The Comparative Study Of Measure Word "Mei" In Chinese And Japanese

The usage of measure words are commonly shared by both Chinese and Japanese. The application in the two languages has dissimilarities as well as similarities. The Japanese word "mei" derived from Chinese. While it is similar with Chinese in form, it is used differently more or less in applications and grammatical functions. Although there are many comparative studies of measure words in Chinese and Japanese, few of them involve "mei". This thesis deals with the related study, analyzing the relationship and differences in the usage of the measure word "mei" in the two languages.In Chinese, the measure word "mei" derived from the noun form usage. It is speculated that it is used as a measure word since Qin Dynasty, and used widely from Han Dynasty. "mei" was general for a long time and shrank since modern times. In modern Chinese, "mei" was only used before such long and thin things as "needle" and "rocket". With the cultural communication in Sui and Tang Dynasty, "mei" was introduced into Japan and used as a classifier. From the research into the materials in ancient, medieval and modern Japan, it can be concluded that the extensive use of "mei" is influenced by Chinese culture. In modern Japanese, it refers to flat things and used more broadly than in Chinese. On the other hand, although "mei" was not so widely used as before, some retro indication emerges as it refers to "human" and "abstract nouns" in modern Chinese.From the aspect of conjunctional function, "mei" can be used together with numerals both in Chinese and Japanese as a fundamental function, and the collocation of "mei" in Chinese are more than it in Japanese. Besides, "mei" can be followed by pronouns and adjectives indicating degrees in Chinese, while it cannot be followed by such words in Japanese. It should be used other ways to express the similar meanings. In a word, measure words are end of words and dependent in Japanese, while they are independent and conjunctional in Chinese.In addition, from the aspect of added significance, treasure word "mei" is colorful both in Chinese and Japanese. The thesis discusses the point from three respects:image color, style color and emotional coloring. Chinese word "mei" mainly measures long and thin or small and round things on the image color side, while the equivalent Japanese word refers to flat and thin things. Style color falls into two categories: written and oral style. "mei" used more in written Chinese and less in oral Chinese, and the circumstance is quite the contrary in Japanese. Emotional color involves contempt, seriousness, and hatred. "mei" are not so colorful in Japanese than in Chinese.In summary, this thesis makes a comparison of the origin, usage, added significance and the connection between two "mei" in Chinese and Japanese, and studies its development path. In the comparative study, the dissimilarities and similarities of this measure word are clear.