A Study On The Lexicalization Of "Ran-family" Phrases

Ran-family phrases form quite a large system, whether in ancient Chinese or modern Chinese. The process of its development and evolvement has attracted many scholars' attention, which mainly focus on the analysis of the grammatical functions of conjunctions with a prefix of ran and the synchronic studies on the formation of ran as a suffix in phrases with a patter of "X-Ran". Until now, almost no scholars have made specific synchronic studies on the lexicalization of Ran-X patterned phrases or systematic studies on the process of lexicalization of X-Ran patterned phrases. In this thesis, we research into the lexicalization process of ran-family phrases in Chinese from the aspects of syntax and semantics, and put forward some views different from former scholars'. The whole thesis consists of three parts.The first part, namely Chapter One, is an introduction. It presents some related theories on dipartite principles of phrases and words, grammaticalization and lexicalization; and the status quo concerned with Ran. In addition, we talks about the values and aims of the study.Part 2 is the body of the thesis, composed of Chapters 2, 3 and 4. In Chapter Two, the semantic and grammatical forms of the demostrative pronoun Ran are analyzed and the derivative process of the demosstrative pronoun Ran is reviewed. Furthermore, we probe into its different grammatical functions and the phenomenon of grammaticalization into conjunctives and suffix. Chapter Three discusses the lexicalizational process of the Ran-X patterned phrases, primarily analyzing Ranhou, Ranqie, Ranyou, Ran'er, Ranze, Rangu, etc and unveils the effect of the semantic and syntactic structures on the grammaticalization of this kind of phrases. In this chapter, we indicate the lexicalization of Ran-X patterned phrases is chiefly influenced by the semantical context. When two cor-ordinate clauses don't depend on each other closely, Ran will turn to be a functional word, combined with the following adverb or conjunctive to become a double-syllable conjunctive. On the contrary, when the When two co-ordinate clauses depend on each other closely,Ran activates the topic and is not easy to be functionalized, so it is not easy for it to form a double-syllable conjunctive with the folloing adverb or conjunctive. Chapter Four reviews the grammatical process of X-Ran patterned phrases, analyzing roundly the different ways of formation of adjectives, adverbs and conjunctives with a suffix of Ran. We propose that some of Ran as an adjective suffix are functionalized from the affix Ran, and the other are lexicalized into double-syllable adjectives from the phrases formed by auxiliaries, adverbs or pronouns and demonstrative pronoun Ran, Ran functionalized into an adjective suffix; some of Ran as an adverb suffix derive from adjective suffix Ran grammaticalized into adverb, and the other derive from the phrases of the combination of adverbs and the demonstrative pronoun Ran, lexicalized into double-syllable adverbs, the demonstrative pronoun Ran functionalized into an adverb suffix; A conjunctive Ran also comes from two similar ways: some grammaticalized into conjunctives, and the others functionalized.The third part is a conclusion, principally analyzing the inevitability of the Ran-family phrases' grammaticalization, according to the tendency of double-syllablization of Chinese language. We also point out the similarities and individualities of the Ran-family phrases in their lexicalization process. Moreover, we put forward the idea of common grammaticalization of demonstrative pronouns and the lexicalizational phenomena that they can combined with other words.