The Semantic Error Analysis On The Proposition “Zai” And Other Related Prepositions

The preposition "Zai" ranks as the first-class word in National Syllabus of Graded Words and Characters for Chinese Proficiency,which is the required vocabulary for the primary Chinese learners and has the high-using frequency in Chinese,indicating the occurring place(including the abstract scope),time,condition,and the behavior subject of an action.Therefore,it has many similarities and differences in meaning and usage with other related prepositions.In addition,"Zai" is a multi-category word in Chinese,which can be used as a preposition,verb,and adverb.Consequently,the proposition "Zai" is not only a big difficulty for native speakers but also become the hinder for second language acquisition.It is common to occur errors in the process of using,especially the semantic errors with other related propositions.Therefore,the semantic errors on "Zai" and other related propositions have no doubt become the key points and difficult points both for learners and teachers.Based upon the semantic errors on "Zai" in HSK Dynamic Composition Corpus of Beijing Language and Culture University,this dissertation focuses on the semantic errors on the preposition "Zai" and other related prepositions by eliminating its semantic errors on verb and adverb.Employing both quantitative and qualitative approaches,this study is trying to classify the semantic errors on the preposition "Zai" and other related prepositions,find out the potential reasons and accordingly come up with suggestions.First,the study starts with the syntax,semantics,and usage of the preposition "Zai",providing supporting usage rules for the semantic errors analysis on HSK Dynamic Composition Corpus.Second,the author confines the research scope to the semantic errors after categorizing the errors on "Zai" in syntax,semantics,and usage.The author then categorizes the semantic errors into different types and analyze the corpus with quantitative and qualitative methods.Third,the author generalizes the potential reasons into three types:(1)the misuse of the preposition "Zai" and other prepositions with similar meanings;(2)the excessive analogy;(3)mother tongue interference.Last,the author proposes suggestions and strategies correspondingly.As for teachers,they should try to summarize the usage rules of the preposition "Zai" from the similarities and come up with strategies from distinguishing the differences with other related prepositions.As for learners,they should get familiar with the usage rules of the preposition "Zai" through the semantic relations and conduct analogy exercises through the semantic differences with other related prepositions.