The Study On The Category Transfer Of Numeral Phrases In Modern Chinese

As one of the important means of expression of quantity category,quantity phrase has been regarded as the core member of quantity category.But Chinese has a strong ability of innovation,quantitative phrases in the long process of language use spread out rich semantic connotation,no longer limited to quantitative meaning.The correspondence between form and semantics in Chinese has always been a key topic in the study of grammar.The category transfer of quantitative phrases is of great value to the study of categorization and decategorization.The category transfer of numeral phrases can be divided into two types: the semantic type of numeral phrases which have semantic transfer but still belong to the subcategory of numeral category and the semantic type of numeral phrases which are completely separated from the category of numeral category.The semantic types that can be expressed after the category transfer of numeral phrases mainly include full quantity meaning,approximate quantity meaning,virtual quantity meaning,generic meaning and adjective meaning.When the semantics of numeral phrases change,their grammatical functions will also change accordingly.The special structure of language will also affect the semantic expression of numeral phrases.When the numeral phrases enter the overlapping or special construction,the Semantic Connotation of the numeral phrases will change under the influence of the structural meaning,and then the semantic transfer will occur.In addition,the Lexicalization and Grammaticalization of some quantitative phrases are also worthy of attention.Most of the category transfer of numeral phrases is from the semantic transfer of its components to the semantic transfer of the whole.The polysemy of numerals and quantifiers is the main reason for the category transfer of numeral phrases.Among the numerals,the polysemy of the special numeral "one" is the most prominent,so the number phrase containing "one" has the most abundant semantic expression types and the strongest degree of category transfer.The semantic transfer of other numerals is influenced by its own unique semantic connotation,and also by the influence of context.The semantic polysemy of quantifiers also has an impact on the quantifier function of quantifier phrases.When two kinds of semantics exist in one language form at the same time,they are bound to compete,which will weaken the quantifier meaning and cause category transfer.The phenomenon of category transfer of numeral phrases can not be separated from three special linguistic mechanisms:reanalysis,metaphorical mechanism and construction convention.The re analysis and metaphor mechanism is an innovative mechanism in language,which can give new semantic meaning to the old language forms;the construction convention is a process in which the construction meaning suppresses the lexical meaning,and the quantitative phrase will lose its original meaning when it enters the construction,so it will lose its quantitative function.