A Study On The Semantic Functions Of "X+Men" In Modern Chinese

This study set out to examine the semantic functions of"X+men"that's a sort ofspecial structure in modern Chinese.In modern Chinese,the"X+men"structure isrelatively special,which means its semantic nature can be discussed in an accurateand in-depth manner by analyzing it in terms of cognitive linguistics,especiallycognitive semantics.More specifically,the study adopted functionalism to investigate the semanticfunctions of"X+men"in modern Chinese.By applying the concepts and theories ofcognitive semantics and cognitive grammar of cognitive linguistics,the investigatorattempted to discuss the"number"issues and the semantic functions andinterpretations of"X+men"in modern Chinese and compare"X+men"of modernChinese with"X+deul"of modern Korean to examine their individual and commoncharacteristics.Employed in the study to discuss the number characteristics of modern Chinesewere the concepts of definition and non-definition.While definition refers to thedefinite numbers of bounded objects,non-definition to the indefinite numbers ofbounded or unbounded objects.In modern Chinese,"numbers"belong to the semanticcategory,especially the cognitive semantic category,rather than the formal category."men"from the"X+men"structure has"the meaning of individual definition,"whichmeans that multiple individual elements with animacy represent definition throughindividualization(that is,"men") when they're interpreted as non-definition.Sharingvery similar functions with"-men"of modern Chinese,"-deul"of modern Korean has"the meaning of individual definition+distributivity.""Distributivity"suggests thatmultiple individual elements can be seen as individuals whose boundaries are clearlydefined.When their characteristics are looked into in terms of syntactic distribution,"deul"demonstrates much more complex patterns than"men."For instance,"deul"can be placed after"bounded-unbounded"object nouns,adverbs,and verbs.The study consists of total six chapters and about 150,000 letters.Chapter 1 is theintroduction,Chapter 2 reviews the major previous studies on"X+men",Chapter 3discusses the"number"issues of modern Chinese,Chapter 4 analyzes and interpretsthe meanings of"X+men",Chapter 5 investigates"X+men"and"X+deul"in terms ofindividual and common characteristics,and finally Chapter 6 presents the summary offindings. Each of the chapters provides the followings:Chapter 1 of the introduction raises questions,defines the subjects and their scope,introduces the goals and methodology,examines the theoretical and practicalmeanings of the study,and discusses the sources of language materials.Chapter 2 examines the previous studies on"X+men"of modem Chinese moreclosely in four areas;(1) the grammar nature of"men";(2)the combination of"X"and"men"and its restrictions;(3) the grammar meanings of"X+men";and (4) theproblems and limitation of the previous studies on"X+men."Chapter 3 discusses the"number"issues of modem Chinese and its characteristicsby using the definition & non-definition concept.While definition refers to thedefinite numbers of bounded objects,non-definition to the indefinite numbers ofbounded or unbounded objects.In modern Chinese,"numbers"belong to the semanticcategory,especially the cognitive semantic category,rather than the formal category.Chapter 4 discusses the semantic analyses and interpretations of"X+men"inmodern Chinese."Men"from the"X+men"structure has"the meaning of individualdefinition,"which means that multiple individual elements with animacy representdefinition through individualization(that is,"men") when they're interpreted asnon-definition.Chapter 5 discusses"X+men"of modern Chinese and"X+deul"of modern Koreanfor their individual and common characteristics.To be specific,I examined the usesand semantic functions of"men"and"deul"coming after"X"and compared them forindividual and common characteristics.Sharing very similar characteristics with"-men"of modern Chinese,"-deul"of modern Korean has"the meaning of individualdefinition+distributivity.""Distributivity"suggests that multiple individual elementscan be seen as individuals whose boundaries are clearly defined.When theircharacteristics are looked into in terms of syntactic distribution,"deul"demonstratesmuch more complex patterns than"men."For instance,"deul"can be placed after"bounded-unbounded"object nouns,adverbs,and verbs.And finally Chapter 6 of the conclusion presents major findings and arguments,thelacking points of the study,and research subjects for future study.