A Study On The Demonstrative Pronoun System Of Haiyan Dialect

The dissertation focuses on the system characteristics and grammaticalization path of the demonstrative in Haiyan dialect. The author considers that, besides referential function, the demonstrative pronoun has a series of non-referential function, which causes the asymmetry of the demonstrative pronoun. The dissertation is composed of eight chapters.The first chapter briefly introduces the reason why we choose the very topic and the research background.The theoretical background and research approach are also laid out.The second chapter makes a detailed description of the demonstrative pronoun system of Haiyan dialect from four perspectives:location, person or thing, time, property\degree or manner. The demonstrative pronoun system of Haiyan dialect is a special "double-layer&two-part system", which means the proximal pronoun is subdivided into zero-distance and short-distance;the remote pronoun is subdivided into long-distance and farther-distance. The system also has a lot of non-referential function.The third chapter analyzes the demonstrative pronoun used as a nominalization marker. There is a special chain of grammaticalization:general quantifier> the remote pronoun> nominalization marker. When general quantifier is grammaticalized into remote pronoun, all the quantifiers tend to be qualitative."*GE " grammaticalized as demonstrative pronoun first. When the remote pronoun grammaticalized as a nominalization marker,"*GE" became the nominalization marker in the modifier-head structure rather than that in the "DE" structure. The whole grammaticalization process proves the chain as a complete continuum.The fourth chapter analyzes the demonstrative pronoun used as definite article. Due to the similarities between the demonstrative pronoun and the definite article in the syntactic position and the functional properties, the the remote pronoun grammaticalized as an element is similar to the definite article, which is a universal phenomenon among the human languages. This chapter also analyzes the similarities between "the remote pronoun>the definite article"’ and "general quantifier> the remote pronoun> nominalization marker".The fifth chapter analyzes the demonstrative pronoun used as the topic marker. The demonstrative pronoun "*GE" in Haiyan dialect resembles the topic marker in syntactic, semantic and functional aspects. when a topic marker is required by the discourse to strengthen the topic-indicating function, the demonstrative pronoun "*GE" is inclined to be used as a topic marker.The sixth chapter analyzes the demonstrative pronoun used as conjunction in Haiyan dialect.When the demonstrative pronoun is used as anaphora, it tends to be grammaticalized as a conjunction in both syntactic position and semantic characteristeristies. As far as the syntactic performance is concerned, the remote pronoun in Haiyan dialect obtains the characteristics specific to conjunctions, and is grammaticalized as a topic marker.The seventh chapter compares demonstrative pronouns in different languages: Mandarin Chinese\English and Haiyan dialect. We hold that the non-referential function leads to the asymmetry of the demonstrative pronoun system, which is caused by a combination of grammar, semantics and cognition.The eighth chapter is a summary of this thesis.