The Subjectivity of the Verb “至于”

Associate professor, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, School of Language and Culture, Dongguan City University

^* Corresponding author: hnhylimeiying515@sina.com

Abstract

In modern Chinese, the verb “至于” (zhì yú) exhibits prominent subjective language characteristics. Apart from indicating degree, the verb differs semantically from other words in the semantic field of “degree” by emphasizing unexpected outcomes from a subjective point of view. The subjectivity of the speaker’s perspective, emotions and expressions of “I think” and attitudes of disapproval towards the other’s behavior are conveyed. The subjectivity of the selection of sentence structure, such as hypothetical sentences, interrogative sentences and negative sentences is also observed. Furthermore, the subjectivity of the combination with modal particles is shown, where affirmative forms are often paired with the particle “吗” (ma), while negative forms are paired with the particle “吧” (ba). The subjective attitudes of behavior states are also expressed, with behavior state words exhibiting attitudes of “要” or “不要” from a subjective point of view.