The Evolution Of "Miss" In Lexicalism And Semantics And Its Causes

This paper discusses the diachronic process of “xiaojie(小姐)”, especially in the term of both mophology and sementics with the help of the historical documents, dialectal materials of the modern Chinese, and semantic evolution.Firstly, it explained that “jie”(姐) was used to name all female’s kinship terms in ancient civilizations of China,supported by kinds of materials inculding the historical and cultural knowledge of prehistory,the Chinese Paleography and old Chinese phonology. Then the reference is narrowed to older sisters,with the system of ethics in human society established.Secondly,the “xiaojie(小姐)” took place the change from the composite structure of the morphological word to the solidification structure of lexical words.That is, the process is a change from the semantically transparent, predictable situation to the opaque, irregular, specific semantics. We have resconstructed a sementical unit “xiaojie A(小姐 A)”,which means the last old sister in a common family,according to kinds of dialectal materials in modern China and the regurity of semantical change in language.Then the reference was narrowed to unmarried females in the noble and rich family.The servants based on their’s standing and perspective often express their respect to their hosts who were the reference of “xiaojie B(小姐B)”.With the high frequence use in this conversational context,this evaluative about respect would be internalized to a sememe and changed the “xiaojie A(小姐 A)”. Then generalizion of the semantics of “xiaojie B(小姐 B)”,its referance have broaden to all unmarried females and maintained the respect included in “xiaojie B(小姐B)”,and the“xiaojie C(小姐 C)” have arisen. The the“xiaojie C(小姐 C)” have divided into two semantical unit:[-xiaojie a]([-小姐 a]) and [-xiaojie b]([-小姐 b])(i.e.“小姐E”),both of which are used to morphome but words.At the same time,the“xiaojie C(小姐 C)” derived from the “xiaojie C(小姐 C)” and the [-xiaojie a]([-小姐a]),which contributed through some morphological pattern involved in “xiaojie”.