英文摘要 |
In order to differentiate grammatical usages of a word, modern Chinese dialects use strategies, such as changing phonetic features or employing stratum-induced variation, to create a new combination of sound and meaning. For example, by devoicing the original voiced initial of Shang(上), Meixian Hakka creates a new form to distinguish between different causative structures. In Amoy Min, the method of stratum-induced variation is used to differentiate the three different kinds of part of speech of the word Lu(櫓). In fact, the existence of the alternation of stratum-induced variation of Liang(兩), by which the differentiation between the numeral and weight units is safely made, in all seven dialectal branches of modern Chinese reveals that this kind of morphology is universal. Since modern Chinese dialects as well as ancient Chinese exhibit the same characteristic of phonetically differentiating the grammatical roles of a word, it is beyond doubt that this kind of derivational morphology is an important way of creating new words throughout the developmental history of Chinese Language. |