A Study On Verbal Measurement In Modern Chinese

Verb is one subcategory of modern Chinese.The investigation on the verbal measurement is of great importance because it is useful to further the study of verbs in modern Chinese grammar.Verbal measurement refers to the mode that how the actions of verbs are measured within unit of time,including verbal classifier,verbal reduplication,classifier + verb,verbal measure adverb + verb and other forms.Chapter one is the introduction of the academic value of this research,the current status of relevant researches,the organization of this thesis andthe methodology as well.Chapter two deals with the classification of the verb measurements in Modern Chinese.From the perspective of cognitive linguistics,on the base of three criteria,namely,the regular time interval between verb actions,the continuative features along the time axis of the events,and the process of particular conditions for accomplishing the actions,the verb measurements in Modern Chinese into are first divided into three types,the verb measures of frequency,the verbal measures of time and the verb measures of conditions,while the first type is further classified into verbal measures of short-time intervals and long-time intervals.Furthermore,a detailed sub-classification is done according to the above criteria and specific verb measures are exemplified,i.e.verbal measures of short-time intervals including the contemporary verb ""?1(xia1 one moment)",verb classifier "? 1(ba1,handful)" and construction of "frequent adv + verb";verbal measures of long-time intervals such as "?(ci,at a time)","?(hui,once)" and"low-frequent adv + verb";verbal measures of interior continuity like timing measures,verbal reduplication construction(with reduplication of homogeneous verbs,reduplication of antonyms orsynonyms,and reduplication of some special constructions of verbs included)and""? 2(xia2)";continuative verbal measures like "?(fan,one time)"?"?(tong,sometime)"?"?(qi,a break of time)"?"?(zhen,awhile)";verbal measures denoting specific finished conditions including the holistic verbal measures with the meaning "over and over again" like"?(bian)"?"?(dun)"?"? 1(chang)"?"? 2(ba2)" and the spatial verbal measures used for sport,recreation or activities or experiences like "?(tang)"?" ? 2(chang)"?" ?(zao)"?and accompanying quantifiers.Chapter three to chapter six constitute the empirical main body of the dissertation.By presenting a detailed description and explanation of quantitative and qualitative analysis drawn on synchronic and diachronic data,the respective grammaticalization paths of the four types of verb measurements are systematically investigated and elaborated with the focus on the changes in their semantic features,their collocation with verbs,their collocation with numerals and other aspects.The dissertation will be of great help to clarify the features of verbal measurements in modern Chinese and the relationships between them,and the systematic investigation on different verbal measurements will further the study on the syntactic and semantic features of verbs in modern Chinese as well.Meanwhile,it can provide some valuable reference for the teaching of Chinese as a second language.