Grammaticalization Process Inspection, The Suffix "head"

According to the grammaticalization theory, the paper gives acomprehensive study of the suffix "Tou"'s grammaticalization process,reveals its hierarchy and analyzes its mechanism.The paper is divided into five parts.The first part is an introduction, it mainly introduces the resultsof grammaticalization research, its usage in the research to ancientChinese, the present condition of the research to the suffix "Tou", thevalue of the research and the theories and methods of this paper.The second part gives the outline of "Tou"'s grammaticalizationprocess, describes "Tou"'s usage and characteristics based on semanticsand syntax in Pre-Qin, Han, Wei, Tang and the Five Dynasties. "Tou" wasused as a suffix in east Han Dynasty and gained rapid development inTang and the Five Dynasties. The "Tou" can be used as the suffix of verband adverb, it also can be put after adjectives to indicate places, thingsand truth.The third part describes the development of the suffix "Tou" after theSong Dynasty, its main usage after the Song Dynasty: 1, attached toadjectives indicating people; 2 used after verbs constituting abstractnouns.The fourth part analyzes the grammaticalization mechanisms ofthe suffix "Tou", including metaphor, generalization, grammar changesand context.The fifth part is the discussion of some correlative problems, itmainly discusses the eras of some specific "Tou"s when they firstappeared and the nature of "Tou" in some words. We think "tou" of "zuotou" "xuan tou" as the suffix of noun, "tou" of "chang tou" "jing tou""zheng tou" as the suffix of adverb.