From the perspective of written language materials,in modern Chinese,there was a clear differ-ence between"xian"and"xuan"in the"time domain"before the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty."Xian"was a noun of time that mainly represents meanings such as"present"and"present moment"."Xuan"was an adverb of time and can be divided into two parts:"xuan1"indicated"im-mediately"and other meanings;"xuan2"meaned"just","on the spot","temporary"and so on.Since the late Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty,the boundary between"xian"and"xuan"had become blurred,and"xian"had gradually replaced"xuan".The relevant meanings and adverbial usage of"xuan1"and"xu-an2"in different contexts are assumed by"xian".After completing the substitution,"xian"also gave rise to new meanings such as"for a special purpose",which was transformed from adverb of time into adverb of manner.
万方数据