The Research Of Tense-aspect Category In Chuang-tzu

The tense-aspect category is an important part of grammatical study.In order to get a glimpse of expression of tense-aspect category in the Warring States Period,this thesis chooses Chuang-tzu,a classic of the pre-Qin period,to study.Based on the particularity of ancient Chinese,the thesis adopts generalized definition about tense-aspect category,and recognizes that lexical means is one of the ways of tense-aspect expression,on the premise of which Chuang-tzu is studied.The thesis consists of two parts:tense and aspect.The chapter about expression of tense is divided into subsections according to the difference between single event and multiple events.There are two forms of time location of a single event,one is to provide a reference for the location of the event on the time axis with direct time information,expression methods of which include thirty-seven nouns for time such as“Dan”(?),“Shi”(?),“Jin ri”(??),seven orientation phrases composed of“Zhi hou”(??),“Zhi jian”(??),“Yi lai”(??),four attribute-head phrases with“Shi”(?),“Shi”(?),four conjunctions such as“Jiang”(?),“Qie”(?),“Chang”(?),“Xin”(?),“Fang jiang”(??),“Fang qie”(??)and nine prepositions such as“Zi”(?),“Zai”(?),“Yu”(?),“Dang”(?),“Fang”(?),“Hu”(?),“Nai”(?),“Ji”(?),“Zhi”(?).The other is to provide background for the single event,through which to achieve time location.It's expression methods include“Zi”(?),“Dang”(?),“Fang”(?),“Ji”(?)four prepositions,one attribute-head phrase with“Shi”(?),ten predicative structures.The time relationship of multiple events is mainly through conjunctions,including“Nai”(?),“Sui”(?),“Ze”(?),“Er”(?),“Er hou”(??),“Ran hou”(??),“Yu shi(hu/yan)”(??(?/?)).On the basis of different perspective of observation,the chapter about expression of aspect is divided to two parts:perfective and imperfective.The means of expression of the former include the adverbs of time“Yi”(?),“Ji”(?),“Ji yi”(??),“Chang”(?),“Xin”(?),the negative adverbs“Wei”(?),“Wei chang”(??),“Wei chang”(??),“Wei shi”(??),and the modal word“Yi”(?).There are only time adverbs“Fang”(?),“Shi”(?)about expression ofthe latter.The expression of tense-aspect category can coexist in their internal field,especially the modal word“Yi”(?)can expresses the meaning of being completed or being achieved with other methods.There are some methods can convey tense and aspect in Chuang-tzu,such as“Chang”(?),“Xin”(?).This thesis compares the expression of tense-aspect category in Pre-Qin period and medieval times,and takes ZuoZhuan,and Shi Shuo Xin Yu as the comparative objects,founding that from Pre-Qin period to medieval times,the expression of tense and aspect in Chinese are mainly vocabulary.Some words change from monosyllable to disyllable comforting with the trend of disyllabification.And their meaning,part of speech and quantity also change,but there is no substantial change in grammatical position and grammatical meaning.