Abstract:

The category of animacy consists of two sub-categori es of animacy and unanimacy, both of which manifest themselves differently in vocabulary and grammar. In a lexemic stratum, the animacy category manifests itself mainly as a n antagonism between lexemic units. In a lexical stratum, it shows an antagonism between affix and word-formation. In a grammatical stratum, it displays an antagonism between with and without substantive marks and between masculine and feminine words. In addition, it manifests the proficiency of acting mainly as a key case or periphery case. In a syntax stratum, the animacy and the degree of anima cy of substantive words and predicate words put a macro restraint on the word order as well as a micro restraint on the syntax composition.

Key words: animacy category, manifestation, Chinese, lexicon, m orphology, syntax