On The Negative Adverbs Wu (勿) And Wu (毋) In The Pre-qin Chinese

The research of the negative adverbs mainly focused on their origins and their applications and less emphasis was laid on their evolution in the history. Study on dynasties is one of the element task in history of Chinese language, the research of the language features of the negative adverbs "Wu(勿)'"and "Wu(毋)" in Pre-Qin Period, has produced a certain amount of monographs and papers, but they did not carry out exhaustive work on the representation type of statistical analysis, and did not objectively reflect the facts of language and their development. So to 26 important documents in pre-Qin period as the research object, this paper will be based on the results of previous studies. According to the three-dimensional theory about grammatical functions, semantic features and pragmatic functions, we will investigate the relevance of negative adverbs "Wu(勿)"and "Wu(毋)'", and then make a comparative analysis, attempt to explore the development and evolution of the negative adverbs "Wu(勿)" and "Wu(毋)" in pre-Qin period. At last, we want to explore the overview of the pre-Qin period of negative adverbs "Wu(勿)" and "Wu(毋)" in general.This dissertation consists of six chapters.Chapter One The paper, in this chapter, will examine and analyze the distribution of the negative adverb "Wu(勿)" and "Wu(毋)'"in Pre-Qin Period, then Describe their usage. The conclusion is that "Wu(勿)" is more common than "Wu(毋)".Chapter two Compare the two negative adverbs of "Wu(勿)" and "Wu(毋)" in the aspects of Grammar this chapter will investigate the binding capacity of "Wu(勿)" and "Wu(毋)" with many kinds of predicate, and this is the conclusion. They used verb-predictive sentences more than adjective-predictive sentences and noun-predictive sentences. In verb-predictive sentences, The largest number of them could be modified transitive verbs, and a very small number of them could be modified intransitive verbs. Most of the transitive verbs modified by " Wu(勿)" could not be followed by objects, and less can be followed; However most of the transitive verbs modified by "Wu(毋)" could be followed by objects. Both of their objects were nouns or noun phrase as the center in the majority. The preceded object was a form of objects of "Wu(毋)". Both of them were dominated by Shi victim statements when they were in the subject clause. They were different from each other in the aspects of Grammar.Chapter three Compare the two negative adverbs in the aspect of Semantics. "Wu(勿)" and "Wu(毋)" were said to prohibit at most, they also could be expressed as a general negative sometimes; at the same time, the other senses of them were also discussed in this chapter.Chapter four Compare the two negative adverbs in the aspect of Pragmatics. The paper, in this chapter, Investigate the types of the subject clauses and the expression results respectively. Their subjects were very rich in content. The differentiation of "Wu(勿)" and "Wu(毋)" in choosing subjects was that, the subject clauses of "Wu(勿)" were more common than "Wu(毋)" and were used to indicate a higher level normally. To provide the latest news, "Wu(毋)" mainly used in the starting sentence. Besides, "Wu(毋)" usually used at regulations and institutions so that it had a very serious tone. Chapter five Explore the problem the meaning of "Wu(勿)" was the accumulation of the meanings of "Wu(毋)" and "zhi(之)". The traditional linguists had believed that the meaning of "Wu(勿)" was the accumulation of the meanings of "Wu(毋)" and "zhi(之)". This conclusion, however, could not hold the standing form both theory and linguistic practice.Chapter six Sum up the contents of the previous. this chapter will describe the development and evolution in pre-Qin period, raise some remaining questions and point out some inadequacies in the article.