Mechanisms Of Meaning Extension Of The Chinese Modal Verbs: Neng (能), Hui (会)

Modal verbs are one of the most attractive grammatical components that attract many linguists'attention. Most of the modal verbs are polysemous. One modal verb can be used to express different kinds of modal meanings. Based on the other linguists'achievements, this study tries to do researches on the meaning extension of different uses of Chinese modal verbs-Neng and Hui.First, I probe into some data diachronically and try to find the uses of these two modal verbs in several dynasties, such as Zhou Dynasty, Qin Dynasty, Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty etc. From the different uses or the co-existed uses of each modal verb, I make a conclusion about the developmental order of each sub-sense of Neng and Hui. And in fact, there are many linguists have done a lot of researches on the developmental order of the modal verbs especially for English modal verbs, such as Bybee, Sweetser and so on. And my conclusion is also based on their achievements on this regard. The order is: verb use→ability use (weak deontic modality)→deontic modality→epistemic modality. My finding is not the exception of the other linguists'findings.Second, based on the developmental order, we study on some contemporary data synchronically. In this part, I find the network of the uses of Neng and Hui. The sub-senses co-exist with each other. And I give a detailed description and classification of each use of these two modal verbs from the cognitive point of view.Third, based on the above two points, I study the relation among these sub-senses, having intention of finding the mechanisms for the senses'development. From other related researches,we know metaphor and metonymy are the main mechanisms for the semantic change. In this part, I adopt these two mechanisms to explain the course of semantic change among the sub-senses of each modal verb.Fourth, mechanisms are like the tool for people to make the semantic change. So in the last part, I find the motivation which triggers the semantic change of the two modal verbs. Subjectificatin is the motivation for the semantic change, especially from the deontic use to the epistemic use. In this part, I give a detailed description about Langacker and Traugott --- two of the most famous linguists who have made great contribution to subjectification. And based on their achievements on this respect, I will study how the subjectification functions in the semantic change of Neng and Hui.