The Amount Of Space Expression Study Chinese

With a semantic perspective, this dissertation is supposed to prove that thesyntatic structure and the semantics can support each other. It also tries to identifythree relations: the one between space and susbstance, the one between spacialquantity and substantial quantity, and the one between markers of spacial quantityand those of substantial quantity. In doing so, an expression system of spacialquantity is constructed. The dissertation selects six topics, each of which is devotedto explaining some habitual, therefore elusive, and vague phenomena. Theories aretaken only as tools to make clear description and explanation, which is the ultimategoal of the dissertation.The structure of the dissertation is as the fllowing:Chapter One: Introduction. It includes three parts: theoretical construction,literature review, and induction of the expression system of spacial quantity. Thischapter introduces the definitions and classifications of spacial quantity. Spacialquantity means the quantitive features of spacial concepts in the Chinese language.From the perspective of substance itself, that is, the properties of spacial quantity,they can be divided into three kinds: the measurements of form, size and dimension.And from the perspective of the relations between substance, spacialquantity fallsinto two kinds: primary and secondary relation, and equal relations.Chapter Two: Space Form Quantity and Measure Word System. In numbers,measure words and nouns, the prominence of substantial quantity leads to recessionof spacial quantity. And in reality, nearly fourty percent of measure words havecharacteristics of spatial quantity. In the light of the fact that classifiers stress theform, measure words can be divided into three kinds of word construction and twokinds of word usage. And it comes to the conclusion that grammarization of measurewords actually means the reduction of spacial quantity.Chapter Three: Space Size Quantity and the Repetition of Nouns and MeasureWords. This chapter tries to distinguish between substantial quantity and the sizequantity. It takes Zizhong dialect as a case study. In this dialect, the repetition of nouns and measure words indicates small spacial quantity, whereas the samephenomenon in Mandarian Chinese means the other way round.Chapter Four: Space Dimension Quantity and Existential Construction. It reviewsthe syntax of existential construction and disambiguation. It points out that the spacequantity acts as the subject/ground, the substantial quantity as the object, and thatthe subject and the object do not fall in the same kind. By reanalyzing the attributiveof the object, it puts forward two rules. One is that space quantity appears in asentence only once, and the other is that substance quantity does not stand by itself.Chapter Five: The Degree of Dimension Quantity and the Reversible SentenceProblem. Some reversible sentences, when negated, mean the same. But some otherreversible sentences can not do the same trick. In order to explain this problem, thischapter divides nouns into three kinds according to the degree of dimension: thosewith a clear indication of spacial quantity, those with a weak indication of spatialquantity, and those with no indication of spatial quantity. And actually they consist ofa continuum from spatial quantity to substantial quantity. It turns out that onlyreversible sentences with clear indication of spatial quantity can mean the samewhen they are negated.Chapter Six: Universial Quantifiers and“Yi”，“Man”，“Quan”. This chapterintroduces universial quantifiers to distinguish between “Man+NP”and “Quan+NP”,the two of which are actually different although they seem the same.“Man” is anoperator of universial quantifiers,which works as the subject of existential sentences.“Quan” is an operator of the whole, which works as the agent subject.“Yi+NP” tendsto be more subective although it is close to “Man+NP”. In addition, by combiningexistential sentences and universial quantifiers, this chapter explains “V+Man” in anew way.Chapter Seven: Subjective Space Quantity and the Problem of “Zai+location”.“Zai+location” has four different positions in a sentence. By using interactivesubjective theory, this chapter focuses on the subjective understanding of “Zai+LV”and “V+Zai+L”, and on the further grammarization of “V+Zai+L”. It also uses statics todescribe and explain the stylistic differentiations of four constructions, their origins and pragmatic effect.Chapter Eight: Conclusion. This dissertation offers a new perspective ongrammatic study on the basis of the blending and dividing of spatial quantity andsubstantial quantity.