Study On Chinese Modal Adverbs Denoting "Probable"

Modal Adverbs differ greatly from other adverbs. This paper tries to study the Adverbsmean "probable". We classified these words into three kinds, then discussed the differences ofthree kinds and different words in one kind from the point of view of syntax , meaning andfunction. On the basis of the structuralism's theory, using the methodology of CognitiveGrammar , Discourse Analysis , Functional Grammar and Linguistic Logic and so on, wemainly studied their syntactic and semantic features, then summarized their pragmaticfunctions.The paper includes three parts.First, the paper described and analyzed their syntactic and semantic features. It beganwith the study of their position in the sentences, in order to prove they are flexible . Then wefound the differences of their usages by studying the collocation of them with certain words.Last we summarized the features of probable adverbs and their semantic differences of threekinds.Secondly, it studied their co-occurrence and collocation with other words. According tothe co-occurrence of probable adverbs with other kinds of Adverbs and modal adverbs andthe co-occurrence of probable adverbs in another, we analyzed the rules of co-occurrence andthe limiting factors.Finally, it researched their pragmatic and textual functions. In this chapter, we firststudied how they choose mood and mood particles in the sentences, then summarized theirpragmatic functions . Last we studied the way and function of their coherence.