Contextual Analysis Of "sanyan" In Chuang-tzu From The Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

Pragmatics is one of the most active and productive studies of contemporary linguistics.China is of long standing of pragmatic thoughts in history. Especially in the Spring andAutumn period, there are lots of original pragmatic ideas. Chuang-Tzu is collection ofChuang-Tzu’s thoughts and theory. In this great work, the exploration and expression on“Tao” is the key point. From Chuang-Tzu’s point of view,“Tao” cannot be expressed clearlyby words. Because of this, Chuang-Tzu devoted all his efforts to explore new expressingmethods. He invented a completely new method named “Sanyan”, namely “Yuyan”“Chongyan” and “Zhiyan” which contains abundant connotations and meanings. AdaptationTheory is proposed by Jef Verschueren (2000) which is elaborated in his book UnderstandingPragmatics. Adaptation Theory is a functional perspective on (any aspects of) language. Thisthesis attempts to analyze “Sanyan” in Chuang-Tzu from the perspective of AdaptationTheory, study Chuang-Tzu’s views of language, and explore the basic reasons for theadoption of “Sanyan”. The study shows that, the formation of “Sanyan” is a kind ofcontextual adaptation made by Chuang-Tzu in order to disseminate “Tao”. The thesis willconduct in-depth analyze the detailed adaptation of important factors in communicativecontext and linguistic context. With the guidance of Adaptation Theory, it is hoped that thisresearch will promote the understanding and acceptance of “Sanyan” to some degree and willalso exist some help on the transmission of Chuang-Tzu study overseas.