The Clause Grammaticalization Path Of "V Qilai"

This thesis, with an application of the clause grammaticalization theory, is studying the phrase "V qilai" from a perspective of clause grammaticalization. It divides into the next several steps:Firstly, make a general introduction to the theory of clause grammaticalization, following a review to the existing studies. Based on these theories, introduce the clause grammaticalization path of "V qilai" following the grammaticalization path of "qilai", at the end of which, it had became an empty word.Secondly, analyze synchronic sentences containing "V qilai", and divide them into five different levels, based on the clause grammaticalization theory. A brief description then was given to each level, and the declaration was made that, the lexical meanings of "qilai" in all these sentences are only its three basic meanings. An explanation followed, about the probably existing relationships between each level and the three basic meanings: sentences belonging to higher levels are with higher ratio to have the initial meaning.Thirdly, we analyze diachronic corpus, and next discoveries are made: the frequency of "V qilai" emerging in the middle of a sentence kept increasing, during the diachronic course; "V qilai" belonging to lower level came out earlier, and higher level, later; Within the same level, new characteristics of sentences appeared when entering a new age, thus the sentence pattern becoming more and more varied, which often indicated a beginning of the next level.At the end, a conclusion was made to the previous study.