Study On Chinese Evaluative Nouns Referring To Person Based On Appraisal Theory

Man is the subject of understanding and transforming world.In the process of understanding and transforming world,people evaluate themselves and objects in practice according to their own need.In Chinese evaluative words,there exists a category of evaluative nouns referring to person.Existing studies mainly focus on the discussion of Chinese nouns referring to person.In view of this,this thesis takes Chinese evaluative nouns referring to person as research object to explore their categories and distribution,descriptive meanings and evaluative meanings on the basis of appraisal theory,aiming to answer the following research questions which are classification and distribution of Chinese evaluative nouns referring to person,categories and distribution of descriptive meanings,evaluative meanings and their distribution.The generation of evaluative meaning of words with only descriptive meaning is discussed on the basis of classification of Chinese evaluative nouns referring to person.The data is derived from the corpus of Chinese evaluative words.Firstly,the classification and distribution of Chinese evaluative nouns referring to person are discussed according to the definition of evaluative meaning and descriptive meaning.Secondly,the classification and distribution of descriptive meanings are discussed according to the features presented by research data.Thirdly,evaluative meanings are explored based on Martin’s appraisal theory.Finally,the generation of evaluative meaning of words with only descriptive meaning is explained.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)Chinese evaluative nouns referring to person are divided into three categories:words with only descriptive meaning,words with only evaluative meaning,and words with evaluative meaning + descriptive meaning.In terms of their distribution,the number of words with evaluative meaning + descriptive meaning is the most,followed by words with only descriptive meaning and words with only evaluative meaning.(2)The discussion on descriptive meaning is mainly involved in words with only descriptive meaning and words with evaluative meaning + descriptive meaning.The descriptive meanings are subdivided into people’s characteristics,things outside human,general reference,and others.In terms of their distribution,the category of people’s characteristics is distributed most.(3)All collected words have evaluative meaning,which mainly includes two categories,that is,attitude and graduation + attitude.Attitude resources are employed most.A small part of words reflects graduation + attitude.Among attitude resources,judgement resources are distributed most,followed by affect and appreciation resources.Among judgement resources,propriety is mostly distributed.Among affect resources,there are only words expressing un/happiness.Among appreciation resources,there are only words expressing reaction.Among graduation + attitude resources,most words reflect graduation + judgment.Several words reflect graduation + affect.(4)Three ways promote generation of evaluative meaning of words with only descriptive meaning,which are metaphor,metonymy and causality.It is common for words with only descriptive meaning to generate evaluative meaning through metaphor.On the basis of proximity,words describing human body parts generate evaluative meaning through part-whole metonymy.Causality makes words with only descriptive meaning have evaluative meaning in the process of communication.