Research Of Demonstrative Pronouns Of Er'nv Yingxiong Zhuan

The Ming and Qing Dynasties is the later period of modern Chinese,and it is also a crucial stage of transition from modern Chinese to contemporary Chinese.Chinese pronoun system embraced full development during that time,especially the demonstrative pronouns which were becoming more and more various,and their function got all the more mature.Nearly all of the demonstrative pronouns of the contemporary Chinese might be traced in that period of time.In this thesis,we are trying to reveal the deictic function and the substitute function of the demonstrative pronouns Zhe(è¿™) and Na(é‚£),by employing case study of the novel Er'nv Yingxiong Zhuan(The Heroic Lady named Shi San Mei) as research material,which was written in the Peking dialect during the middle period of the Qing Dynasty.With the description and analysis of all kinds of Zhe and Na in the novel and by using the theories of grammaticalization and cognitive linguistics,we try to reveal and explain the unique function and usage in the process of development of the demonstrative pronouns during the last period of modern Chinese.This thesis is composed of four chapters:Chapterâ… :Exordium.Based on the summary of recent researches and productions,we put forward the main purpose of our research,which is to describe the developing and grammaticalization process of Zhe and Na in the last period of modern Chinese by using the analysis of Zhe/Na and other compound formations, grammaticalization and theories of cognitive linguistics are used as well.Chapterâ…¡:Describe and analyze the deictic function of demonstrative pronouns Zhe/Na.In the first two sections of this chapter,we are trying to discuss the demonstrative pronouns Zhe/Na used to modify both nouns and verbs.In the third section,we are going to analyze the structure which the modifier and the core words are referring to the same.The last section is on the ambiguous deictic function. Chapterâ…¢:Mainly discuss the substitute function of Zhe/Na,including special usage when referring to people,circs,things and time;special function when referring to former topics;special semantic meanings of place substitute pronouns.As referring to the ambiguous usages,we use the theory of grammaticalization as explaining foundation.Chapterâ…£:Discuss the structure of Zhe/Na+Ban/Fang/Deng and Zhe'me/ Na'me+(X).We find that the second form is becoming much more popular and finally replaces the former structure,and Zhe'me/Na'me have been changed from demonstrative pronouns to conjunctions.Based on the four chapters,we could find out the particular usage of the demonstrative pronouns of Peking dialect,which reveals the flexibility of the function words and the differences between different dialects even in the same region.