The Study Of Chinese Common Words In The First Half Of The 20th Century

This article aims to study the synchronic appearance and changes of Chinese common words in the first 50 years of the 20 th century.The article uses a combination of qualitative research and quantitative research,case analysis and group cases analysis to explore two issues:First,the overall appearance of 10,000 commonly used words in the first 50 years of the 20 th century.The study finds that monosyllabic words are more frequently used than polysyllabic words in the cumulative frequency,and are used less frequently than polysyllabic words in the low cumulative frequency.The three-syllable words also have a tendency of double-syllable;multi-syllable words have a wide range of word distributions and mostly are new words.Second,through the longitudinal comparison of 10,000 commonly used words in the first 50 years of the 20 th century and 10000 commonly used words in the later 50 years of the 20 th century,the evolution of the former is discussed in the following 4 aspects.The first aspect is the preservation and reentry of common words.The study finds that the inherited rate of commonly used words in modern Chinese is as high as 64.36% for the first 50 years of the 20 th century,the ratio of common words withdrawal was 21.19%,and the rate of disappearance was 13.31%.The total withdrawal rate of the latter two is 34.5%.The second aspect is the evolution of the meaning of commonly used word.The study found that the meaning of commonly used words evolved dramatically in the first 50 years,which has changed from the current situation of use.There are specific meanings and word meanings.Changes,changes in semantic field,changes in semantic center of gravity,etc.;the third aspect is the replacement of common word forms.The study found that reversed words and synonym substitution phenomena were obvious in the first 50 years,and there was a certain substitution pattern.The fourth aspect is the evolution of the common vocabulary of traditional vocabulary and vernacular vocabulary.The study found that there are a large number of traditional vocabulary in the first 50 years of the 20 th century,but the vernacular vocabulary still dominates,accounting for more than 90%.