On The Indefinite Quantifiers In Chinese: Xie And Dian

In this thesis, we explain the correlations among yi xie, yi dian, X yi xie, X yi dian, you xie, and you dian by using markedness as well as grammaticalization theory on the basis of statistical analysis of corpus.Firstly, under the precondition that xie and dian represent indefinite quantifiers, we compare the differences of the rules that lead to the formation of yi xie, yi dian and other collocations from the perspectives of semantics, pragmatics and grammar.Secondly, we attempt to explain the intrinsic possibility of omitting yi in X yi xie and X yi dian by markedness theory. In the case of xie, the omission of yi might be due to imaginary referent, the inclination of referential semantics and being replaced by other words to form a new word; while dian has special characteristics when placed before noun-like components and after the verb you.Finally, we analyze the homomorphism of you xie and you dian, distinguishing their identity and attempt to study the possible change process among the homomorphism words in grammaticalzation.