When you devoted yourself to learning Mandarin Chinese, you may find some words meanings inChinese language are narrowed. As a matter of fact, the narrowing of the words meanings indicates that the scope of the objective things that the words indicate is changed from the large scope to the smaller range. It is reflected in the objective things of the same sememe has been narrowed.
Of course, we can understand it as that the scope of the objects that the words summarizes is narrowed. That is to say, the original meaning of a certain word had a very wide concept but it is narrowed into a smaller scope. In the past, the words might be used to make a general reference. At present, the things refer to particular thing. In order to help the students who learn to speak Chinese have a better understanding on the narrowing of words meanings, the following examples are provided.
In the past, the word为了indicates two aspects of contents, the reason and purpose. However, it only means the purpose. Originally, the range of 肉includes the meat of the birds and beasts. In today, life, if there is no determiner before 肉, it usually means the pork. This is the example of narrowing the words meanings. In addition, it was not used for person’s body, but it does now. This case should be the example of expanding the scope of words meanings.
The word 臭originally meant the smell generally but it is the opposite of 香. When you study Mandarin online, you may learn the word 金 which originally meant all kinds of metals in ancient times but it is specified to indicate the metal gold in modern Chinese. With the original meaning of everything, 勾当means only the bad things in today’s life. By this token, when the meaning of certain word is narrowed, the narrowed meaning is included in the original one which can reflect one aspect of the objective things in origin.
In fact, the causes of the narrowing of words meanings in Chinese language are the development of people’s knowledge and the consolidation of the words using. When people get used to express certain thing with specific word, it is easy to build the one-on-one correspondence between them. In this way, the things belonged to the scope of the word might be replaced by other words.