Study On Numeral Idioms

Studies on idioms started very early, however, it was relatively late that researchers began to pay attention to the smaller amount of numeral idioms which virtually are an important part of idioms. Numeral idioms account for almost 6 percent in all the idioms embodied in the Idiom Dictionary, but it is worth analyzing their characteristics. Numeral idioms are always featured as practical, interesting idioms and are widely used.The study makes a reference to the 200 edition of the Idiom Dictionary published by Commercial Press, from which it sorts out numeral idioms. With the electronic version of"Chinese Idiom Dictionary", the study analyzes the phonetic sound, syntax, semantic meaning and pragmatic of numeral idioms. The author consults body of materials and comprehensively applies statistical method, analytical method, analysis by synthesis method to finish the thesis.The thesis consists of six parts. The first one is introduction, in which the author analyzes the current situation of the studies on numeral idioms, expounds the significance to choose this subject and delimits the scope of the study. The second part is the analysis of the features of numeral idioms'phonetic sound, which lays a foundation for the further analysis of their grammatical, semantic features, etc.. In part three, the author depicts the grammatical structure, meaning and functions of numeral idioms and this part ends up concluding the features of ancient Chinese reflected in numeral idioms. The forth part unlocks the secret of numeral idioms through studying their semantic features.The fifth part is the categories of semantic meaning, meaning of numbers in numeral idioms and their meanings in ancient Chinese. The sixth part is discussing the use of numeral idioms in which the author analyzes the use and the development of numeral idioms and summarizes their rhetorical devices and uniqueness. In the last part, the author makes a summary of the whole thesis and sums up its achievements and insufficiency.