本文是一篇英语毕业论文，尽管本研究取得了一些研究成果，做出了一些贡献，但由于时间和案例的限制，仍然存在很多局限性。首先，在回答第一个问题（SFPyě在《左传》中用来表达什么语言价值？）时，作者只发现了主要的和其他明显的语言价值。然而，更多的价值观可能有待我们去探索。其次，在回答第二个问题（左传的SFP yě是如何实现这些语言学价值的？）时，作者主要通过分析有限的精选案例，探讨不同句子中不同标点符号标记的位置及其与周围SFP的比较。然而，分类方法可能会被改进；这些类别可能相互交织；而一项详尽的研究可能有助于获得准确的理解。
CHAPTER ONEGENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 Research background
The study aims to figure out the meanings which are expressed by the sentence-finalparticle (SFP) yě ( 也 ) in Zuozhuan and understood in this research as linguisticvalues in terms of Saussure’s language philosophy. In this part, the researchorientation will be firstly presented, and then a brief introduction to SFPs inZuozhuan will be provided.
1.1.1 Research orientation
In Chinese linguistics, words can be roughly divided into two main categories:content words and function words, in which there is a unique subcategory calledmodal particles. Modal particles are mostly located at the end of simple sentences,subordinate clauses and complex sentences. The category of function words hasbeen a research focus of Chinese grammar since the monograph called Zhu Yu Ciwritten by Lu Yiwei in the Yuan Dynasty came into being. It is the book that takesthe initiative to formally compile and illustrate Chinese function words.
Like other subcategories of function words, SFPs of ancient Chinese do nothave lexical meanings, but they do make a difference in facilitating communication,implicating that these words can be regarded as a kind of linguistic device to expressmeaning. And meaning is understood as linguistic value in Saussure’s languagephilosophy. With a number of 3385 uses, yě is the most frequently used SFP inZuozhuan, accounting for about 68% of its sentence-final particles. Thus, the study will take the most representative SFP yě as its object to try to unveil its linguisticvalues in ancient Chinese. In Ma Shi Wen Tong (1898), yě has been included in themodal particle group of delivering affirmation, and it has been widely recognizedthat yě is mainly used for making judgments. However, the origin of its function hasnot been clarified yet. From the language-philosophical perspective, the study isintended to explore the linguistic values of the most representative SFP yě inZuozhuan. Linguistic value is a concept provided by Ferdinand de Saussure, whopresented that language is only a system of pure values (Saussure, 2011). Saussurebelieved that linguistic values actually remain totally relative and “each one’s entireexistence depends on reciprocal difference” (Saussure, 2006:42). Therefore, thevalue of each linguistic term can be identified through comparison with other relatedterms in the language system. What’s more, linguistic value is created by community,and this means that it should be studied within a certain language community.
1.2 Rationale and significance of the research
SFPs in the Spring and Autumn Period have been widely studied from theperspectives of syntax and pragmatics, especially in terms of their distributions,modality functions, compounds and systems. With the highest utilization rate inZuozhuan, yě is the representative one in these studies. However, there are fewstudies concerning Chinese SFPs from a language-philosophical perspective. Andfrom the language-philosophical perspective of Saussure, the meaning expressed bythe SFP yě in Zuozhuan is understood as a linguistic value. Therefore, this thesistries to fill in the gap by studying the linguistic values realized by the SFP yě inZuozhuan.
This thesis can make two contributions. Theoretically speaking, this study offers a new perspective to analyze the SFP yě within a framework based onSaussure’s theory of linguistic values. This means to figure out its linguistic valuesassigned by the ancient Chinese SFP system through looking at its positions andcomparing it with other related SFPs. Unlike general studies of analyzing it at thelexical, syntactic or pragmatical level, the paper in this way reaches a level ofseeking the meanings, or linguistic values of the SFP yě within the ancient ChineseSFP system of the language community in the Spring and Autumn Period. This mayhelp to study other Chinese SFPs in terms of philosophy of language.
Practically speaking, the findings of this study can help those who studyclassics of ancient Chinese and further promote our Chinese culture to the world.Moreover, it provides us with a new perspective to understand the way people in thePre-Qin Period think and express.
CHAPTER TWOLITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Yě and its compounds in the ancient Chinese modal particle system
In 1728, Joseph-Henry-Marie de Prémare, a famous French Jesuit missionarywho came to China in the Qing Dynasty created the Notitia Linguae Sinicae in Latin,which was translated into English by J. G. Bridgeman in 1847. It was recognized asthe first book that made a detailed description of the modal particle yě in the historyof Chinese grammar. Yě there was a final particle, and those at the end of sentenceswere used for making judgments, those at the end of clauses were responsible formaking pause and soothing mood, and the rest were put after proper nouns. And itscompound and inversion uses, and the difference between yě and yǐ were mentionedas well. Then, Ma Jianzhong (1898) made a significant attempt to analyze thesystem of the Pre-Qin modal particles in his masterpiece Ma Shi Wen Tong, in whichhe established a two-way mode of xin (affirmation) and yi (doubt). Yě belongs to thefirst mode, and Ma believed that yě is used to make judgment at the bottom of asentence, to make a pause and pursue rhetorical effects in the middle of sentences,and to stress and sooth mood when it appears after proper nouns. Likewise, Ma also noticed the compound and inversion uses and compared yě with other modalparticles.
Notitia Linguae Sinicae and Ma Shi Wen Tong are two famous and influentialmasterpieces about modal particles of ancient Chinese, and yě, in particular, receivesthe most attention for its high frequency of occurrences. The two books are similarin structure in terms of describing modal particles, but the latter one is morecomprehensive and systematic, while the former took an initiative in breaking awayfrom the Western grammar system and standing on the linguistic facts of ancientChinese. However, due to the limits of time and knowledge, the two just describedthe apparent attributes of yě, while the reasons for and rules of performing suchfunctions were not explored inwardly, that is, the inner linguistic values of yě hadnot been discovered.
2.2 The distributions of yě and its compounds
He Leshi (2004) pointed out that yě has two main categories of distribution:one is its occurrence at the end of a simple or complex sentence, and the other is itsoccurrence in the middle of a sentence or at the end of a subordinate clause of anendocentric complex sentence. Hua Jianguang (2013), based on data from Zuozhuanas an important resource, found that the order of occurrence rate sentences endedwith the SFP yě is that: declarative sentences take the first place, interrogativesentences take the second place, and imperative sentences come third. Moreover,scholars like Chen Huanhuan (2017) found that yě tends to appear in all the fourmain sentence categories including declarative sentences, interrogative sentences,imperative sentences and exclamation sentences.
From what was mentioned above, yě has a wide distribution in ancient Chinese,and this partly accounts for its wide use in different sentences. And in differentlocations, it has different linguistic values. Thus, studying its distribution is rather significant.
CHAPTER THREE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK....................................13
3.1 Saussure’s conception of value...................................13
3.2 Arbitrariness and negativity........................................14
3.3 Community and syntagmatic and associative relations................................16
CHAPTER FOUR RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...................................20
4.1 Corpus-based method....................................20
4.1.1 Zuozhuan as the corpus............................ 20
4.1.2 Establishing a corpus..........................................21
CHAPTER FIVE DATA ANALYSIS.................................... 26
5.1 Linguistic values based on positions of the SFP yě......................................26
5.1.1 The judgment value in judgment sentences with full stops............... 26
5.1.2 The explanation value in statement sentences with full stops............37
CHAPTER FIVEDATA ANALYSIS
5.1 Linguistic values based on positions of the SFP yě
As a language sign without lexical meaning, the SFP yě’s positions in sentences ordiscourses become rather important. By way of analyzing its positions, the linguisticvalues of it in Zuozhuan can be further divided into the judgment value, explanationvalue, setting value, juxtaposition value and affirmation value. Each type of it willbe illustrated with given examples as follows:
5.1.1 The judgment value in judgment sentences with full stops
Compared with other usages, the SFP yě with a full stop is the major one (thefollowing table can be seen as evidence), in which it usually appears in judgmentsentences to help make judgments.
CHAPTER SIXFINDINGS AND CONCLUSION
6.1 Major findings and conclusions
Based on Saussure’s theory of linguistic values, Chapter 3 builds a theoreticalframework that suits the language reality of the study. It mainly clarifies theimportant concepts of value, arbitrariness, negativity, community and syntagmaticrelations, and presents two approaches (from the positions of the SFP yě withdifferent punctuations in various sentences and its comparisons with surroundingSFPs) to figure out the linguistic values of the SFP yě in Zuozhuan. According to theresearch procedures illustrated in Chapter 4, a small corpus has been established.And based on the two approaches, various cases have been selected and analyzed inChapter 5. Therefore, the three research questions listed in Chapter 1 can beanswered respectively with findings as follows:
As a new thing that firstly and largely appeared in Zuozhuan, yě, the mostfrequently used SFP, plays an important role in expressing speakers’ emotions andintentions. From the SFP yě’s positions marked by different punctuations inZuozhuan, it is found that the object often appears in judgment sentences to makejudgments on the target component’s identity, status, relation, behavior and states.Making judgment is the primary and paramount linguistic value of it. Besides andbased on the judgment value, it also helps to give explanation to essentialinformation in statements, i.e. explanation value; provide settings of time, condition,debating, hypothesis and so on for the following contexts and show juxtapositions indeclarative clauses, i.e. setting value and juxtaposition value; and affirm and supportthe main modalities in its compounds, i.e. affirmation value. After comparing it withits surrounding SFPs (yǐ, hū and zāi), it is found that the major linguistic value ofmaking judgment is operated in a static way; and the SFP yě also helps to assist informing query in some common structures, i.e. assistance value; and in certainneeded contexts, it serves to deliver exclamations or strong emotions, i.e.exclamation value.
reference(omitted)