Syntactic And Semantic Features And Discourse Functions Of "Conjunction+ Dehua(的话)"

The empty word has always been the important issue of linguistics.As an important grammatical device of Chinese,it is mainly divided into two categories:relator and auxiliary words.This dissertation will focus on the hard-wiring structure "conjunction+dehua",which is composed of conjunctions and particle "dehua",and explore its syntactic and semantic performances as well as discourse functions.Firstly,we define the property of "conjunction+dehua" and explore its source mechanism.In our view,the "conjunction+dehua" is a cross-layer solidification structure,which has undergone the evolutionary path that from component ellipsis to incomplete blur and then to complete blur.However,its members have different degree of solidification,most of them are in the stage of incomplete blur.Furthermore,three development stages of "conjunction+dehua" are not mutually exclusive but coexist.In addition,the formation of "conjunction+dehua" is mainly influenced by factors such as ellipsis,the economic principle,reanalysis,rhythm,etc.The evolution mechanism is characterized by diversity and complexity.Secondly,we analyze the syntactic distribution and semantic features of"conjunction+dehua" by comparison analysis.In terms of syntactic distribution,"conjunction+dehua" can be distributed in complex sentences or in discourse.When it is located in the complex sentence,it is the same as the conjunction,mainly connecting adjacent clauses,but compared with the conjunction,the "conjunction+dehua" tends to pause and is far away from the concept of guided clauses.The clauses which connect by"conjunction+dehua" are more independent,but have low correlation.When the"conjunction+dehua" is located in the discourse,as with the conjunction,it could connect the adjacent discourse or farther discourse and paragraphs.Nevertheless,it also followed by a pause,and the semantics are more blurred,mainly indicating cohesion and coherence in formally.In terms of semantic features,due to the semantic reduction and the frequency of use,there is an imbalance in the semantic blur among the members of"conjunction+dehua",which is more subjective than the corresponding conjunction.Finally,we analyze the discourse function of "conjunction+dehua" by comparison analysis.Research has shown that the "conjunction+dehua" mainly has discourse organizing and interpersonal interaction functions.The discourse organizing includes:(1)The coherent construction function,"conjunction+dehua" has the function of local coherent construction and macro coherent construction to maintain the cohesion and coherence of discourse.(2)The topic organization function,the topic organization function of "conjunction+dehua" is similar to the discourse organization function of conjunctions which occur semantic reduction.The foregrounding function of"conjunction+dehua" is weak.Besides,some "conjunction+dehua" including parallel and transitional conjunctions can be used for topic holding as well as topic switch.Compared with the corresponding conjunction,the "conjunction+dehua" is mostly used in scattered and disordered spoken texts,and the degree of association between language components is low.The interpersonal interaction function is mainly as follows:(1)The guidance prompt function,the speaker uses the "conjunction+dehua" to prompt the current speech focus,and guide the listener to understand his expression intention.(2)The mitigation function,"conjunction+dehua" makes the expression more euphemistic,intend to close the distance between the two sides of the communication.(3)The stance expression function,the "conjunction+dehua" can assist express the speaker’s subjective evaluation,emotions and attitudes.