Chinese Numeral Adjective Classifier Noun Construction From Active Zone Perspective

This thesis looks into the Chinese NACN construction from active zone perspective.Chinese NACN construction(numeral adjective classifier noun)is different from traditional NCN(numeral classifier noun)construction in that the insertion of an adjective before the classifiers invokes quite a few problems.Many disputes are aroused in the literature concerning the insertion of an adjective,and they can be categorized into two groups.One concerns the semantic orientation of adjectives and the other is the permitting requirement of each element entering this construction.But almost all the studies into this question are carried out in Generative Grammar and based on the semantic analysis of a series of algorithms.Exceptions in linguistic facts can always be noticed under this illustration because of the diversity of language facts.In the current study,we claim that the semantics of adjectives in this construction is always oriented towards classifiers in that adjectives provide schemas for the size or volume notions contained in the domain of classifiers.Those contents are from the active zones of classifiers and serve as elaborating the e-site of adjectives.Also if adjectives are moved backward to nouns,a different reading will be derived,since in these two different constructions,the profile determinants are different.In NACN construction,the size or volume notion of the classifier is the profile determinant,However,the latter NCAN construction selects a noun as its profile determinant.The construction meaning of NACN has a subjective evaluation reading generalized from the language facts.That is to say,NACN construction in sentences is endowed with a beyond sentence meaning and this meaning is performed by adjectives.Besides,every element is constrained in NACN.First,numerals in this construction should be less than ten and this is because of the usage-based nature of languages.This construction mainly expresses the speakers' subjective evaluation rather than purely counts the numbers as NCN construction expresses,thus big numbers like??("eleven")and ??("twenty")are not acceptable.Secondly,adjectives are only those that could provide schemas for size or volume contents,thus in Chinese,adjectives like ??("pretty"),??("delicious")are not acceptable because they can't provide schemas for size or volume notions.Besides,adjectives that can provide size or volume schemas are also restricted due to the subjective evaluation readings of the construction.Thus under some circumstances,adjectives ?("big")and ?("small")can never be exchanged,that is to say,only the adjectives conformed to this reading are allowable.Thirdly,noun classifiers should be able to provide measuring or counting schemas to instantiate mass nouns,thus classifiers like ?("a classifier for identity")and ?("a classifier for identity")are impossible due to their social status schemas.Lastly,considering the semantic combination of classifiers and nouns,we know that only the nouns that can be placed on a size or volume scale are qualified.And that's why ?("human beings")and ??("teachers")are not qualified.