| This dissertation focuses on the dating of Chinese language history as well as on the study of a specialized type of vocabulary in documents. In the developmental history of Chinese vocabulary, the most important period is modern period, which connects upper-ancient Chinese language and mid-ancient Chinese language with present-day Chinese language. Language development undergoes a continuous process. Even though "modern Chinese language" stands out as an independent period in history, yet there is no definite standard to classify its upper and lower limits. Yuan Dynasty falls into the central period of modern history, and as a research subject of modern Chinese language, the Chinese language in Yuan Dynasty is more suitable to be studied than the Chinese language in Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. Meanwhile, the multiple social properties make the Chinese language in Yuan Dynasty better in linguistic value and social status than it in Ming Dynasty.The document best showing the language features of Yuan Dynasty is the miscellaneous drama, and the earliest and the only miscellaneous drama is "30 Types of Yuan Dynasty's Engraved Miscellaneous Drama", which is chosen as the research subject. As a kind of "instantaneous corpus", it is a reliable book for the research with 30 types of miscellaneous drama,110,000 Chinese characters, extensive subject matter, rich linguistic content and strong tendency to oral Chinese expressions even though there exist some shortcomings in the engraving skills and the usage of linguistic expressions. From the original version of the book and the other three proof-read versions of the same book in Taiwan and the Mainland,8,459 multi-word phrases are selected for the research, a closed corpus of multi-word phrases in Yuan Dynasty's engraved miscellaneous dramas is set up with the aid of computer, and a scientific method has been adopted to describe, analyze and illustrate the corpus.Chapter 1 concerns itself with the introduction, introducing the cause, purpose, value and status quo, outline and method for the research by focusing on the role of "30 Types of Yuan Dynasty's Engraved Miscellaneous Drama" in modern Chinese language and the research value of it in the history of Chinese language.Chapter 2 concerns itself with a macro-examination of multi-word vocabulary in the book. On the basis of meaning, grammar, phonetics and appearance frequency, 8,344 multi-word Chinese characters are selected as the research subject. Then, from diachronic and synchronic perspectives, the whole book's multi-word vocabulary is surveyed. From the diachronic perspective, multi-word vocabulary is made up of two parts:ancient words/phrases and newly-coined words/phrases. From the synchronic perspective, the oral Chinese vocabulary, religious vocabulary and foreign vocabulary are the accumulation of words/phrases reflecting different characteristics in the former and later dynasties.Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 concern themselves with a micro-examination of multi-word vocabulary's structural type and structural relationship. The newly-coined words in modern times can best show the feature of modern Chinese language. In "30 Types of Yuan Dynasty's Engraved Miscellaneous Drama", the largest part of vocabulary lies in the two-word new phrases. Thus, Chapter 3 is the key chapter for the research, in which 10 types of basic structure for two-word new phrases and their corresponding structural relationship. Based on Chapter 3, Chapter 4 examines the structure of three-word new phrases and four-word phrases. With the development of Yuan Dynasty's commodity economy, the increase of foreign exchange and the improvement of people's way of thinking, more accurate forms of expression are needed to deliver various ideas. As a result, three-word and four-word phrases, which are suitable for accurate expression of complicated ideas, satisfy people's needs in communication. Compared with the similar phrases in mid-ancient times, there is a remarkable increase in the number of three-word and four-word new phrases from Yuan Dynasty's engraved miscellaneous dramas. In particular, three-word new phrases are more closely connected with the life of common people, whereas four-word phrases are rich in parallel structures. Therefore, some language forms with strong productivity come into being, and they are characteristic of synonymic accumulation.Chapter 5, one of the key chapters in this dissertation, concerns itself with the developmental history of new meanings of words/phrases in Yuan Dynasty's engraved miscellaneous dramas. One part of the new meaning is developed from ancient Chinese language, while the other part of it continues to exist in present-day Chinese language. Words/phrases in ancient Chinese language enter into modern Chinese language with new meanings by means of extension, transference and abstracting. With the development of society, the meaning of words/phrases tends to change in two directions:One direction is to the disappearing of the meanings with strong social characteristics or to the transferring of the meanings by combining with new words/phrases; the other direction is to the continuation of the meanings into present-day Chinese language, or to the expansion and contraction of the original meanings.By exploring the developmental history of meanings of the two-word new phrases in the book, it is concluded that the new words/phrases in modern Chinese language bear the distinctive feature of the society, which is remarkably different from the vocabulary in ancient Chinese language and present-day Chinese language. Meanwhile, the new words/phrases with new meanings in modern Chinese language are of great vitality, so that they exert a certain influence on present-day Chinese language's word-coining, word-building and the colloquial style of words no matter whether the influence is in formation or in content.Chapter 6 concerns itself with the examination of certain special vocabulary. From the perspective of semantic style, the set phrases in the book are divided into two types in accordance with their function and status:elegant language and popular language. "Elegant language" is mainly made up of idiomatic expressions, including certain famous sayings, maxims and epigrams, with elegant meanings, while "popular language" is composed of proverbs, established usage and allegorical sayings, which is largely formed by sentences made up of multiple words. The number of popular language is far more than that of elegant language, which is one of the reasons why the language in Yuan Dynasty's engraved miscellaneous drams is popular. As a special type of vocabulary, the elegant language and popular language in Yuan Dynasty's engraved miscellaneous dramas are simple in types, flexible in structure and variable in rhetorical devices.The last chapter serves as the conclusion. By organizing and examining the multi-word vocabulary in the book, it is concluded that:(1) The vocabulary is rich in variety. From the diachronic perspective, in this book there exist ancient Chinese words/phrase and new words/phrase in modern Chinese language, whereas from synchronic perspective, apart from commonly-used words/phrases there exist colloquial words/phrases with distinctive features, religious words/phrases and foreign words/phrases; (2) In Yuan Dynasty, the foreign words/phrases universally accepted by the public are those from Buddhism, while Mongolian language used by the rulers only plays a minor role in the daily life of common people, which is clearly different from the status of the language in Ming Dynasty's engraved miscellaneous drams; (3) There are various structural types and relationships, a complete word-building system and a strong tendency to two-word words/phrases; (4) Some words/phrases are carried down from ancient Chinese language, some are newly coined, some are active, and some are of great vitality; (5) The vocabulary is of strong colloquial style. In brief, "30 Types of Yuan Dynasty's Engraved Miscellaneous Drama" is a modern vernacular material that manifests Yuan Dynasty language feature.
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