The Growth and Decline of Causal Conjunctions from Early Modern Times to Modern Times

• Main Author: Li Weizheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Learned Press 2017-10-01
• Series: Macrolinguistics
• Subjects: causal conjunction; the Chinese in Early Modern Times; the Chinese in Modern Times; growth and decline
• Online Access: http://www.macrolinguistics.com/index.php?c=msg&id=660&
• ISSN: 1934-5755; 1934-5755

There are roughly 49 causal conjunctions in early Modern Chinese, including 20 cause conjunctions and 29 effect conjunctions, which can be divided into three forms: monosyllabic, two syllables and three syllables. The situation of the growth and decline of these causal conjunctions from the early Modern Chinese to the Modern Chinese is as follows: First, some members died out; Second, new members joined in; Third, the use frequency of most of the retained members increased; Fourth, the use frequency of the retained members in the Modern Chinese is different from that in the Early Modern Chinese. This evolution also pushed the whole asymmetric system of causal conjunctions to a more symmetric one.