A Comparative Study Of "Almost" And "Absolute" In Modern Chinese Adverbs

This thesis makes a study on adverbs Jihu (几乎) and Jianzhi (简直) and mainly discusses the similarities and differences between the two words from the aspects of semantic, syntax and pragmatics.The semantic meaning of Jihu (简直) is to state that the situation is approaching some facts yet have not while Jianzhi (简直) subjectively emphasizes that the situation is approaching some facts. For semantic features, both of them contain [+degree] and [+exaggeration]. Jihu (几乎) contains the semantic feature of [+negative] while Jianzhi (简直) does not, and Jianzhi (简直) contains the semantic features of [+subjective], [+emphasizing] and [+modal] while Jihu (几乎) does not. In the aspect of sentence category, both of them can be applied in declarative sentences, exclamatory sentences, and interrogative sentences. Meanwhile, neither of them can be applied in imperative sentences. When co-occuring with same modal particles, Jihu (几乎) often expresses a mood of interrogative while Jianzhi (简直) expresses exclamatory mood. In the aspect of the style, they are more written words than oral words. And Jianzhi (简直) shows more oral characters than Jihu (几乎). Their position sequence is subjected to the composition of sentence’s subject.