Английская Википедия:Classical Chinese grammar

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Шаблон:Short description Classical Chinese grammar is the grammar of Classical Chinese, a term that first and foremost refers to the written language of the classical period of Chinese literature, from the end of the Spring and Autumn period (early 5th century BC) to the foundation of the Qin dynasty (221 BC),Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn or in a broader sense, to the end of the Han dynasty (AD 220).Шаблон:Sfn The term "Classical Chinese" is also often used for the higher language register used in writing during most of the following centuries (a register generally referred to by sinologists as "Literary Chinese"); however, this article focuses on the grammar used in the classical period.

The present article uses modern Mandarin character readings following common practice among scholars, even though it is also possible to read Classical Chinese using the literary readings of other modern Chinese varieties (as commonly done in Hong Kong, where Cantonese readings are generally used), or even using a reconstruction of character readings belonging to centuries past.

Compared to the written vernacular Chinese of today, the most notable difference is that Classical Chinese rarely uses words composed of two Chinese characters; nearly all words are written with one character only. This stands directly in contrast with vernacular Chinese, in which two-character words are extremely common. This phenomenon exists, in part, because as sound changes created homophones among words, compounding was used to resolve ambiguities.

Typology

Unlike Old Chinese, Classical Chinese has long been noted for the absence of inflectional morphology: nouns and adjectives do not inflect for case, definiteness, gender, specificity or number; neither do verbs inflect for person, number, tense, aspect, telicity, valency, evidentiality or voice. However, in terms of derivational morphology, it makes use of compounding, reduplication and perhaps affixation, although not in a productive way.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn There is also an extensive use of zero-derivation.

The basic constituent order of Classical Chinese is subject-verb-object (SVO),Шаблон:Sfn but is not fully consistent: there are particular situations where the VS and OV word orders appear. Topic-and-comment constructions are often used. Neither a topic, nor the subject nor objects are mandatory, being often dropped when their meaning is understood (pragmatically inferable), and copular sentences often do not have a verb.

Within a noun phrase, demonstratives, quantifying determiners, adjectives, possessors and relative clauses precede the head noun, while cardinal numbers can appear before or after the noun they modify. Within a verb phrase, adverbs usually appear before a verb. The language, as analyzed in this article, uses coverbs (in a serial verb construction) and postpositions. Classical Chinese makes heavy use of parataxis where English would use a dependent clause;Шаблон:Sfn however, there are means to form dependent clauses, some of which appear before the main clause while others appear after. There are also a number of sentence-final particles.

Two simple coordinated nouns can be joined with a conjunction, but this is not always the case. This, combined with the fact that two nouns in a possessor-possessed construction are not always marked for their functions either, can lead to ambiguity: Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl (literally: "mountain forest") could mean either "mountains and forests" or "the forest of a mountain".Шаблон:Sfn

With the absence of inflectional morphology, Classical Chinese is largely a zero-marking language, except that possessors and relative clauses are usually dependent-marked with a grammatical particle.

Negation is achieved by placing a negative particle before the verb. Yes–no questions are marked with a sentence-final particle, while wh-questions are marked with in-situ interrogative pronouns. There are a number of passive constructions, but passives are sometimes not marked differently from active constructions, at least when written.Шаблон:Sfn

The Classical Chinese lexicon has been traditionally divided into two large categories: content words (Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl, literally: "substantial words") and function words (Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl, literally: "empty words").Шаблон:Sfn Scholars of Classical Chinese grammar notably disagree on how to further divide these two categories exactly, but a classification using word classes similar to those of Latin (noun, adjective, verb, pronoun, etc.) has been common.Шаблон:Sfn However, this remains debated, as many words can be used as multiple parts of speech. Examples shown below.

Word class flexibility

Verbs

While an English sentence can be divided into active voice or passive voice depending on the form of the verb within the sentence, the verbs in classical Chinese have several usages based on the relationship between the verb and the object. These are separated into Шаблон:Transl usage (Шаблон:Zh; original meaning), Шаблон:Transl usage (Шаблон:Zh), Шаблон:Transl usage (Шаблон:Zh), and Шаблон:Transl (Шаблон:Zh; "passive") usage.Шаблон:Clarify Moreover, a verb does not change its form at different situations, with the exception of the beidong usage of verbs. Within the examples shown below, the words located within parentheses do not appear in the original Chinese sentence.

Yidong (意動) usage

In classical Chinese, it is common for nouns or adjectives to be used as verbs or adjectives, and most of these cases involve a yidong usage of verbs. One peculiarity is that a word that is originally a verb does not share the same usage. In addition, there are slight differences in meaning between the noun and the adjective in the usage.

For a noun, it becomes an action done by the subject which indicates the subjects opinion about the object in the form "consider (object) as + (the noun)". Шаблон:Fs interlinear

For an adjective, it becomes an observation in the form of "consider (object) (the adjective)". Шаблон:Fs interlinear

Shidong (使動) usage

In this case, nouns, verbs and adjectives share usage, but with different meanings.

For a noun, it means "make ... + (the noun)". For instance: Шаблон:Fs interlinear

Literal translation: (Fulfilling the agreement that) the person who defeated the Qin dynasty and entered Xianyang first, [people] would king him.
(Note: Such scenarios are rare, though historical cases exist in ancient China. The translation of the sentence is rather controversial; the interpretation provided above represents the most widespread consensus.)

For a verb, it could mean "make... + do/done/to do", depending on the sentence. For instance:

Literal translation: (The music was so sad that) cry the widow in a lonely boat
Semantic translation: (The music was so sad that it) made the widow in a lonely boat cry.

For an adjective, it means "make... + (the adjective)". For instance:

Literal translation: Since you have been here, then calm yourself here
Semantic translation: Since you have been here, make yourself calm here.

Weidong (爲動) usage

The following examples demonstrate weidong usage of verbs. Such usage may occur:

  • to express a motion that is based on a purpose. For instance:
Шаблон:Lang
Literal translation: It's equally death (delay for work and protest the rule of the Qin dynasty), is die country an option?
Semantic translation: It's death in any case, is dying for the country an option?
  • to express an action due to a particular reason. For instance:
Шаблон:Lang
Literal translation: He suffer(v.) cough
Semantic translation: He suffered from a cough.
  • to help the object do something. For instance:
Шаблон:Lang
Literal translation: Himself introduction his own poem
Semantic translation: He wrote the introduction to his own poem .
  • to execute a motion to the object. For instance:
Шаблон:Lang
Literal translation: Cry it for three days
Semantic translation: Cry over it for three days.

Pronouns

Pronouns can be separated into the following groups:

Personal pronouns
1st person Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl, Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl, Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl, Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl, Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl
2nd person Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl, Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl, Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl, Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl
3rd person Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl (accusative), Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl (genitive)

Classical Chinese did not distinguish number in some of its pronouns, for example, Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl could mean either 'I, me' or 'we, us'. There was no 3rd-person personal pronoun form that could be used in subject position, but the distal demonstrative Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl 'that, those' and the anaphoric demonstrative Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl frequently take that role.Шаблон:Sfn

The use of some nouns as pronoun-like terms is also attested. Common examples in texts are the humble Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl 'servant' in the 1st person, and Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl 'son; master' in the 2nd person.

Classical Chinese interrogative pronouns and adverbs are notably polysemic, many of them bearing multiple meanings.

Interrogative pronouns
and adverbsШаблон:Sfn
Classical
Chinese		 Translation
Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl who
Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl which
Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl what, why, how
Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl when, what
Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl, Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl where, how, why
Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl, Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl where, how
Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl why not
Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl where, in what

An example where this polysemy is exploited is found in a tale in the Zhuangzi (chapter 17). Zhuangzi is asked "how do you know this?" (with the interrogative Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl), but being unable to answer the question, intentionally misinterprets it as "where did you (get to) know this?".[1]

Core constituent order

The usual order of core constituents in Classical Chinese is subject, verb, and direct object (SVO).Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

Шаблон:Fs interlinear

Important exceptions to this basic order exist.Шаблон:Sfn When a verb is negated, a personal pronoun serving as the direct object is placed between the negative particle and the verb, leading to OV order.Шаблон:Sfn

Шаблон:Fs interlinear

Interrogative pronouns similarly generally precede the verb when they're the direct object.

Шаблон:Fs interlinear

Exclamatory sentences, often but not necessarily marked with Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl, can optionally invert the order of the predicate's verbal phrase and the subject, leaving the subject afterwards.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

Шаблон:Fs interlinear

Шаблон:Fs interlinear

In the latter example, the predicate's verbal phrase is Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl "to be/lie where", while the following words (until Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl) are the subject.

When the topic-and-comment construction is used, the topic phrase (which expresses what a sentence "is about": "Regarding this person...", "As for this thing...") goes at the front (start) of the sentence, often but not always marked with a topic particle, alternatively repeated by a resumptive pronoun.

Шаблон:Fs interlinear

Шаблон:Fs interlinear

Copular sentences

Classical Chinese typically does not use a copula verb to express positive nominal predication ("X is a/the Y"). Instead, it places two noun phrases (one of which could be a pronoun) followed by a final particle, usually Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl.Шаблон:Sfn The particle can be omitted but rarely is.Шаблон:Sfn

Шаблон:Fs interlinear

Шаблон:Fs interlinear

It is the above kind of sentence, with Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl serving to repeat the topic as a resumptive pronoun, that later led to the use of Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl as a copula (already in texts of the early Han dynastyШаблон:Sfn).

However, Classical Chinese did not lack copula verbs, as it not only had the negative copula Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl (used to express "X is not Y"), but also the positive Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Transl.Шаблон:Sfn The final particle is commonly optional when these verbs are used.

Шаблон:Fs interlinear

Шаблон:Fs interlinear

Шаблон:Fs interlinear

Шаблон:Fs interlinear

Шаблон:Fs interlinear

See also

References

Шаблон:Reflist

Sources

Further reading

Шаблон:Language grammars

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  1. ↑ Шаблон:Cite web
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