| Acknowledgements | 第1-9页 |
| Abstract | 第9-11页 |
| 内容摘要 | 第11-13页 |
| Chapter One Introduction | 第13-22页 |
| ·Rationale of the present study | 第14-17页 |
| ·Data and Methodology | 第17-19页 |
| ·The data | 第17-19页 |
| ·Methodology | 第19页 |
| ·Objectives of the present study | 第19-21页 |
| ·Organization of the present study | 第21-22页 |
| Chapter Two Literature Review | 第22-33页 |
| ·Previous study on coordinating conjunctions in Mandarin | 第22-24页 |
| ·Theories related to the research | 第24-33页 |
| ·Historical pragmatics | 第24-27页 |
| ·(Inter)subjectification and unidirectionality | 第27-29页 |
| ·Semantic Change | 第29-32页 |
| ·The Invited Inferencing Theory of Semantic Change (IITSC) | 第30页 |
| ·Metaphorization and metonymization | 第30-32页 |
| ·Interim Summary | 第32-33页 |
| Chapter Three Prepositional GEN vs. Conjunctional GEN | 第33-38页 |
| ·Syntactic devices | 第34-36页 |
| ·Semantic devices | 第36-38页 |
| Chapter Four The Diachronic Evolution of GEN | 第38-64页 |
| ·Data, distribution of GEN and methodology | 第38-40页 |
| ·Main meanings of GEN | 第40-43页 |
| ·Historical development of GEN | 第43-59页 |
| ·GEN in Old Chinese | 第44-45页 |
| ·GEN in Middle Chinese | 第45-46页 |
| ·GEN in Early Mandarin | 第46-58页 |
| ·GEN in the Song and Yuan Dynasty | 第47-51页 |
| ·GEN in the Ming and Qing Dynasty | 第51-58页 |
| ·GEN in Modern Chinese | 第58-59页 |
| ·Subjectification in the semantic change of GEN | 第59-64页 |
| Chapter Five Mechanisms of Semantic Change | 第64-70页 |
| ·Metaphorization, metonymization and subjectification | 第64-67页 |
| ·The relationship among these three mechanisms | 第67-70页 |
| Chapter Six Conclusion | 第70-72页 |
| ·Major findings of the study | 第70-71页 |
| ·Limitations and implications of the study | 第71-72页 |
| References | 第72-77页 |
| Appendix Periods in Chinese History | 第77页 |
