A Preliminary Study of the “numeral+da+noun” Phrases
Xiaoyun Li · Journal of Yunnan Normal University · 2005
This paper gives a comprehensive study of the “numeral+da+noun” phrases, and points out that the numerals in this construction are mainly cardinal numbers from “first” to “tenth”, which are used with different frequencies and affect the following numerals. “da” (an adjective whose literal translation is “big/large”) is a signifier which is used to highlight the semantic information of this construction and it also restricts the semantic content of the nouns in this construction. The nouns are mainly disyllable Abstract nouns whose semantic meaning can be quantified, and these nouns can be classified in terms of level, reason, information, quality, organization, event and tactic. Besides, this paper analyses the grammatical function and semantic characteristics of the “numeral+da+noun” phrases.