A Systematic Study On Plural Marks In Chinese Dialects

This dissertation takes plural markers in Chinese dialects as the object of investigation. Under the guidance of these theories of typology, markers, lexical-diffusing, life-category and cognitive linguistics, etc., this dissertation has a deeper and more comprehensive study on the system of plural markers in Chinese dialects. The research techniques and models employed in this dissertation include: from theories to case studies and vice versa, with the emphasis on typical case analyses, and the combination of static analyses with dynamic observations; descriptive and interpretive models; synchronic analyses and diachronic descriptions. Thus, the general and particular features of plural markers in Chinese dialects are exposed profoundly.With the human language universals in mind, this dissertation summarizes the implicational universals of plural markers in Chinese dialects, which deepens the understanding of the characteristics of number category in Chinese dialects, enriches and advances the system of Chinese Grammar Theory. It also provides supporting evidence and theories for the development of typology simultaneously, and establishes a relatively comprehensive research model for the study of plural markers in modern Chinese dialects.This dissertation can be divided into six chapters.The first chapter introduces the reason for selecting such a topic in brief, and presents the current achievements on the research of plural markers in Chinese dialects. It also makes clear the goals, trains of thoughts, methods of research as well as the sources used in this research.Chapter two proposes that there are explicit number categories in Chinese dialects. It lays an emphasis on the criteria for defining plural markers in modern Chinese dialects, and puts forward three comprehensive criteria specifically. This chapter also briefly introduces the theory of markers, the life-category theory and classifications of nouns.The third chapter carries on the classification of plural markers in Chinese dialects from different perspectives: semantically, they can be divided into plural, quasi-dual and the quasi-paucal; structurally, they can be divided as affixation, inflection and syneresis. This chapter places an emphasis on discussing the attachment type of plural markers from two separate perspectives: affixal and lexical markers. This chapter also gives an analysis of plural markers in Chinese dialects from such angles as phonetics, semantics, functional grammars, and further systematically summarizes the characteristics of plural markers in Chinese dialects.Chapter four first presents a literature review on the current research of "MEN (们) " in Modern Chinese, and points out their deficiencies. Secondly, it categorizes the pronunciations of "men" and analyzes the phonological features of "MEN". Thirdly, it analyzes the evolution of "MEN" in Chinese dialects from many angles, and makes an important analysis to the reasons behind the uneven distribution of "MEN" in Chinese dialects. Finally it carries an investigation on the processes of competition and variations of "MEN" under the instructions of lexical-diffusing theory.The fifth chapter firstly studies the system of plural markers of Luxi (泸溪) dialect in Hunan province, and emphatically analyzes the typology significance of the system. Next it studies the system of plural markers of Qidong dialect in Hunan province, and analyzes the processes of grammaticalization of plural marker—"YIGE (一各) "as well as "LIANGGE(两个)" expressing dual. Finally it studies the system of plural markers of Guiyang (贵阳) dialect in Guizhou (贵州) province, and it mainly compares the configurable functions of the plural markers—"MEN" and "XIE (些) ", and discusses emphatically the formational mechanism of "MENXIE (们些) "Chapter six summarizes the implicational universals on plural markers in Chinese dialects from the inside of the Chinese number category, the number category and the noun category, expounds the implications of typology and the general characteristics of plural markers in Chinese dialects. Emphasis is laid on the significance of the typology of the plural number category in Chinese dialects.The Conclusion recapitulates the major points and contents in this dissertation, and raises some problems that are worth further discussing on number categories in Chinese dialects.