A Research On Henbu-buhen Constructions

In this paper,we discuss the internal structure of hen-bu ‘very not’ and bu-hen ‘not very’ constructions.The semantic basis of both is bu A ‘not A’.The former strengthens the negation by adding hen before,and the latter weakens the negation by inserting hen between bu and A.The combination of negation adverb bu and different adjectives activates different properties,and further lead to whether it can be strengthened or weakened.Therefore,on the basis of previous studies,we divide the adjectives related to the construction into two categories: evaluation adjectives and measurement adjectives,and further subdivide measurement adjectives into two categories: biased ones and neutral ones.The constraints of hen-bu A and bu-hen A mainly come from the pragmatic function when A belongs to evaluation adjectives.Henbu A expresses subjective expectations in a more sophisticated form of emphasis.However,buhen A is to express indirect negation through inserting hen into bu and the adjective then pull away the two words and weaken the negative tone.These two factors make the degrogatory almost impossible to enter hen-bu and bu-hen constructions.when A is a measurement adjective,the restrictions come from within the semantics.The combination of bu and a small quantifier(a type of biased measurement adjectives)leads to an attributive denial.But when combined with large quantifiers,bu means a degree reduction.Hen indicates degree increase thus can only be placed before bu combining with small quantifiers.And hen inserting bu A is a form of weakening,resulting in degree reduction.The premise of reduction is that quantity can be reduced;both large quantifiers and neutral measurement adjectives have adequacy of quantity whose degree can be reduced.We also analyze the structural dividing of these two constructions.Henbu A can be divided into hen/ bu A.While there are two ways to divide buhen A,that is,bu hen /A or bu/ hen A.The reflection of these two divisions is phonetically weak reading of the former and rereading of the latter,which is related to the bathtub effect.