as the underlying mechanism.This study is committed to offering a new approach and perspective for the future research on approximate quantity in Chinese,a typology support for constructionalization theory,and implications for Chinese acquisition as a foreign language.In addition,it contributes to the machine translation of such a complex structure in Chinese.