A Comparative Study Of Modal Particles In Mencius And Zhuangzi

Mencius and Chuang Tzu are both special books in pre Qin. They played a very important role,whether in the history of ideas or in the history of prose. Mencius is famous for magnificent, Chuang Tzu is reputated by eligible.The modal words play an important role.In the terms of modal words.They both have common places and differences.The modal words in the beginning of the sentence,It appears 6 modal words in Mencius. "fu","wei", "wei", "shi", "zai", "yuan". It appears 2 modal words in Chuang Tzu. "fu", "wei".There are huge differences between"wei","wei","wei"and"yuan","zai","shi".The reason is related to the quotations and dialect. Moreover, There is a new structure appears in Chuang Tzu.Adjective with "fu ",a Combination called "beifu". It represents an upset structure.The modal words in the middle of the sentence. It appears 2 modal words in Mencius. "ye","hu". It appears 5 modal words in Chuang Tzu. "ye","yan","ye","xi","hu".There is a huge difference in syntax. E.g Two-syllable noun plus "ye",It is a transition product.The modal words in the end of the sentence. In Mencius and Chuang Tzu,It appears "ye","yi","yi","er","yan","er"in declarative sentence. It appears"hu","yu","ye" in interrogative sentence.It appears"zai","fu", "xi" in exclamatory sentence. Totally 12. By statistics and analysis, discovering that the Modal words in the end of the sentence in Mencius and Chuang Tzu frequency is 3.49%. This illustrates the modal wods is relatively stable in the system, But it still have a greater difference in frequency. Such as "ye", it appears large numbers modal words in Chuang Tzu.In the conjunction of modal words. "yiyi","yihu","yezai","huzai","yifu","eryi","eryi". Both appear in Mencius and Chuang Tzu. "yehu")"yihu","yuner","yeyiyi","yaneryi" only appear in Mencius. "yeye","yiye","yizai","yefu" only appear in Chuang Tzu. By comparison, "yuner" is an evolving structure.It transforms "yue...yun" from "yue...yuner" to"yuner".The differences in the use of modal words in Mencius and Chuang Tzu. Both the era style, exotic style are important reasons. But personal style is the dominant factor. Modal words and language style react each other, modal words can enhance mood, aggravated argument color, constitute parallelism, dual, formating antithesis, and enhancing a sense of rhythm. Simultaneously,Personal style, cultural factors also affect the tone of the word,such as in Mencius"yu"reflects the hierarchy relationship.,because of Confucianism.