A Comparative Study On Common Chinese Synonymic Prepositions

This thesis makes a research on six groups of Chinese prepositions, which have a close meaning and function. And standing on a different point from the papers on prepositions before, the paper takes a comparative study on common Chinese synonymic prepositions from the angle of TCSL. It is a new attempt on Chinese prepositions in an all-round way.The first group is "自,从,打". This part makes a comparative study on the syntactic orders, structural features, diversities of meaning and pragmatic values of the same group of prepositions, from the angles of "location" and "time".The second group is "向,往,朝". This part makes a research on the differences in syntactic function among the prepositional constructions "向+NP", "往+NP" and "朝+NP", the differences when they act as adverbials, and the similarities and differences of the prepositional constructions "向+NP" and "往+NP" when they act as complements.The third group is "在, 到". This part, also from the angles of "location" and "time", takes a discussion on the different characteristics of the prepositional construction "在+NP" ( when indicating location) as an adverbial or a complement, the similarities and differences of the prepositional constructions "到+NP" and "在+NP" (when indicating location), and the differences between the prepositional constructions "在+NP" and "到+NP" when indicating time.The fourth group is "被,叫,让,给". This part takes a discussion on the differences in structure between the sentences with a "被" in Chinese and the passive sentences in English, the differences between the same group of prepositions in Chinese "被,叫,让,给", and the common characteristics of them.The fifth group is "给,为,替". This part makes a research on the four cases of the prepositional construction "给+NP" when it acts as an adverbial and the case when it acts as a complement, the four cases of the prepositional construction "为+NP" and the three cases of "替+NP" as adverbials. Also it takes a discussion on the similarities and the differences among this group of prepositions.The sixth group is "对, 对于, 关于". This part takes a discussion on the similarities and differences between "对" and "对于", "对于" and "关于". And it also takes a discussion onthe differences between "对于" and "对于…来说".Through the comparative study on every group of prepositions above, the paper has drawn such a conclusion: In spite of something in common among every group of Chinese synonymic prepositions, there still exist some differences in their syntax, semantics and pragmatics. And there is also a different emphasis and pragmatic value when the same preoositional phrase acts as an adverbial or a complement. So it is a very important means for us to make a comparative study on the synonymic prepositions in TCSL. And only in this way, could we explain clearly the difference of every preposition among the same group, and thus explain its unique position in the whole system of Chinese grammar.