A Study Of Li Words Of Modern Mandarin Dictionary

The li words are one type of Chinese slang words which are mainly used to scold people or put down people. Usually they are regarded as too dirty to be used in serious circumstances. But they are so frequently used that we feel it necessary to do some researches on them.With reference to the marked li words in the Modern Mandarin Dictionary, 2002 edition, this paper tries to gather up the basic features of the li words from their syllable structures, acceptation structures and internal structures. In syllable aspect, the polysyllable words are dominant. For example, the disyllable words are more than 22 times of the monosyllable words. In acceptation aspects, the multivocal words are less than monovocal words. And in internal structure aspect, the compositive words are much more than the single words. This paper also compared the li words with the derogatory terms and scolding words, trying to tell their correlativity and their differences. And at last, the paper contributed to give an explanation why there are so many dog related animal li words.