Research On The Emphasis Category In Pre-Qin Chinese

Pre-Qin Chinese is an important part of Chinese.Emphasis expressions of pre-Qin Chinese is the basis and source of the development of Chinese emphasis expressions.Therefore,research on pre-Qin Chinese emphasis category will help us understand the basic look and laws of the development of emphasis expressions,and deepen the understanding of modern Chinese emphasis category.The emphasis category is a semantic category used by the expressor to highlight and strengthen certain information,and it is an important subjective category for people to express subjective understanding and attitude.It has the characteristics of subjectivity,quantitative change,and purpose.There are two principles that must be followed when judging emphasis category.The first is to combine content and form.We have to focus on semantic judgment,supplemented by formal verification.The second is to follow the times.We have to judge emphasis category based on the actual language of the specific times.In the specific judging process,on the one hand,it should be based on the basic characteristics of emphasis category,on the other hand,it can also be identified by a certain explicit form.They are unconventional expressions,not necessary forms for basic semantic expression,convertible and expressing unconventional subjectivity.According to its nature,characteristics and functions,the pre-Qin Chinese emphasis category can be divided into five subcategories:assertion emphasis category,will emphasis category,degree emphasis category,attitude emphasis category and focus emphasis category.Assertion emphasis category means that the expressor emphasizes the subjective determination about the truthfulness,accuracy,and reliability of objective events or propositions.The main expressions of this subcategory are marked words（cheng（诚）,xin（信）,shi（实）,gu₁（固₁）,zhen（真）,guo（果）,bi₁（必₁）,and gu₂（固₂））,transformational way of moving word order（the adverbial bi₁（必₁）is moved backward or forward as a predicate）,double negative structure（negative pronoun+negative adverb）and complex sentence structure（you（犹）p,kuang（况）q）.Will emphasis category means that the expressor emphasizes the necessity of specific will requirements.The will here mainly includes self-will,will of others,social will,conditional will,etc.The main expressions of this subcategory are marked words（bi₂（必₂）and shen（慎））,transformational way of moving word order（the adverbial bi₂（必₂）is moved forward as a predicate）,and double negative structure（bu（不）+auxiliary verb+bu（不））.Degree emphasis category means that the expressor emphasizes the degree of things.The main expressions of this subcategory are predicate shift（the predicate used to describe the characteristics of traits is moved forward to the beginning of the sentence）and exaggerated rhetoric.Attitude emphasis category means that the expressor emphasize a subjective attitude towards someone,something,or an event.It can be praise,admiration,disgust,affection,anger,affirmation,negation,etc.The main expressions of this subcategory are marked words（zeng（曾））,transformational way of moving word order（the auxiliary verb yi（宜）located between the subject and predicate is moved backward or forward as predicate）,complex sentence structure（yuqi（与其）p,buru（不如）q and yuqi（与其）p,ning（宁）q）,fixed rhetorical sentence（buyi……hu（不亦……乎）and he……zhiyou（何……之有））,repeated rhetoric and parallelism rhetoric.Focus emphasis category means that the expressor emphasizes a certain part of semantic information and highlights it.The main expressions of this subcategory are object shift,focus marker（wei（唯））and comparative rhetoric.There are many differences between pre-Qin Chinese emphasis expressions and modern Chinese emphasis expressions.In general,emphasis expressions are on the process of development from pre-Qin Chinese to modern Chinese,with more and more forms,more and more diverse,more and more functions,and better systems.In terms of vocabulary expressions,the main differences are synonymous forms from single to diverse,emphasis meaning from simple to rich,vocabulary from general to detailed,and the more sophisticated syntactic patterns.In terms of syntactic expressions,the main differences are more common shifting word order,the replacement of the frame structure,the enrichment the emphasis discourse markers,and the increase of condensed complex sentences.In terms of rhetorical expressions,the rhetorical form in modern Chinese has inherited them in pre-Qin Chinese well.The formation of these differences,like the overall development and change of language,is closely related to the development and change of society,the need for communication,the improvement of human understanding of objective things and the internal driving of language development.In terms of expressing needs,subjective enhancement and the requirements of richness and precision are the two most important factors.