Modern Chinese "super" Multi-angle Study

In modern Chinese,"chao" can express rich meanings and complex usages. In this thesis, we use of the combination of description and explanation, induction and deduction, quantitative analysis of statistical and qualitative, grammaticalization and synchronic comparison and the combination of internal and external language interpretation and other methods of research, to study "chao" from multiple perspectives.This thesis is divided into six parts:The introduction elucidates the significance of this selected topic and the research achievements of the predecessors. Briefly introduce the main contents and data sources of the whole thesis.The first chapter analyzes the grammaticalzation of "chao". From the aspect of meanings, on the basis of statistical analysis the usage of "chao" in ancient Chinese and describe the main meanings and usages in detail, we try to tease out the diachronic semantic evolution of "chao". From the aspect of structure,"chao" initially be a verb in the predicate-object structures, showing the adjective part-of-speech and constituting joint structures by reanalysis and semantic focus shift. The adjective "chao" constitutes joint structures of phrases, showing the adverb of degree part-of-speech and constituting adverbial-verb phrases by semantic focus shift once again. On the other hand,"chao" shows the adverb of degree part-of-speech in some predicate-object structures constituted of the verb "chao" by reanalysis, and then constitutes adverbial-verb phrases. Considering the factors of frequency of use, we put forward that "chao" being an adverb of degree is a new phenomenon during the development of contemporary languages. The time it finished its grammaticalzation is after the beginning of the new century.The second chapter describes the grammatical functions of "chao" in modern Chinese. According to the lexical component as the actual use belongs to different levels in vocabulary system,"chao" will be divided into two categories, four kinds of situations, separately elaborated.Used alone as a word,"chao" is divided into verbs and adverbs of degree. Through the collection, collation of the corpus, we analyze the situations when "chao" is used as a verb with objects, attached auxiliary words or modified by adverbs. As an emerging adverb of degree, the ability of "chao" to modify adjectives, verbs and nouns, and the types and features of the modified words will be explained in detail. As a morpheme in word formation,"chao" is divided into etymons and affixes. Through analysing the words formed with "chao" in modern Chinese, we further classify the situation of it forming new words as etymons and affixes from the perspective of meaning, and analyze the characteristics of "chao" as affixes.The third chapter compares some words which are similar in meanings and usages with "chao". By synchronically comparing "chao" with "chaoji", the typical adverbs of degree (take "hen" as an example) and other emerging adverbs of degree (take "bao, ju, kuang. qi" as examples), find the similarities and differences of them in meanings and usages to stress the characteristics of "chao" in modern Chinese.The fourth chapter explores the influential factors of the emerging usages of "chao". From the point of view of language, the language communication, language attrition and renewal, analogy mechanism and economic principles promote the emerging usages of "chao". From the point of view of language environment, social developments provide dynamic conditions for the emerging usages of "chao". Media promotion provides the communication platform for its extension. Users’psychology of seeking novelty provides the psychological platform.In the epilogue, the main conclusion of this paper will be summarized and the deficiencies will be put forward.