Study Of The Quasi-fixed Structure“Qian X Hou Y”

In recent years, quasi-fixed structures have become a focus of attention in the studies of the contemporary Chinese grammar, but there have been few comprehensive studies on a locative element of “qian X hou Y”. This paper, of which “qian X hou Y” is the object of study, will for the first time in this field of research divide the format of “qian X hou Y” into four categories and subsequently from the angles of the pattern of the internal components, syntactic function, semantic, pragmatic and conceptual integration examine the similarities and differences between the four categories respectively in order to obtain a more in-depth understanding of the format.The paper is divided into three parts:The first part constitutes an introduction in which the topic basis, research content and scope as well as research findings from the previous studies, theories and methods adopted and corpus sources are introduced so as to clearly point out the theoretical and practical significance of this paper.The second part in divided into four chapters which form the core section of the paper.The first chapter is a synchronic study which describes and analyzes the structural characteristics of the “qian X hou Y” format, focuses on the properties of X and Y, their relationship as well as the format’s choice limits of verbs, nouns and adjectives.The second chapter divides the “qian X hou Y” format into four categories of A,B,C and D on the basis of properties of “qian”and “hou”。In category A “qian”and “hou”are nouns of directions, in category B “qian”and “hou”are adverbs of directions, in category C “qian”and “hou”are distinguishing words, in category D “qian”and “hou”are empty words without the meaning of a direction. Subsequently a detailed examination of their different syntactic functions in a sentence was carried out and preliminary identification of the “qian X hou Y” four categories of the format’s location on the continuum of time dimension parts of speech was determined.The third and fourth chapter further examines these four categories from semantic, pragmatic and conceptual integration points of view. The author believes that the format of the category A mainly refers to spatial or time range, one after another of a linear arrangement of two kinds of things, showing one after another different state or action occurring at the same time with a low degree of integration. The format of the category B emphasizes the movement of forward and backward either expressing repeated or one-time actions with a low degree of integration. The format of the category C is special in the sense that it is only a combination of distinguishing words with the second highest level of integration. The format of the category D emphasizes the extensiveness of space and time as well as repeatability and continuity of actions with a high degree of integration. As far as pragmatics is concerned, the author found out that the“qian X hou Y” format is used in spoken language to make the language concise with vivid images and to strengthen the context with emotional coloring.The third part constitutes the conclusions which summarize the whole paper.