A Study on the Types, Mechanisms, and Socio-Cultural Motivations of Semantic Evolution in Sino-Vietnamese Words

Sino-Vietnamese words constitute an important component of the Vietnamese lexical system and are also a significant product of the long-term linguistic and cultural exchange between China and Vietnam. During historical development, a large number of Sino-Vietnamese words underwent varying degrees of semantic change in Vietnamese, forming complex and diverse phenomena of semantic evolution. Taking Sino-Vietnamese words in modern Vietnamese as the research object, this paper employs diachronic comparison, semantic analysis, and language contact theory to systematically investigate the major types of semantic evolution, patterns of semantic reconstruction, and their socio-cultural motivations. The study finds that semantic evolution in Sino-Vietnamese words mainly manifests in three basic forms: semantic extension, semantic narrowing, and semantic shift. Under the combined influence of language contact and socio-cultural transformation, some Sino-Vietnamese words have undergone significant semantic reconstruction. 

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