The Investigation Of Grammaticalization About Auxiliary Verbs “Neng/Zu”(能/足),“Yi/Ying”(宜/应) And “Ken/Gan”(肯/敢)

Based on the theory of grammaticalization and semantic evolution,this paper takes “neng” “zu” “yi” “ying” “ken” and “gan” as the research objects.Making a comprehensive investigation on the sources,evolutions,grammaticalization paths and motivations of possible auxiliary verbs “neng” “zu”,necessary auxiliary verbs “yi”“ying” and volition auxiliary verbs “ken” “gan”.The full text consists of five chapters,each of which is as follows:The first chapter is the introduction.Which mainly points out the research purpose and significance of the thesis.Introducing the research object and scope of the thesis,clarifying the relationship between can-wish verbs and auxiliary verbs,summarizing and evaluating the previous studies on grammaticalization and subjectivisation of can-wish verbs or auxiliary verbs,and finally explaining the research theory,methods and corpus sources of the thesis.The main part of the thesis is the second to the fourth chapters.Which firstly investigates the semantic functions of three groups of words: “neng” and “zu”,“yi” and“ying”,“ken” and “gan” from the diachronic aspect,and analyzes the sources and evolutions of possible auxiliary verbs “neng” “zu”,necessary auxiliary verbs “yi”“ying” and volition auxiliary verbs “ken” “gan”.Exploring the evolution paths of each word are constructed and their grammaticalization motivations in the second place.Finally,it compares the similarities and differences among the members of each group and reveals their rules of evolution.The research has the following findings:Firstly,both “neng” and “zu” have evolved from possible auxiliary verbs to other types of auxiliary verbs.In addition to being a possible auxiliary verb,“neng” can also be used as a volition auxiliary verb and “zu” can also be used as a valuation auxiliary verb.Both “neng” and “zu” are grammaticalized into degree adverbs and scope adverbs from auxiliary verbs.The grammaticalization process of both is related to the subjectivisation of semantics,sentences with consecutive predicates and the principle of not exceeding quantity.Secondly,the necessary auxiliary verb “yi” derived from the adjective “yi”,which expresses the meaning of “suitable”.The necessary auxiliary verb “ying” derived from the verb “ying”,which expresses the meaning of “suit”.So,it can be seen that the necessary auxiliary verbs “yi” and “ying” have the similar sources.In addition,“yi”and “ying” have experienced the path of grammaticalization which from necessary auxiliary verbs to inferred modal adverbs.The grammaticalization of “yi” and “ying” is related to the subjectivisation of semantics,sentences with continuous predicates,hypothetical sentences and pragmatic reasoning.Thirdly,both “ken” and “gan” have evolved from the volition auxiliary verbs to the possible auxiliary verbs,which also developed from expressing objective possibility to expressing subjective possibility.Additionally,both of them have been grammaticalized from auxiliary verbs to interrogative adverbs.The grammaticalization process of “ken” and “gan” is related to the subjectivisation of semantics,sentences with consecutive predicates and rhetorical questions.The fifth chapter is the conclusion,which summarizes the common rules and individual characteristics of the three groups of auxiliary verbs from the sources,the paths of evolution and the motivations of grammaticalization.