Chinese Adverbs Connectivity Study

The connective function of adverbs is a major subject and hot issue in the research of adverbs. In general, however, previous studies focus mainly on specific adverbs, especially those correlative adverbs in the traditional sense. Comprehensive and systematic studies concerning the connective function of adverbs as a whole have not been carried out yet. Based on those former studies, this paper does a systematic research on the connective function of all the modern Chinese adverbs under the guidance of functional linguistic theory. It expands the research of connective function from typical correlation to non-typical cohesion, from the simply sentential level to the complex textual level. The thesis also delves from multiple angles including the syntax distribution, semantic relationship, connective function, modal function and evolution and development trend of all the connective adverbs synchronically and diachronically. There are three parts in the paper besides the introduction and conclusion.The first part is about the connective function of the typical adverb. The typical adverb is defined as the very adverb that can connect words, phrases and clauses within both simple and complex sentences, or link sentences and paragraphs in texts, often serving as a conjunctive adverbial to express all kinds of logical relations and give a hint to cognition and utterance comprehension. Some new connective functions of traditional connective adverbs are found from new perspectives of new theories such as relevance theory, subjectivitise theory and construction grammar, which further reveals basic features and internal rules of the Correlative adverb in different aspects. Based on the above analyses, case studies have been made respectively, such as the semantic type of"Que"(却), the properties and meanings of the adversative adverb"Ye(也)"(也) in general, two types of connective functions about the successive adverb"Jiu(å°±)",and the correlative functions of"Bu"(不)in conditional structure"不x,不y".The middle part deals with the cohesive function of the extended adverb. The extended adverb is such a kind of adverb that reveals the semantically transitional relations between discourse segments, often precedes the subject and is located at the beginning of the sentence. The semantic relation, cohesion mode and textual function of the adverb are also discussed in this part. Besides, it explores a sub-category of commentary adverb and restrictive adverb (confirmed commentary adverb, unique restrictive adverb) and makes analyses of two adverbs"(Suo Xing"(所幸)and"Dang Ran"(当然)).The last part focuses on the evolution of the connective function of adverbs, especially that of the grammaticalization mechanism of connective adverbs from three interdependent and interacting aspects, namely structures, semantic changes, and cognitive psychology. Through analyzing a typical adverb"BuFang"(不妨), a typical adverb-conjunction multi-category word"KeShi"(可是) and a typical conjunction"KeJian"(可见) respectively, it shows the gradual evolution of connective function of adverbs. It also gives detailed information about the evolution process from a synchronic perspective by the extended functions of the adverb"jiushi"(就是) in natural speech.This paper makes new contributions in terms of several aspects : (1) This paper systematically discusses and summarizes research methods, definitions, and classifications of the connective function of the modern Chinese adverbs, and discovers the grammar, semantic and pragmatic principles of the adverbs by fully describing the explored substantial language facts; (2) Under the guidance of categorization theory, this paper clarifies the continuum properties of the connection function of the adverbs in a synchronic plane;(3) By using new theories, this paper reveals the basic characteristics and internal rules of the connection function of the adverbs from a new perspective. It explores the universal sense and functions in contexts and discourses. (4) This paper inspects the evolution of the connective function of adverbs in a dynamic perspective. It concerns not only the evolution and mechanism diachronic, but also semantic polarization and functional variation synchronic.In summary, this paper enriches and deepens the study of Chinese adverbs. It verifies and supplements the emergent grammar and relevance theory. This research has some practical values and its achievement can be applied to many fields such as Chinese teaching, Chinese information processing, compiling of function word dictionaries etc.