A Study On The Meaning Evolution Of Verbs Of "writing Records" In Modern Chinese

The verbs in the "write-and-record" category have been grouped into semantic fields since the Upper period and are very common and widely used in Chinese.At present,researches have focused on the semantic fields of the "write-and-record" verbs in the Upper and Middle periods,while there are few systematic studies on the modern Chinese period.Based on semantic field theory,this paper uses the research methods of metrological statistics and semanteme analysis to describe and analyse the semantic field of the "write-and-record" verbs in modern Chinese.In this way,we outline the evolution of the semantic field of the"write-and-record" verbs in modern Chinese and analyze the changes in the meaning of its members?The basic semantic feature of the "write-and-record" verbs is the action of leaving a written,pictorial or other imprint on some medium that can record or transmit information.Combined with the frequency of word usage,11 objects of study were selected from modern Chinese:write,fill,memorial write,transcribe,copy,inscribe,draw,note,record,trace and lin.With regard to the research objects in modern Chinese,combined with actual examples of word usage in the corpus,12 research objects were selected from early modern periods:book,write,copy,transcribe,fill,inscribe,note,record,memorial write,chronicle,zai,copy.Verbs belonging to the moder" Chinese category write-and-record"were analysed in terms of lexical meaning and semantic combination,and were summarised the common and individual sememe of the words.Firstly,we studied the meaning of the "write-and-record" verbs from seven perspectives:subject,participating part,instrument,place,way,result and purpose.The common sememe of the words is[+ leave an imprint];the main individual sememe is the manner and purpose,and the secondary individual sememe includes the subject,the participating part,the tool,the place and the result.Second,the semantic combination of words was analysed in terms of the semantic categories of collocated objects and complements.All verbs in the "write-and-record" category can be used with the object of the subject,most can be used with the object of place.And the verb "write" can also be used with the object of result,the object of instrument and the object of way.All verbs in the"write-and-record" category can be used with result,modal,tend,quantitative and potential complements.With the exception of "memorial write" and "lin" which cannot be collocated with complement of place and time,all other verbs can also be collocated with a time-tense complement.The number and proportion of verb use cases in the"write-and-record" category in each period of early modern Chinese are counted using quantitative statistics and the evolutionary trends of the semantic field is analyzed.Firstly,we summarised the evolution of word meanings.The sense of the words "book" and "write" changed:the word "book" lost the meaning "record" in the Ming dynasty;the word "write"added the meaning "write" and lost the meaning "copy" in the Yuan Dynasty.Other words' meanings were internally transposed:the "copy" position for"copy" and the "fill" position for "fill" have become common positions;the "record" position for "note" "record" "zai" and the "write" position for "inscribe" have become uncommon positions.Secondly,we analysed the formation of semantic fields.The sub-semantic fields were already formed in the Song dynasty,and by the Ming dynasty the members of the sub-semantic fields have all been largely fixed.Thirdly,the superordinate word and the core word of the semantic field of "write-and-record" has changed from the word "write" to the word "book" in the Yuan Dynasty.The historical evolution of the semantic field is characterized by four features:inheritance and stability,gradual change,word-building analogy and the tendency to separate the "write-and-record" semantic field.The reasons for the evolution of the semantic field lie mainly in the internal adjustments of the semantic field:firstly,the adjustment of the conceptual field towards perfection and balance;secondly,the influence of polysyllabic words;thirdly,the influence of lexical clarification.