Modern Chinese Dialects Continued To Mark The Comparative Study

This dissertation is a comprehensive in-depth study on continuous markers in Chinese dialects, a hotspot in grammar field for many years.It is well known that a complex correlation has developed between different Chinese dialects during their evolution, in which the predominated side is the universals. The fact based on a host of data is that the continuous markers is a common category in Chinese dialects, and there are many corresponding relations between deferent continuous markers in deferent dialects despite the differences in their sounds and meanings.To accomplish this study, we adopted the way of description from Xiangfan dialect to others, and comparison between the synchronic and diachronic data on the foundation of the extensive material. The dissertation falls into four chapters. The preface presented the value of this research and some correlated problems. Chapter One described the character of continuous marker "倒" in Xiangfan dialect. Chapter Two collected a large data of some continuous markers in other dialects, for example "着 (zhe)" , "子/之/仔" , "等" , "紧" and so on, from which several main types of the markers and their distribution have been concluded. Chapter Three centered on the possibility that all types of continuous markers have a same source according to the general law of sound change and the special regulation in the development of the functional words. Chapter Four discussed the relation between the continuous markers and "著(着)" ( zhi-lue qie) in Middle-Ancient Chinese, and then analyzed the grammaticalization of "著(着) " .This study gave the point that the emergency and the evolution of continuous markers make out the commonness and individuality in grammars of Chinese dialects, the consistence and contrast between the form and the meaning, and also support the view that the synchronic linguistic differences reflect the different level in linguistic evolution diachronically.