Study On The Discourse Markers "Wo Men Zhi Dao"

Discourse markers, which are more and more frequently used in contemporary colloquial and written Chinese, contain various express functions. The present linguist ical study of the discouese markers mainly focus on the typical and maturely developped ones, while some other discouese markers, less typical and d evelopped, tend to be ignored by the linguists.The discourse marker "wo men zhi dao ",which belongs to the latter ones,and is experiencing its evolvement, is observed and studied in this thesis,aiming to attract more attention.Through the analysis and study of the abundant language material, we can disco ver the three types of existence status of the phrase "wo men zhi dao",including notio nal phrase.discourse marker and transient state,a state where the prase is changing fro m the "substantial" into the "empty". On the other hand, massive evidences illustrate t he fact that "wo men zhi dao"is used as a discoursemarker, whose feature and charact eristics are revealed in aspects of the form, meaning and usage as well. The developm ent of "wo men zhi dao"as a discourse marker has not showed its maturity, but the pra se has obtained diverse ructions pragmatically.including topic.information and interpe rsonal communication factions. In addition,"wo men zhi dao"shows distinct differenc es from some relevant structures, such as "ni zhi dao ","wo(men) zhi dao "and "wo m en dou zhi dao ".Finally,as a discourse marker which is still developping gradually,"wo men zhi dao"is undergoing the process of its gramamaticalization and subjectication.