Classification Of Chinese Degree Adverbs: Syntax, Semantics And Pragmatics

The research object of this dissertation includes 18 degree adverbs as follows: “GUO”(including“GUOYU”), “TAI”, “JI”(including“JIQI”, “JIWEI”), “ZUI”(including “ZUIWEI”),“GENG”(including“GENGJIA”,“GENGWEI”),“HAI1”,“HAI2”,“FEICHA NG”, “XIANGDANG”, “SHIFEN”, “HEN”, “BIJIAO”(including“JIAO”,“JIAOWEI”), “YOUDIAN”,“YOUXIE”,“SHAO”(including“SHAOSHAO”,“SHAOWEI”,“SHAOX U”), “LVE”(including “LVELVE”, “LVEWEI”), “TING”,and “ZHEN”.There is diverse classification of degree adverbs in the literature. Different dictionaries show different definitions of degree adverbs which are, however, circular. They also involve different results from case analysis.The expression of “degree” is ambiguous in itself, and therefore it is difficult to rank and classify degree adverbs based on their degree extent or degree intensity.Especially for non-native speakers of Mandarin Chinese, they have no idea which system among diverse classification of degree adverbs captures Chinese properties better and suits Chinese learners better.Regarding the classification of degree adverbs, Wang, Li was first one who started to classify them by using the concept of “comparison”. He divided Chinese degree adverbs into two types: relative and absolute The degree realization of degree adverbs is achieved by different comparison approaches and thus these adverbs have certain interrelations. However, by judging from the practical use of degree adverbs, the classification is not that clear-cut, and they also exhibit individual characteristics. The classification that appeared after Wang was mostly an extension from previous studies or a version similar to previous studies, including a multiple-way distinction simply based on degree strength. This multiple-way approach is even vaguer. Given this, we thus suggest that both the two-way classification and the multiple-way classification should require revision, and that controversial cases should also require mediation by taking practical usage into consideration. As can be seen, classification is crucial for the present study on Chinese degree adverbs.In our view, by considering the real use of degree adverbs, the classification should be able to reflect as many relevant messages as possible that are beyond degree. Not only the theoretical framework should we carefully adopt, but we should also work out the actual distinction among similar members in the classification; the latter task has been done less than the former, as far as we know.In this dissertation, we start the discussion from degree adverbs, their syntactic functions and the syntactic restrictions. We relate all of these to the classification.We also discuss a feature closely related to degree adverbs, which is “subjectivity”. Degree itself and adjectives associated with degree adverbs have very much to do with subjectivity.Subjectivity refers to the subjective attitude or intention of speakers.While the primary function of degree adverbs is to express degree intensity for some state or some situation, they actually function more than this, involving subjectivity more or less.This is why we may see subjective viewpoints in the real use of degree adverbs.Subjectivity is an important feature that characterizes degree adverbs, and it is also a crucial factor in the classification.As pointed out above, syntactic functions, syntactic restrictions and subjective attitudes are all important factors in the classification of Chinese degree adverbs.It is concluded that this dissertation is more than a study of syntactic properties as emphasized in traditional grammar. We extend the research scope to cognitive and pragmatic perspectives. We not only examine the properties of degree adverbs in actual usage but also reconsider how classification can be made in a more desirable way.