A Comparative Study Of The Modern Chinese Adverb "cai" And Its Italian Counterpart

Among numerous adverbs in modern Chinese,�Cai� is one of the most frequently used adverbs in everyday communication.The adverb �Cai� is a multifunctional adverb,it is characterized by flexible grammatical connotations and its usage is particularly rich and ample.So far,numerous scholars have conducted plenty of studies and research on the different functions,meaning and composition of the Chinese adverb �Cai�,and the research results obtained have also brought great progress in the study of the adverb itself.But for Chinese learners from all over the world,Italian Chinese learners and researchers in particular,the Chinese adverb �Cai� remains an especially hard adverb to frame and learn.Furthermore,the numerous major research results obtained abroad are still not well known if not known at all.Italian Chinese learners often confuse the meaning of usage of the Chinese adverb �Cai� during the process of translation and learning,and they can hardly distinguish and interiorize the difference between the original and cardinal meaning of �Cai� and its derived extended meaning,its different semantics and usage in different sentences,the relationship that subsists between the three types of �Cai�,etc.The crux of this phenomenon,in my humble opinion,is that the current various works and research have not yet been able to fully compare the syntax and semantics of�Cai� sentences with foreign languages,especially the languages in the Indo-European language family,which are known to be notably different from the Chinese language.A comparative analysis of the corresponding Italian adverbs �appena�,�solo,solamente,soltanto�,�proprio� with the flexible and variable adverb �Cai� in Chinese,and the corresponding linguistic phenomenon and usage in Italian will be carried out in more depth in this dissertation.In my opinion,such an analysis method does not only help to solve the research hot spots in the field of applied linguistics,such as language acquisition and teaching Chinese as a foreign language,but can also help us examine the Chinese adverb �Cai� from another perspective with the hope that this research will provide some help and support to the already existing researches in this field.The complexity of the adverb �Cai� is mainly due to the semantic function of �Cai� itself,its original meaning as well as its extended meaning.According to the various grammatical environments and contexts in which the adverb �Cai� can appear,its semantic function in modern Chinese can be divided into three categories or types:The first type is �Cai 1�,which represents the basic meaning of the adverb,and mainly portrays the speaker's subjective evaluation and modality of a specific time point,time period,quantity,and number as well as range and gap.The second and third types can be identified as�Cai 2� and �Cai 3�,which are known to be derived meanings.�Cai 2� is mainly used to emphasize the logical connection of exclusivity;the speaker defines a certain situation in order to exclude the other possibilities outside of that particular situation,while �Cai 3� mainly expresses the mood,the speaker's subjective emotion,attitude and evaluation of the action and the content of the speech.From the above description,it can be inferred that the adverb �Cai� is not limited to being part of only one adverb category,on the contrary,the same adverb can be classified into different adverbial subcategories and categories.This way,it is difficult for learners or translators whose native language is Italian to understand the precise meaning and usage of the Chinese adverb �Cai� in different communicative contexts and environments.At the same time,it is difficult to understand what are the major differences between the basic meaning and the extended meaning of �Cai�,and it is arduous to understand why there are such extended meanings,their usage and origin.The purpose of this dissertation,the reason why we chose the adverb �Cai� as our research focus is that there is no single,precise,and unique adverb that can cover all the syntactic and semantic functions of the Chinese adverb �Cai� in the Italian language,which leads us to a one-to-many state type of situation.In recent years,Professor Zhang Yisheng has put forward another innovative view,that is,to summarize and define "Cai" from a higher level and perspective,in his research he concludes that �Cai� is an annotative adverb of subjective evaluation and this more inclusive explanation is more helpful to make foreign students better understand the multi-dimensional usage of �Cai�.In Italian,the adverb "Cai" is generally translated with the adverbs �solo,solamente,appena,poco fa,solo adesso,solo allora,solo cosi,proprio [...]�,this creates a state of many-toone as more than one adverb can be used to translate �Cai�.However,as the analysis deepens,it is found that �Cai� and the main Italian adverbs corresponding to it,�appena��solo/solamente/soltanto� �proprio� cannot all be interchangeably used with all the three types of semantic usage of the adverb �Cai� and cannot be substituted at will,otherwise,it will sometimes lead to a wrong understanding of the original sentence containing �Cai�.In addition,Italian learners often confuse the adverbs �Cai� with the adverbs �Gang�,�Jiu� and �Zhi�,leading to errors in translation,understanding and usage.As a learner whose mother tongue is Italian,I personally experienced the necessity of a comparative analysis between my mother tongue and Chinese in the process of learningacquisition of the Chinese adverb �Cai� and I also experienced some of the numerous perplexities that will rise from the perspective of non-native language learners when learning such a complex adverb with more extended meanings.First,this article will analyze the origin and development during the history of the Chinese adverb �Cai�,and then we will consider �Cai 1�,�Cai 2� and �Cai 3� according to their semantic characteristics and differences.At the same time,we will analyze its semantic functions,its construction and collocation compared to other elements of the sentence.In the second half of the article,we will deeply analyze the three main adverbs in Italian that correspond to the three semantic features of �Cai�,which are �ancora� �solo/solamente/soltanto� �proprio�,and according to their syntactic and semantic features we will compare them with �Cai 1� and �Cai 2� and �Cai 3�,the different semantic branches of the three �Cai� are compared one by one to explore the similarities and differences in the usage of such adverbs in Chinese and Italian languages.More specifically,in the first chapter we will briefly introduce the importance that the adverb �Cai� has among the Chinese adverbs;furthermore we will explore the possible origin of the adverb �Cai� and how it developed from the original meaning of �wooden structure supporting the roof� to the important adverb it is today,to do that we will start from the perspective of historical development,taking into account the research results obtained by other researchers,as well as the analysis and research carried out on the original text of ancient writings.In the second chapter,starting from the basic structural framework of the adverb �Cai�summed up by Shao Jingmin(1997),namely(X1)+S+(X1)+Cai+X2 and considering Zhang Yisheng(1996)study about the adverb �Cai� and its main three derivatives,namely �Cai 1�representing the basic meaning and �Cai 2� and �Cai 3� representing the derived meaning.Among them,�Cai 1� can be divided into two aspects:�Cai A� which emphasizes an impairment in value and �Cai B� which emphasizes an increment in value,we will conduct exhaustive research and analysis on the structure,collocation,and semantic function of the adverbs �Cai A� �Cai B� �Cai 2� and �Cai 3�.In chapter three,we comprehensively analyze the most basic classifications,functions,collocations,and different positions of Italian adverbs in different sentences.In chapter four,the three main Italian corresponding adverbs �ancora� �solo/solamente/soltanto� and �proprio�,which are often used to explain and translate the adverb �Cai� to Italian Chinese learners,are presented,and their semantic functions,format and collocation are studied comprehensively.In chapter five,we will refer to the four classifications of the adverb �Cai� mentioned above,namely �Cai A� �Cai B� �Cai 2� and �Cai 3�(among which �Cai A� and �Cai B� are expansions of �Cai 1�)and the Italian adverbs �appena� �solo/solamente/soltanto� and �proprio�are compared one by one,in order to explore the similarities and differences between Italian and Chinese language in this group of adverbs.