Grammaticalization Of "Hai" And Related Studies

The Chinese grammar forms are mainly word order and function words, so there are a lot of function words in Chinese. Every function words have many different meanings and are frequently used in our lives. Most function words come from substantive words, that is they all have undergone grammaticalization. Because the meanings of substantive words are different, the reason, the rout and the time of grammaticalization are different as well, so Chinese function words have many kinds and usage, it is worth to research.This paper has emphasised function word"hai". This word has lots of usage, but there are many difficulties unsolved, in addition, the study on this word still not deeply enough. Our object of study is the degree meaning of"hai". At first, we combine the diachronic level with the synchronic plane analyses on this meaning of"hai", and the study on this word is classified into historical evolution and development in modern Chinese. Then, we choose function words"geng"which has the similar meaning with"hai"to be compared. In this way, we hope we could find the features of the degree meaning of"hai"better.From diachronic perspective, to use the grammaticalization theory, we hold the notion that the grammaticalization of"hai"'s degree from diachronic perspective, from our point of view, this meaning developed from the meaning of repeating. Meanwhile, another degree adverb"geng"had the same rout of development. We hold the notion that function words which come from verbs could develop similar meaning and usage, and this kind of development could be independent and similar, not always evolved each other. Because of the Subjectification, the degree meaning of"hai"continued to develop the usage of mood adverb, that is the usage of degree shallow. This meaning mainly expresses the deviation between subjective and objective, one subjective and another subjective.From synchronic perspective, we have researched the differences of the degree meaning of"hai"and its subjective usage. Then we have also researched the usage of it combined with another composition. To compare with"geng"in synchronic plane, we could describe"hai"better.