THE SEMANTIC OPPOSITION OF THE PARTICLES 才 AND 就

Abstract

The article systematically analyzes the semantic opposition between the particles 才 (cái) and 就 (jiù) in Modern Chinese. It is demonstrated that these two particles consistently form a polar semantic opposition in terms of time, quantity, condition, emphasis, and their combination with the sentence-final particle 了: 才 denotes a point that is lower than or later than the expected norm, whereas 就 denotes a point that is higher than or earlier than the expected norm. The unified scalar basis of this opposition and its incomplete symmetry (asymmetry) are discussed, and the correspondence of their meanings in the Uzbek language is examined