A Study On Evolvement Of Verbs Denoting "Meeting With"

To express the meaning of unexpected “Meeting”,Chinese mandarin and dialects generally using compound words of “Yu(遇)” “Feng(逢)” “Zhuang(撞)” “Peng(碰)”.But there are more synonymous verbs which mean “Meeting with” in the history,and built the semantic field of “Meeting”,“Zhuang(撞)” “Peng(碰)” which emerged later quick to catch up with the leading members “Yu(遇)” “Feng(逢)”.This pattern has continued to the present.This paper is based on Semantic field theory,through investigating use attribute,combination features and semantic traits to distinguish dominant members and non-dominant members in the semantic field of “Meeting”.Meanwhile,by comparing Ancient Chinese,dialects and mandarin to find relations between the three,and describe the historical development,regional distribution,even the travel path.We gathered Chinese verbs which mean ”Meeting with” and built the semantic field to make a comparative study of Old Chinese,Middle Chinese and Ealy Modern Chinese.The innovations of this paper include two aspects: systematic study on this issue and some suggestions for the definition of dictionary.By combining the research of Ancient Chinese,Chinese dialects and mandarin,we conclude : the semantic field of “Meeting”,“Yu(遇)” “Feng(逢)” appear in Old Chinese and hold the dominant status.The rise of “Zhi(值)” and “Zao(遭)” is the main changes in Middle Chinese.“Zhuang(撞)” and “Peng(碰)” which appeared in Ealy Chinese time replaced the “Zhi(值)” and “Zao(遭)”,this pattern remains now.In the meantime,“Yu(遇)” and “Feng(逢)” are not replaced but “Zhuang(撞)” and “Peng(碰)” are more activity than “Yu(遇)” and “Feng(逢)” in Modern Chinese dialects.Because of every member focuses on the different semantic content of the “Meeting”,correspond to the semantic field: the leading semantics of Old Chinese is the “See” and ”Suffer”,represent by “Yu(遇)” and “Feng(逢)”,the new semantics of Middle Chinese is the “Catch” and ”Confront”,represent by “Zhi(值)” and “Zao(遭)”.Then in “Contact” and ”Crash” rising with the “Zhuang(撞)” and “Peng(碰)”.