The Research On Modal Verb "HUI " In Modern Chinese

This thesis makes a comprehensive investigation and detailed analysis of the modal verb "HUI" in terms of its syntactic and semantic meanings.Based on earlier academic research,we investigates the four kinds of modalities of "HUI" by analyzing corpus.And we analyzes their diachronic linkage,syntactic features,succession of modal verbs and the relations with time.It aims to deepen the understanding of modern Chinese modality through the analysis of "HUI" and discusses the dispute over it and then makes rational analysis and explanations.The thesis consists of six chapters of which there are four main chapters.The first chapter is the introduction.It explains the reason of the selection and the significance of the study.it makes clear the object of the study and the research methods.The source of the corpus is also illustrated in this chapter.This chapter mainly analyzes the research status,summarizing the research on modality at home and abroad.We lay special stress on studies related to "HUI",including the synchronic,diachronic and comparative analysis.In the second chapter,we mainly analyze the modality of "HUI".First of all,on the synchronic level,there are four kinds of modality semantic:the participant-internal possibility[ability],the participant-external possibility[generic](including[conditional-possibility]and[generic]),the deontic possibility[promise]and the epistemic possibility[probability].On the diachronic level,we study the development process of these semantics and give our own view.We suggest that the epistemic modality firstly appeared in the Wei and Jin periods,which may had evolved from the verb of "correspond".The deontic modality "should" which was seen nearly at the same times,also comes from the verb "correspond" and has semantic relation to the epistemic modality.Dynamic modality firstly appeared in Late Tang Dynasty and was widely used in Song Dynasty.It comes from the verb of "understand" in ancient Chinese."HUI" does not follow the general "dynamic-deontic-epistemic" modality path.The third chapter summarizes the syntactic contextfeatures of "HUI".We focus on the co-occurrence of "HUI" with other syntactic elements such as subject,object,aspect,negation,time and and so on.Meanwhile,we make a table based on the analysis of the syntactic context in which "HUI" conveys different semantics of modality.The fourth chapter investigates the succession of modal verbs.We find that "HUI"only denotes epistemic modality when located in the front.And when located at the back,"HUI" can convey the meanings of other three types.If different modalities are in succession,epistemic "HUI" can be followed by dynamic verbs(Ken,Xiang,Gan,Yao,Yuanyi,Neng).And dynamic "HUI" can follow deontic verbs(Yinggai,Yao,Bixu,Dei)and epistemic verbs(Kending/Yiding/Zhun,Yinggai,Keneng/Neng).If the succession is between espitemic verbs,"HUI" will be located at the back except matching with "Neng" or "Yao".If the succession is between deontic verbs,the formation are only" Kending HUI" and "Yiding HUI".In the fifth chapter,we point out "HUI" conveys the information of future time.We find that "HUI" has a tendency to combine with future events and syntactic context is unmarked.It often depends on some specific forms of syntax when "HUI" combines with non-future events.The degree of the reliance on specific forms of syntax,from high to low is:past>present>future.These specific syntactic expressions are showed in a table so that we can understand the relationship between "HUI" and time more clearly and intuitively.In the sixth chapter,summarizing the main content of this thesis;we draw a conclusion.