Modern Chinese People Term Study

Person nouns in Modern Chinese are, in terms of meaning, a subcategory of nouns of the language, with the semantic property of [+ HUMAN]. The present paper tries to discuss the ways in which general nouns enter this subcategory in lexicological and semantic approaches, with some social and cognitive factors taken into consideration at the same time. It also studies the layout, application and development of nouns referring to people in the modern Chinese language. The research methods used in the study are a combination of dynamic and static observation, description and application.The study of nouns referring to people in the modern Chinese language is the focus of human-describing words. The aim of the present paper is not only to make improvement in the study of human-describing words in modern Chinese, but also to provide some insights into entry-processing in compiling lexicographical works and the teaching of Chinese to non-native speakers.The paper consists of seven chapters. Chapter One is introduction, in which the intention of the research, the distinctions of some important concepts like appellation, title, names, and nicknames, literature review in grammatical, lexicological and sociolinguistic dimensions , the explanation of the methodology and the significance of the research are introduced.Chapter Two focuses on the research into the creative means by which general nouns are evolved into those referring to people in the Chinese language. Person nouns in Chinese are divided into three categories: relative-oriented nouns showing the relationships of the kinships among people, society-oriented nouns showing the social relations among people, and recognition-oriented nouns showing how a person recognizes others. The causes and the means by which person nouns are evolved from general ones are approached in social, cognitive and linguistic ways. Without the needs of social communication and the regulation of human thinking, nouns referring to people in the Chinese language couldn't have come to be recognized. Furthermore, the evolution of social system, the development of human society, the change of social life, the improvement of social doctrine, the transition of social psychology and the spread of the culture both at home and abroad have all provided favorable conditions for the formation of person nouns. As is shown by modern cognitive science , the conceptualization, systematization, and metaphorization of human thinking have great impact on person nouns. It is the linguistic rules that govern the construction of the nouns referring to people in the language.In Chapter 3, the research on the structure and significance of person nouns is done. The study begins with the distinction between the person nouns with and without the semantic component of referring to people. In general, the person nouns with the component of referring to people take the core component of referring to people as the focus, the other components as secondary. The core component works together with the others in different ways to show the meaning of the person noun. In contrast, those without the semantic component of referring to people do not have a core component, and the meaning of a person noun is the result of combination of different components through a transitional feature. This transitional feature may be that of a verb or that of an adjective and a certain relationship is established by means of simile or extension with the meaning of nouns referring to people. The structure of nouns referring to people in the modern Chinese language can be generalized as a"...... person"model, of which the former suspension points is the specific part of word meaning, showing the people's varied attributes, and the latter one, i.e. person is a kind of word showing the object species. Moreover, in some cases, the person in the model above can be replaced by another one which expresses the concept of object species.Chapter 4 is the research into the vocabulary classification of person nouns. Person nouns in Chinese are classified into many different types such as synonyms, antonyms, polysemants, and many other types as well like generic terms, appositions, symmetric nouns and reverse-direction nouns. Among these types, synonyms and antonyms are mostly featured and constitute the largest proportion of person nouns. This is because the morpheme of referring to people plays a central role in the construction of its synonyms and antonyms. Many scholars believe that lexicon and semantics are systematic in the same way as phonetics and syntax, only with the difference in how to explain this systemization. Many scholars assume that there exists the semantic field of"person"in the Chinese language, yet no one has ever explained it. The present research has provided some reasonable explanations for the system of nouns referring to people and shed some light on the study of the semantic field of"person".Chapter 5 studies person nouns in a dynamic way. The synchronic study of vocabulary is a major concern of the dynamic lexicology. Currently, the Chinese vocabulary is experiencing an active period, and nouns referring to people vary with the development of the Chinese vocabulary. With new person nouns emerging and old ones dying, there are a lot of changes in the meanings of person nouns. A unique study of the present paper is the homologous person nouns. They are thought to be quite productive and imbalanced in their development. The number of homologous person nouns is so great that they affect the system of person nouns in the modern Chinese language.Chapter 6 conducts a dynamic research as well, discussing different contexts in which person nouns are used. The meanings of nouns referring to people in certain context are dynamic rather than static, resulting in many temporary speech elements which are manifested in phonetics, words meanings, grammar and rhetoric. The use of person nouns plays a positive role in communication. It reveals interpersonal relationship, one's psychological activity, one's social status and the situation one is in. It also indicates the change of a person's role. Misuse of person nouns, however, may lead to some negative effects on communication.Chapter 7, the conclusion, briefs the main research results and makes some suggestions as to the direction and approach of further study. Person nouns in the modern Chinese language are a research field worth further exploration. and will be discussed more in combinative, chronological and comparative ways. It is hoped that the preset study in this paper on person nouns in the modern Chinese language will provide useful insights into further study of object nouns, person verbs and the adjectives.