The Study Of Chinese Locative Terms "Qian/hou/li/wai"

In terms of locative terms, chinese grammar school sector has studied thoroughly in sybchronic, but to locative origin, semantic change and mechanism of semantic change are insufficient. This thesis has selected two pairs of the word"qian– hou","li– wai"to study from the pre-Qin period to the Ming and Qing Dynasties period. We sort out the combination situation of"qian– hou","li– wai"with the noun and their semantic and grammatical function in various periods. We also summarize their semantic change paths and the syntax evolution ways. The grammaticalization degree of"qian–hou","li– wai"have been comparised, also involve their some asymmetrical usage.This thesis is divided into four parts. The first part is an introduction, has pointed out the locative research's present situation and the basis of topic selection. The second and third parts are main bodies, there are origins, semantic changes, syntax evolution and mechanisms of semantic change of"qian–hou","li–wai"in various periods, involve asymmetrical usages of them. The fourth part is a conclusion.In this thesis, we think the sources of"qian– hou"are the motional situation verb, but the origins of"li– wai"are the entity noun, they have all evolved into locative nouns, and in the Liuchao period into postposition, but their grammaticalization's degree is different. The grammaticalization degree of"hou"is higher than the"qian", and the"qian"in ancient Chinese tends to use in the space domain,"hou"is more inclined to use in the time domain. The grammaticalization degree of"li"is higher than the"wai". This research contributes to a better understanding of the locative terms's evolution, has deepened the problems of space understanding.