When 'empty words' are not empty: Examples from the semantic analyses of some 'emotional adverbs' in Mandarin Chinese

This paper introduces a characteristic category in the Chinese language that has received little attention in Western linguistic discussion--'emotional adverbs'. In the Chinese linguistic tradition, 'emotional adverbs' belong to the general category of xūcí ('empty words'), whose meanings are often thought to be too elusive to pin down. By carrying out systematic and in-depth semantic analyses of a selected set--yòu, piān, and jìng--the paper illustrates that so-called 'empty words' are rich in semantic content, and their meanings can be explicated fully using Natural Semantic Metalanguage, thus making this category and its semantic content accessible to both linguists and learners of the Chinese (Mandarin) language. The analysis also shows that it is important to take into consideration grammatical constructions in establishing polysemy and obtaining a comprehensive understanding of the full range of meanings of the words under discussion.