Volitive Modalverben im Deutschen und im modernen Chinesisch

Abstract

Abstract This article deals with the semantic differences and similarities between the volitive modal verbs in German and modern Chinese. The research questions of the article are: How is the intentionality of volitive modal verbs located in modern Chinese? What are the differences in their location in German and in modern Chinese? The four Chinese modal verbs xiǎng 想, yào 要, kĕn 肯 and yuànyì 愿意 are contrasted with the German volitive modal verbs wollen and mögen by numerous examples from the CCL corpus (The Corpus of Center of Chinese Linguistics at the University of Peking) with a corresponding translation. In this way, it enables a deeper understanding of the volitive modal verbs in both languages. In this respect, the contribution can be helpful both for language teachers who teach Chinese as a foreign language and for researchers in the field of contrastive linguistics.