A Diachronic Study of the Phenomena of Degree Adverbs Modifying Nouns in Southeast Asia Huayu

: China has a long history of overseas migration, and Southeast Asia has been the traditional main destination of our overseas migration because of its geographical advantage. In the context of the global spread of the Huayu , it is of great significance to explore the evolutionary process of Huayu development in Southeast Asia as a relay station for the spread and radiation of the Huayu to the world. The overall situation of Huayu studies is that there are more lexical studies and less grammatical studies, and less attention has been paid to the development of Huayu in its historical plane, including its formation process and the facts of its development and evolution since then. It can be seen that the overall research is not balanced, and grammar itself is very important. Due to the lack of grammar research, the overall understanding of Huayu has been affected. The study of Huayu has developed rapidly, and various studies are being carried out. Relatively speaking, grammar is lagging behind and needs to catch up quickly. The article takes the phenomenon of degree adverb modifying nouns as an entry point to investigate the development and evolution of grammar in Southeast Asia Huayu . It is found that degree adverbs modifying nouns have shown an upward trend in the centuries-old Huayu , as evidenced by the fact that degree adverbs can be combined with more abstract nouns and the range of nouns modified has also been expanded. In addition, investigating the use of this linguistic phenomenon in Huayu , Putonghua, and Mandarin in a global perspective, it can be found that the three maintain a greater consistency.


Introduction
The phenomenon of degree adverbs modifying nouns has been discussed a lot in the academic circles, such as the researches by Xing Fuyi [1,2], Hu Yushu [3], Gui Shichun [4], Zhang Yisheng [5], Yu Genyuan [6], Zhou Xiaobing [7], Shao Jingmin [8], etc. Among them, Xing Fuyi [1] indicated that degree adverbs modifying nouns are ungrammatical freak; Hu Yushu [3] indicated that the main grammatical function of adverbs is to modify verbs or adjectives, but not nouns that are the subject and object. It can be seen that degree adverbs cannot modify nouns in the traditional grammatical norms. However, this phenomenon is so frequently used in real life that it has become "habitual". Shi Dingxu, Su Jinzhi and Zhu Zhiyu [9] indicated that a significant proportion of nouns in Hong Kong written language are often modified by adverbs. Little research has been done on the use and development of degree adverbs modifying nouns in Southeast Asia Huayu. This paper takes Singaporean and Malaysian Huayu as its subjects 1 . We investigate the development of degree adverbs modifying nouns in Southeast Asia Huayu with reference to early Mandarin and Putonghua. We divide the history of Huayu grammar into three phases based on linguistic facts and existing studies: the first phase , the second phase , and the third phase (1980-present

Diachronic Changes of Degree Adverbs
Modifying Nouns

The Consistency of Early Huayu and Early Mandarin
Diao Yanbin [10] investigated the situation of degree adverbs modifying nouns in early Mandarin 2 , and there are not only many use cases, but also different functions in sentences, which can be subdivided into predicates, adverbials and attributives, etc. By searching https://www.neohytung.com/, we can also see some use cases of degree adverbs modifying nouns, see examples: (1)如因经费困难，不能特聘专人，可择教员中对于 图书馆事务最兴趣最有研究者使之兼任主任，馆员则非用 专人不可，以免各种事务之废弛。 ( 《晨报副刊》 《1925) (1) if it is not possible to hire a special person due to financial difficulties, the one who is most interested in library affairs and has the most research among the faculty members can be chosen to be the director, while the librarian must be a special person to avoid the waste of various affairs. (Morning Post Supplement, 1925) (2)我看了这部书，很难于下何等判语。似乎这位非 常诗人的绝顶天才，已见中和。 ( 《晨报副刊》 ，1923) (2) I have read this book, and it is difficult for me to make any judgment. It seems that the supreme genius of this extraordinary poet has been neutralized. (Morning Post Supplement, 1923) (3)等时髦调头，如果像这样的谈法，不就太"直觉" 了吧。 ( 《独立漫画》 ，1935) (3) When the fashion turns around, if we talk like this, it would be too "intuitive", right? (Independent Comics, 1935) The (9)他本来说得很长篇，不过初时没有注意他，不能 完全的领略，真正抱憾得很。 ( 《新国民杂志》 ，1922) (9) He originally spoke at great length, but at first I did not pay attention to him and could not fully grasp it. He really regretted it. (New National Magazine, 1922) (10)兄弟十分愿望南洋的华侨对于祖家，任他怎样的 天崩地裂，我们也要慈母疼爱儿女那样爱他。 ( 《荒岛》 ， 1927) (10) My brother very much hopes that the overseas Chinese in Nanyang will love their ancestral family as a loving mother loves her children, no matter how much the sky and the earth may fall apart. (Deserted Island, 1927) (11)我们日常在报章上看到的马来亚各地通讯，大都 颇为简单呆板枯燥，而且很少能够把各地最本质的特征事 件报道出来。 ( 《世纪风》 ，1939) (11) The communications from various parts of Malaya that we see in the newspapers are mostly simple, dull and boring, and it is rare to report the most essential characteristic events in each region. (Century Wind, 1939) (12)上面只是很原则地举了马来亚戏剧要走的道路的 一点点。 ( 《今日剧影》 ，1937) (12) The above is just a very principled list of the path to be taken by Malayan drama. (Drama Shadows Today, 1937) According to the above examples, the degree adverb modifying nouns can be used as complements, predicates, attributives, and adverbials in sentences.

The Diachronic Changes of Huayu in Three Stages
Through the investigation of the three stages of Huayu, it can be seen that the centuries-old Huayu has not only inherited this form, but also has shown an upward trend in terms of the number of uses from less to more, the frequency from low to high, and the range of uses from narrow to wide. Specifically, it is reflected in the following two aspects: First, from the perspective of quantity, degree adverbs can be combined with more abstract nouns, such as "the most capable, the most accustomed, the most economical, the most emotional, very hopeful, very secret, very regular, very stressful, very loving, very divisive, very conceptual, too pedantic, too ladylike", etc. The ratio of use cases in the three stages is 69:77:122, and one example for each is as follows: (13) 我这么横语纵言必然开罪了多么蚜儿， 实是不然， 除非他们太自尊，恐怕没有气力像我祖宗为着饭的奋斗。 ( 《荒岛》 ，1927) (13) I am inevitably offended many aphids by speaking so freely, but it is not, unless they are so self-respect that they do not have the strength to fight for food as my ancestors did. The third stage refers to an increase in the use of personal nouns, with a ratio of 3:7 between the two preceding and following stages, see examples: (17)反观拜登形象虽比特朗普更"君子"，无奈始终摆 脱不了奥巴马的影子。 ( 《星洲日报》 ，2020) (17) On the contrary, even though Biden's image is more "gentleman" than Trump, he still can't get rid of Obama's shadow. (Sin Chew Daily, 2020) (18)你看行动党，当他们在 1965 年成立时，其实是 新加坡人民行动党的支部，他们"非常华人"，但之后行动 党觉悟到在马来西亚你不可以表现得像新加坡行动党。 (同上) (18) Look at the Action Party, when they were formed in 1965, they were actually a branch of the Singapore People's Action Party, they were "very Chinese", but then the Action Party realized that you can't behave like the Singapore Action Party in Malaysia. ( (20) When students are naughty and mischievous as children, they become even more badass in their senior years, not only fighting and causing trouble, but also daring to oppose teachers. (Wen Dao, 1984) In addition, the use case of "degree adverb + person's name" also appears, see examples: (21)有一位杨子江院长对《演讲纵横》的评论如下： "此书很'王一平'：故事多而趣,功课浅白易上手,实在是每 一个上台的人必读之物。"( 《百合文集》 ，2011) (21) President Yang Zijiang's review of Speech Vertical is as follows: "This book is very 'Wang Yiping': the stories are many and interesting, the homework is shallow and easy to follow, and it is really a must-read for everyone who goes on stage." (Lily Anthology, 2011) There are many similar forms in Putonghua, of which the most common and most noticeable is "very Lei Feng", see examples: (22)调查显示，近九成被访者认为奉献社会是当今最 需要的雷锋精神，但实践雷锋精神有了创新的方式，如微 博转发、网络投票等也被认为"很雷锋"。(《羊城晚报》 ， 2012) (22) According to the survey, nearly 90% of the respondents believe that contributing to the society is the most needed spirit of Lei Feng today, but there are innovative ways to practice the spirit of Lei Feng, such as microblog forwarding and online voting, which are also considered "very Lei Feng". ( Society, 1993) There are two possible sources of this form in Huayu: first, the analogy of the old usage, in the second stage of the corpus, the adverb of degree plus a noun referring to a person, such as "more hunter", which is further expanded in this stage; second, the influence of the works of Hong Kong and Taiwan and Putonghua, etc. Diao Yanbin [12] listed some similar usages in the works of Hong Kong and Taiwan, such as "how Venus" and so on. In addition, Wang Huidi [13] indicated that "China's Taiwan, China's Hong Kong, China's Macau, Singapore and Malaysia are geographically close to each other, and all share the same capitalist system and values, thus forming a Huayu usage circle. Due to advanced technology, convenient information transmission, and frequent folk contacts, the languages have been in a state of active interaction and complementarity for a long time, and the exchange of words is extensive, fast, and frequent. New words and phrases produced in any of the five regions, which immediately spread to the remaining four regions through media or film and television works, etc., usually settle locally, are accepted by local language users, and become words shared by the five regions." Chew Chenghai [14] also indicated that before China's reform and opening up, all ethnic Chinese communities (including Europe, America, Southeast Asia, China's Hong Kong and Macao, etc.) had close ties with China's Taiwan, and most intellectuals in the Huayu regions had received their tertiary education in China's Taiwan, and many scholars in Taiwan also went to the Huayu regions to work in education, and the influence of Taiwan Mandarin on the global Huayu was great.
As can be seen, Huayu and Putonghua share the same performance: on the one hand, degree adverbs can be combined with a large number of abstract nouns; on the other hand, degree adverbs can be paired with nouns referring to persons, time, and premises, etc.
From the above investigation of degree adverbs modifying nouns, it can be seen that this grammatical phenomenon already existed in early Huayu, in line with early Mandarin, and has undergone a process of development and evolution from small to large in number and from narrow to wide in scope Over the past century, and they have become a relatively common way of expression in contemporary Huayu and Putonghua.
conclusions can be drawn.
First, the phenomenon of degree adverbs modifying nouns has been inherited in Southeast Asia Huayu, which belongs to the development type of "full-scale", that is, it is used in all three stages without a "break".
Second, degree adverbs can be combined with more abstract nouns in the century-old Huayu, and the range of nouns modified by them has been expanded, showing an upward development trend.
Third, the use of degree adverbs modifying nouns in Huayu, Putonghua, and Mandarin has remained more consistent in a global Huayu perspective, indicating a trend of gradual integration.