An Investigation On "X₁X₂+de" In Mandarin

The pattern"X₁X₂+de"is of frequent use in modern Chinese. This paper tries to describe this grammar phenomenon and explain why it is unique to Chinese. It is presented in 6 parts. The first part is the introduction and the last is conclusion. The focus of the paper is laid on the four middle parts which will be introduced as follow:Firstly, this paper gives a deep description on"X₁X₂+de"at three levels of semantic, grammar and pragmatics. This part sums up the features and laws of"X₁X₂+de"pattern and analyzes"X₁X₂+de"pattern from not only combinatorial laws of structure types, semantic features, tones order and meaning order, but syntactic and pragmatic function.Secondly, according to the diachronic arrangement and analysis on the corpus from Yuan Dynasty to 1940s'China, two conclusions can be drawn: One is the development of the structure characteristic of"X₁X₂+de"pattern experiences a dynamic and contrary process. The other one is"X₁X₂+de"pattern has a tendency of becoming state adjective which have similarities in syntactic functions and semantic features.Thirdly, this part gives a way under a typological perspective to find the true reasons of the particular phenomenon in Chinese.Finally, having conducted a thorough exploration on"X₁X₂+de", this paper shows a practical study based on five sets of textbooks of teaching Chinese as a foreign language which are still popular now. As it is found that there are some problems in these books, we presented suggestions on textbook compilation and classroom teachings.