Comparative Research Between The Negative Adverbs Of "bu" And "fu" In Pre-Qin Period

The previous research of the negative adverbs mainly focused on their origins and their applications and less emphasis was laid on their evolution, especially on their extinction and functional proliferation in the history. According to the statistic figures, there were some 17 negative adverbs in the period of "Shanggu" Chinese and their applications entangled with each other. When the history evolved into the period of "Zhonggu" and modern times, the number of negative adverbs decreased dramatically, and such negative adverbs as "fu" and "wu" had come to oblivion. But why has the negative adverbs such as "bu" and "wei" been around till today? In order to delve into the reason, I intend to center my attention on the two closely-connected negative adverbs "bu" and "fu" and implement my research in the period of Pre-Qin, i.e. the period before Chun Qiu and Zhan Guo. Through the diachronical analysis of "bu" and "fu" occurring in Inscriptions on the Bones and Tortoise Shells, Inscriptions on the Metals and the five volumes of legendary documents, it is hopeful to find out the laws of the applied divergence and convergence of the negative adverbs and the development and change intrigued by the above divergence and convergence.The analysis in the dissertation adopts the method advocated in the Three-Level Theory, which suggests carrying out the research in terms of the three levels of Grammar, Semantics and Pragmatics. Three-level Theory has acquired great success in studying verbs, but to adopt the theory in studying adverbs is still a new field. At present, more and more attention has been paid to the Three-level Theory, and we are also making some attempts in this aspect with the hope of exploring some new methods to study the negative adverbs.This dissertation consists of four chapters.Chapter One Compare the two negative adverbs of "bu" and "fu" in the aspects of Grammar. Three problems are involved in this chapter, i.e. 1) the problem of whether the verbs modified by "bu" and "fu" can be followed by objects, 2) the problem of whether the pronoun object can be placed before the verb in the sentence with "bu" and"fu" in, and 3) the problem concerning the combining capacity of "bu" and "fu" with the various predicates and the classifications of diverse words.Chapter Two Compare the two negative adverbs in the aspect of Semantics. In this chapter, the semantic relationship between "bu" and "fu" is explicated through aspects of both theory and practice, and the other manifesting forms of "bu" concerning Semantics are also being discussed.Chapter Three Compare the two negative adverbs in the aspect of Pragmatics. The paper, in this chapter, will analyze the characteristics of the content, identity and status included in the subjects of the sentence with "bu" and "fu" in during different periods and the differentiation of the manifesting significance of "bu" and "fu".Chapter Four In this chapter, the paper will analyze the divergent and convergent problem of "bu" and "fu" and seek for the number-decreasing reason of the negative adverbs in "Shanggu" Chinese and its influence on the Chinese development and change.Through the above research and analysis, we can draw the following conclusion,1. From the aspect of Grammar, the applications of "bu" and "fu" during the period of Inscriptions on the Bones and Tortoise Shells and the Inscription on the Metal were still in a state of confusion. In the early period of the legendary documents of Pre-Qin, as exemplified in "Shang Shu", the applications of "bu" and "fu" still inherited the characteristics occurring in the period of Inscriptions on the Bones and the Tortoise Shells and this phenomenon can be clearly manifested with the existence of large number of "fu" sentences in which the verbs modified by "fu" are followed by objects, which is dramatically different from those sentences in the legendary documents. With the development of language, "bu" has been more and more active in application, while the application of fu" is becoming narrower and narrower,...