A Multi-perspective Analysis Of The "Auxiliary Verb + Verbal Phrases" Structure In Modern Chinese

The “Auxiliary Verb + Verbal Phrases” structure(hereinafter referred to as AVVPS)is frequently employed in modern Chinese,but also a controversial hot topic in the linguistic field.Hence,it is necessary to conduct an in-depth investigation into this structure.This thesis,based on corpus analysis,looks into the AVVPS syntactically,semantically and pragmatically,in terms of quantitative and qualitative analyses.Syntactically,the analyses of AVVPS comprise its internal syntactic collocations and external syntactic functions.Auxiliary verbs signifying possibilities,when collating with verbs,tend to collocate with single verbs.Syllabically,monosyllabic auxiliary verbs generally go with disyllabic auxiliary verbs.Auxiliary verbs signifying possibilities,when collocating with verbal phrases,are most frequently used,and the most common mode is the combination of Verb-Object,Verb-Adverbial,and Serial-Verbal Constructions.As regards syntactic functions,AVVPS mainly predicates a sentence,while acting as a predicate center or a clause comes next.AVVPS,when used as a subject or an object,restricts somewhat the choice of the corresponding predicate and adnex.It entails a marker formally when used as an attributive or a complement.Semantically,the semantic orientations of auxiliary verbs in different synctemes of AVVPS are analyzed.In the predicate position,the auxiliary verbs signifying possibilities and necessities point to the whole sentence,the auxiliary verbs signifying willingness to the subject,and the hyper-sentence point of the compound position on the auxiliary verb can be achieved.The auxiliary verbs signifying possibilities and the auxiliary verbs signifying willingness point to the respective clauses,with the former pointing to the subject of the clause.The semantic point of the auxiliary verb is similar to the predicate position,that is,the possible class and the necessary auxiliary verb point to the complete event or phenomenon,and the willingness auxiliary verb points to the agent or subject.The corresponding syntactic forms are as follows: The former point to their directly modified targets when the auxiliary verb structure is placed at the positions of subject,object,attributive and complement,as opposed the latter pointing to the ingredients outside of its syntactic position.Pragmatically,analyses of the application and distributive features of the “auxiliary verb + verbal phrases” structure are conducted.On the whole,the auxiliary verb structures are most used in declarative sentences and interrogative sentences,while least in exclamatory sentences.The structure of the auxiliary verbs signifying willingness is generally not used in imperative sentences.The declarative and imperative sentences take the forms of positive and negative.Some auxiliary verb structures exist in negative structures or in positive structures,while some come close to one of the forms.In interrogative sentences,monosyllabic auxiliary verbs are structurally more flexible,and the auxiliary verbs signifying willingness are most frequently used.Possibility auxiliary verb and willingness auxiliary verb structures are mainly seen in yes-no questions.Necessity auxiliary verb structures are mainly employed in specific interrogations.In exclamatory sentences,auxiliary verb structures appear in both marked and unmarked forms,and what form is used is subject to the speaker’s emotive expression.