A Comparative Study Of Dynamic Modal Verbs In Classical Chinese And Vernacular Chinese

According to Xu Shiyi(2015),Chinese written language consists of the classical Chinese system based on the formation of pre-Qin oral language,imitating the literature language from Pre-Qin to Western Han Dynasty,and the ancient vernacular system based on the formation of post-Qin and Han oral language.Therefore,the comparison of a certain grammatical phenomenon between classical Chinese and vernacular works in the same period can not only reveal the development track of Chinese grammar,but also obtain the application characteristics of vernacular Chinese which are different from classical Chinese.Based on this,this paper selects Strange Stories from Liaozhai(In this article,it is referred to as Strange Stories for short)and Liaozhai Rustic Songs(In this article,it is referred to as Rustic Songs for short)from the Ming and Qing dynasties to conduct a comparative study with dynamic modals to explore the differences in syntax and semantics of dynamic modals.This paper reveals the linking tendency of "will" modal verbs and the adhesion tendency of "ability" modal verbs,and explains the motivation and mechanism of their grammaticalization with grammaticalization theory.Finally,it summarizes the characteristics of vernacular Chinese that are different from classical Chinese.This paper mainly includes six parts:The first part is the introduction.It mainly includes the research object of this paper,the research status at home and abroad,the research significance and value of this paper,the research methods used in this paper,and the basic corpus used in this paper.The second part gives a micro description of the semantic features and syntactic structure of dynamic modals in Strange Stories and Rustic Songs.First of all,the members of dynamic modals in Classical Chinese and vernacular Chinese works are divided into two categories:willingness and ability.The modal verbs of willingness include"Yu(欲)","Ken(肯)","Yao(要)","Dai(待)","Xiang(想)","Dai yao(待要)"and"Yuan yi(愿意)".The ability modal verbs include"Ke(可)","De(得)","Neng(能)"and"Ke yi(可以)",and then the semantic characteristics,syntactic structure and usage frequency of each member are introduced respectively.The third part mainly observes the differences in the use of willing and ability dynamic modals in the two books.First of all,The combination of modal verbs in Strange Stories is more likely to indicate"ability",while in Rustic Songs it is more likely to indicate"will",in addition,the"hypothesis"meaning of"will"modal verbs like"Yu(欲)","Yao(要)","Dai(待)","Dai yao(待要)"and"Yu dai(欲待)"are prominent in Rustic Songs,these words has the syntactic and semantic characteristics of hypothetical conjunction.In the second,compared with Strange Stories,highly lexicalized forms such as"Ke(可)V""V De(得)""V Bu(不)De(得)""V De(得)C""V Bu(不)Neng(能)"are appeared in Rustic Songs."Ke(可)","De(得)"and"Neng(能)"show different degrees of adhesion.The fourth part discusses the reasons for the differences of dynamic modals in classical Chinese and vernacular works,namely the linking of willing dynamic modals and the adhesion of ability dynamic modals.This paper also explores the causes of the parallel grammaticalization of dynamic modal verbs from four aspects:semantic basis,grammatical function,grammatical position and further deepening of subjectivism.Then,it explains the reasons for the inconsistent direction of grammaticalization of will and ability dynamic modal verbs from three aspects:context absorption,combinatorial assimilation and synonymous competition.The fifth part summarizes the characteristics of vernacular Chinese which are different from classical Chinese based on the comparison of dynamic modal verbs,which include richness,flexibility,precision,regional four aspects.In vernacular works,the meanings of words are expressed in various forms,polysemy of one word is common,the degree of grammaticalization within each word is different,inside words there are many categories,these reflect the richness;Random sentence length and diverse structure reflect its flexibility;The increase of additional components,adhesive components and marker components reflects the precision of expression.The strong position of dialect modal verbs and the dialect connective words used with modal verbs reflect the regional characteristics of vernacular expression.The sixth part is the conclusion.This paper summarizes the research results of this paper,points out some implications for the research of Chinese diachronic evolution,and points out the shortcomings of the research scope and depth of this paper.