Danshi/dan(但是/但)is a pair of conjunctions expressing transitional meaning in Chinese.In the literature,there are many studies focusing on 1)the semantic relationship between the components before and after them,2)their pragmatic functions,and 3)their diachronic development.Both lexical items are generally assumed to be located at the beginning of the second clause(the following clause)to introduce an opposite meaning to the meaning or presupposition of the first clause(the previous clause).In this case,the content after danshi/dan is where the semantic focus is.Additionally,they would also be used for expressing a change of mood.In this paper,a different view is taken to suggest that danshi/dan in the legislative genre does not mainly express a change in meaning and mood in most cases,and that they don't function as the semantic focus marker,either.They are not subjective.In order to better explain this phenomenon,we chose 16 laws in 7 branches,and conducted a comprehensive analysis on the semantic relationships between the components connected by danshi/dan.Based on an extensive corpus investigation,we first categorize their usages into 6 types,which indicates 6 different usage contexts,with each described in detail.Second,in support of the"flat"and paratactic characteristics of Chinese sentences,this paper argues for a unified explanation for these usages,suggesting that danshi/dan in the legislative language can express a variety of semantic relations,within which two factors are crucial:1)the stylistic feature of legislative language is essentially a description of abstract situations(Zhang 2007).To be more specific,it involves categorizing and explaining different situations.Categorizing the situations itself can be complex in terms of semantics,and when it comes to explaining them,the semantics would become even more complex,making it easier to form nested structures.2)The fundamental characteristic of Chinese syntax is its paratactic nature,which requires Chinese sentences to be flat.Then,when the semantic complexity leads to nested structures,it needs to be flattened.The use of danshi/dan in the legislative language is a means of flattening sentences.With the help of danshi/dan,legal provisions can express the original complex semantic in short and juxtaposed sentences,thus avoiding the use of hierarchical complex sentences.This,once again,proves that the Chinese logic is expressed by juxtaposition in Chinese grammar,as proposed by Shen(2014).
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