On The Lexicalization And Grammaticalization Of "Yao Shuo"

Research on discourse markers is important for the theory of grammaticalization. According to LvShuXiang(1999),"yao shuo"can fall into four categories as follows: "yao shuo1"(verb phrase), "yao shuo2"(hypothetic marker), "yao shuo3"(topic marker) and "yao shuo4"(discourse marker). Through an excentination on the differentiation and semantic evolution track of "yao shuo", we attempt to explore the lexicalization and grammacicalization mechanism of "yao shuo" in syntax, semantic, cognitive and pragmatic terms and analyze the anti-expectation and subjective evaluation functions of "yao shuo" as a discourse marker. The findings from the present research are expected to offer sorce insights into Teching Chinese as a Second Language.There are seven parts in this thesis as follows:The first part reviews the relevant researches on the grammaticalization of "yao shuo" and discourse markers.The structrore of this thesis,the research method and linguistic data resources are also presented in this part as well.The second part is on the differentiation of "yao shuo",with falls into four categories as follows:"yao shuo1"(verb phrase), "yao shuo2"(hypothetic marker), "yao shuo3"(topic marker) and "yao shuo4"(discourse marker). This part also investigate the relation between differentiation of "yao shuo" and the three conceptual domains of acting, knowing and uttering.The semantic evolution track of "yao shuo" is studied in the third part:starting from verb phrase to hypothetic marker, topic marker and finally into discourse marker.The fourth part analyzes the features of lexicalization and grammaticalization of "yao shuo" in syntax, semantic, cognitive and pragmatic terms to explore its mechanism.The fifth part is to account for the functions of anti-expectation,subjective evaluation and textual cohesion for "yao shuo".The sixth part mainly to the application of the research findings from this research Teaching Chinese as a Second Language.It also raises some specific teaching strategies.The last part comes to a conclusion which summarizes the main arguments and research significance.