| The present study aims at categorization of full words in Classical Chinese. Due to lack of morphology, full words are traditionally considered as sharing the same lexical status. Efforts have been made to categorize full words by virtue of syntactic functions. Wang's theory of 'temporary functions' serves as a departure point of the present study. The concept of 'temporary' can be backed up by the prototype theory and the markedness theory. Moreover, the 'temporary' theory coincides with the theory of natural correlations between categories in different linguistic aspects.; By virtue of two prominent phrasal constructions and three major types of predications, three categories of full words, viz. verbs, nouns and amb(ivalent)s are postulated. Syntactic functions are grouped into three categories, viz. SUBJ/O, P/PRED and ADJ/ADV/COMP, in terms of corresponding discourse functions, viz. reference, nucleus and modification. Then, natural correlations between nouns and the functions of reference/SUBJ/O are established. Unnatural correlations between verbs and reference/SUBJ/O, and between nouns and nucleus/P/PRED.v are investigated.; For the lack of morphology, unnatural correlations are primarily recognized by virtue of semantic drifts. When nouns unnaturally correlate with ADV or P/PRED.v, the correlations will co-occur with semantic drifts, and when nouns correlate with SUBJ/O, there will be no semantic drifts. Similarly, when verbs correlate with SUBJ/O, semantic drifts can be predicted.; Semantic drifts serve as markers of zero conversion or decategorization. Through semantic drifts, two lexical rules, viz. nominalization and denominalization, are proposed. The former is a rule of decategorization, while the latter is a rule of zero conversion. A noun can be denominalized into a verb or an adverb. A verb is decategorized into a deverbal entity through nominalization. The proof is that a denominal verb can function exactly like a typical verb does, but a deverbal entity only carries out the nominal functions under highly restrictive conditions. |
