A Study On The Semantic System Of "X+Li/Zhong/Nei"

In modern Chinese, "Ii, "zhong" and "nei" are a group of common orientation words. Their basic meaning, "inner, inside of, shows the spatial conception which is important for human being's cognition. This basic meaning also evolves into many other complex meanings. However, it is a pity that there are not a lot of studies on these there words.Based on the achievement of previous studies and an investigation on a great deal of examples, this paper involves a research on the meanings of the combination of "li, zhong, nei" with other words or phrases ("X+ li / zhong / nei "). It describes and analyses the compatibility and distinctions of "X+ li / zhong / nei" in detail. And this paper also gives a cognitive explanation to the semantic system of "X+ li / zhong / nei" with the theories of cognitive linguistics.The chapter one explains the motives and objects of this study and sums up the related achievement of previous researches, and also tells the theories and methods we used in this paper and the example sources.In the chapter two, we do a research on the basic concrete meaning of "X+ li / zhong / nei" which show the spatial conception. We classify this basic meaning into more specific items and do a summary at the end.On the basic of chapter two, the chapter three discovers and systematizes the extended meanings of "X+ li / zhong / nei" and the usage of "li", "zhong" and"nei".The forth chapter compares "li", "zhong", "nei" with "wai", studies and explains their asymmetrical distribution.In the last chapter, we work out the extending levels of the meanings of "X+ li / zhong / nei", and give a cognitive explanation to the compatibility of "li", "zhong" and "nei". This conclusion will be helpful to do more comprehensive researches on these three orientation words in future.