The Research Of Cantonese Universal Quantifier "Kanfenglang" In Multiple Perspectives

This thesis, taking the Cantonese universal quantifier “Kanfenglang”(冚唪唥) as theresearch object, studies the characteristics on the aspects of semantic, syntactic, pragmatic andthe usage change based on the foundation of the previous studies.We have some conclusions as following:1） The semantic aspect. Being a universal,“Kanfenglang”(冚唪唥) can both sum up thedomain of quantification and the number of them. With a contrast with its correspondentadverbs in Mandarin “Quan”（全）,“Quanbu”（全部）and “Tongtong”（统统）, we learnthat there is no equivalent adverb of “Kanfenglang”(冚唪唥) in Mandarin. The focus ofthe semantic is that it refers the maximum quantitative and none is missed. In addition, onthe aspect of semantic orientation, it can refer to the former as well as the lattercomponents of the sentence.2） The syntactic aspect.“Kanfenglang”(冚唪唥) requires the quantitative object to beuniversal, identifiable with space image. The verb phrase should be able to segment thequantitative object and verbs or adjectives need to be bounded. Besides,“Kanfenglang”(冚唪唥) is a quantitative term and it can only collocate with negativewords indicating complete negation.3） The pragmatic aspect. The tone of "Kanfenglang"（冚唪唥）is intense, commonly usedin the affirmative imperative sentences, exclamatory sentences and statements.4） The usage change aspect. The using frequency of "Kanfenglang"（冚唪唥）is decreasingand it is displaced by “Quanbu”（全部）. This because the influence of the lingua francaand the principle of economy of language.