Study On The Adjectives In Mo Zi

The study on the vocabularies of a book or about a special subject is the basic project of the researches on Chinese vocabulary history. The thesis completely describes and explains the adjectives in Mo Zi.The thesis consists of four chapters. In Chapter One, the author introduces the different editions of, the history changes of and the current studies on Mo Zi. In Chapter Two, all the adjectives in the book are summarized and divided into two parts: monosyllabic words and polysyllabic words. The proportion of the monosyllabic words is big. They appear very often, have obvious meanings and touch with everyday life. Moreover, their lives last long. The proportion of the polysyllabic words is small. And their structures are not stable. Usually they have only one meaning. Juxtaposing is the main way by which the polysyllabic words combine. In Chapter Three, the meanings of the adjectives are studied. The author divided them into two types: synonyms and antonyms. The adjectives are the basic elements as the polysyllabic words formed by juxtaposing and compounding. It is easier for the synonyms to combine than the antonyms because their meanings are similar. The antonyms are formed because they are opposite from their basic meanings. Meanwhile, there are a few words which are opposite from the extended meanings, which shows the meanings of the adjective antonyms are single. In Chapter Four, the topics of the adjectives are classified. According to the topic sense, the adjectives in Mo Zi are divided into two kinds: quality and state adjectives. In this chapter the author analyses the historical originality, meanings and characteristics and grammar functions of the two kinds of adjectives. Also the development and changes of Chinese adjectives are explored. The author discovers that the meanings of the adjectives have emerged, lost, increased and changed from time to time and they are reasonable and can be explained.