A Study On The Pronouns

Hua Yue Hen--a Chinese vernacular fiction-- was finished in the reign of Xian Feng, Qing Dynasty. With its euphemistic plot, innovative layout and clear writing, this novel has become a masterpiece in the history of Chinese novel. Moreover, it is in the period of modern Chinese fiction, researching its pronouns can help us find the pronoun characteristics of The Times. It is also a fiction in the period of early modern Chinese and a microscope of the times, and our study on its pronouns can help us to know the pronoun features of that time. At present, much of the research is centered on its literature, finishing time and the author’s life with few study on its language. We take pronouns in Hua Yue Hen as our research subjects in order to get a better understanding of its usage and features.According to the researches and corpus-based approaches to Hua Yue Hen, pronouns of this novel can be divided into three categories: personal pronoun, demonstrative pronoun and interrogative pronoun. Personal pronoun is mainly divided into six categories: the first personal pronoun, the second personal pronoun, the third person pronoun, reflexive pronouns, beside the referral pronouns as well as general pronouns. The first person pronoun "I" and "we" have the highest frequency in the first personal pronoun which can serve as a variety of grammatical components. The second pronoun “you” is the main second pronoun, “ru(汝)” and “er(尔)”(equal to thou)are used very fewer because they are ancient Chinese. The third pronoun is mainly “he” and “they”. When it comes to the Reflexive pronouns, “itself” and “themselves” are used frequently in this novel. referral pronouns of the highest frequency is "others", other one, etc. General pronouns of the most used is "people" "everyone".Demonstrative pronoun is divided into proximal demonstrative pronoun and far demonstrative pronoun.Proximal demonstrative pronoun is mainly refers to the“this””these”,they can not only be used alone,but also can be used in the combining with others,such as“zheban(这般),“zhezhong(这种),“zheyang(这样)”and so on.In far pronoun,“these”appears frequently.Based on the analysis(of)on the demonstrative pronouns in Hua Yue Hen,we found that“this(these)”and“that(those)”has(have)been widely used and(has)have become the main form of demonstrative pronoun.Interrogative pronouns in this novel can be divided into seven categories:“what”,“where”,“shen(甚)”(“what“in old English),“how”,“who”,“how many”,and“ji(几)”(usually refers to quantity).In those interrogative pronouns,“what”,“where”and“who”are widely used as the main interrogative pronouns.on the analysis of the pronouns of Hua Yue Hen we found that the system of the novel has taken the outline of modern Chinese pronoun system.Some pronouns were much like those used in modern Chinese.This novel was finished in XianFeng,the transition period of language,so its pronoun has taken characteristics both of early modern Chinese and modern Chinese.According to the study of its pronouns,we found that the pronouns of this novel have several characteristics:developmental promotability and distinctive local characteristics.It is obvious to see its continuity from some usage of ancient Chinese pronouns in certain scopes in Hua Yue Hen,such as“I”,"you”,“wobei(我辈)”(refers to“we”in ancient Chinese),“rumen(汝们)”(refers to plural“you”in ancient Chinese).And its promotability shows in"I”“we”“you”and other words which are widely used nowadays.Distinct local characteristic reflected on the language of Hua Yue Hen has characteristics of Fujian,has obvious regional.based on the author’s life experience in Shanxi as a Fujian native.