THE ADJECTIVAL SEMANTIC INTERPRETATION OF THE CHINESE CHARACTER “AN” FROM THE RESPECTIVE OF INTERNATIONAL CHINESE LANGUAGE TEACHING

Abstract

Monosyllabic adjectives constitute a pivotal component of modern Chinese adjectival systems and hold significant importance in lexicographical practice. The character “ān” in modern Chinese ranks 2373rd in the Frequency Dictionary of Modern Chinese with a usage frequency of 0.0048, indicating its relatively high functional prominence. This study employs the Peking University CCL Corpus to conduct statistical sampling of adjectival usages of “ān” through a dual methodology integrating quantitative and qualitative analysis. Applying the theoretical framework of Generative Lexicon Theory, the research proposes a reclassification of the existing two adjectival senses of “ān” in the Contemporary Chinese Dictionary (7th Edition) into four refined semantic categories. The findings aim to provide empirically grounded insights for future revisions of authoritative lexicographical resources in Chinese linguistic studies.