Abstract

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Title:: Function Words and Determination of the Historical Stage of（Early）Modern Chinese Language

Keywords:: determination of the historical stage of（Early）Modern Chinese Language; function words; new vernacular; Lu Xun

Abstract:: The May Fourth Movement is generally taken as the landmark indicating the end of the historical stage of the（Early）Modern Chinese Language. However, there was no significant change in the oral form of the Chinese language before and after this period. Therefore, regarding the May Fourth Movement as the watershed dividing the Modern Chinese language from its predecessor does not follow the principle of taking the difference in the oral language as the criterion for distinguishing the ancient Chinese from the modern Chinese. The greater change of the modern Chinese came from the shift in the formal written Chinese from its classical form to the new vernacular. The application of the new vernacular in the formal writings also provided a model for modern oral forms. Because Chinese takes word order and function words as the main grammatical devices and the change in word order is limited, the appearance of function words has brought about the most significant differences between the new vernacular and the ancient Chinese. Modern writers, represented by Lu Xun, made deliberate and informed use of function words in their writings, and finally incorporated the function words of modern spoken Chinese into the written linguistic system, creatively reducing the distance between the ancient and the modern times, and creating a new style of writing in the vernacular Chinese language.