Origin of ZHE 者 in early archaic-Chinese 11th century BC – 6th century BC Yumei CHI Ph.D in Sciences du langage Centre de Recherches Linguistiques sur l’Asie Orientale Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales

Plan of the presentation • Why ‘ZHE’? – General studies regarding the origins and evolutions of structural particle ‘DE 的’ of modern Chinese.

• Focusing on the archaic Chinese, the studies are dedicated to ‘ZHI’ and ‘ZHE’ being the earliest structural particles. - 1. Pre-archaique Chinese : Origin and evolution of ‘ZHI’. - 2. Early-archaic Chinese 2.1 Evolutions of the functions of ZHI 2.2 Appearance and evolutions of the functions of ZHE • Conclusion of the ‘origin of ZHE in early-archaic Chinese’

Origin of ZHE in early archaicChinese -- Yumei CHI

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Why ‘ZHE’? General view to the mains functions of structural particle ‘DE 的’ of modern Chinese Part.a : ‘N + DE + N’ Ex : 中国的水稻 •China DE rice •Rice of (from) China

Part. a’ : ‘Nom +DE’ Ex : 破铜烂铁的 •Broken cooper broken iron DE. •Those things which are the broken cooper and broken iron.

Part b : ‘Adj +DE+N’ Ex : 红色的气球 •Red DE ballon •The red ballon

Part. b’: ‘Adj +DE’ Ex : 美丽的 满满的 •Beautiful DE, full DE. •The one which is beautiful, the one which is full.

Part.c :’V(VP)+DE+ N’ Ex :谁买的书 ？ •Who buy DE Livre? • Who is the one has bought this book?.

Part.c’ : ‘V (VP) + DE’ Ex : 买菜的 吃的 •Buy vegetable DE, eat DE. •The person who has purchased the vegetable, the person who eats.

Origin of ZHE in early archaicChinese -- Yumei CHI

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Effected researches in the past general studies regarding the origins of ‘DE’ • Origins of ‘DI 底’, embryo of ‘DE 的’.

•

• 3 schools: – ‘DI’, from ‘ZHI 之’ – ‘DI’, from ‘ZHE 者’ – ‘DI, derived from ‘DI 底’ as locative pronoun, contamined by ‘SUO 所’ et ‘XU 许’.

•

•

WANG Li (王力 1958). Mei Tsu-lin (梅 祖麟 1988) – Phonetic derived from ‘ZHI’, according to Wang Li. – Mei thinks that ‘DI’ was contaminated by the functions of ‘ZHE’ Lü Shuxiang (吕淑湘 1943) – Come from ‘ZHE’ – FENG Chuntian (冯春田 1990): DI replaces ZHE, was derived from demonstrative pronoun (PD) DI 底 JIANG Lansheng (江蓝生 1999) – Derived from locative pronoun (PL) DI 底 which has gone through a reanalyse of locative pronoun ‘SUO 所’ and ‘XU 许’?

Origin of ZHE in early archaicChinese -- Yumei CHI

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Problematic of the previous researches General studies of ‘DE’ • The explications till then accepted, are the kinds of ‘genetic’, furthermore, ‘vegetal genetic’ [1]

•

[1] The use of such term excludes nevertheless all the

references to the theory ‘Genetic language’, it is just a matter of a metaphor referring that the grammatical evolution is provoked by the internal elements.

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Objective of this study General studies to ‘DE’ • Besides of the ‘hereditary’, ‘genetic’ birth, is there any derivation provoked by the interactions of several origins, such as the mechanism of ‘parallelism’ (reciprocal strategy), starting from the same origin, or from the interaction between two or several origins. – That means, it is a matter to know if a ‘bio-merged’ birth proves to be possible.

• Beyond this, if the evolutions do not interpret merely in a perspective of ‘biotransformation’, but also that they could be the product of the ‘socio-cultural’ actions. Origin of ZHE in early archaicChinese -- Yumei CHI

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Diachronic approach General studies of ‘DE’ • Studies of the corpus representing the vernacular language, or having the vernacular passages. – From the pre-archaic till the late-medieval Chinese (14th century BC – 6th century BC), in crossing the eras of early-archaic (11th 6th century BC), late-archaic (5th -3rd century BC), pre-medieval (3rd century BC – 3rd century AD), and early –medieval (3rd century -6th century AD).

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Conclusions to the general studies of ‘DE’ 1.

2.

The first stage of the evolution of the studied particle, which the author would identify as ‘regular’ and ‘genetic’, is composed by the arrivals and the evolutions of the traditional particles ‘ZHI 之 and ZHE 者’, started since the early-archaic Chinese. The evolution of these traditional particles is realized through reanalysis, analogy and the grammaticalization. Till late-medieval Chinese, the functions of the traditional particles ZHI 之 and ZHE 者established stability and maturity, together, the two assume the 6 functions as the role of structural particles. Meanwhile, the abrupt and atypical arrival of DI 底 is observed, which covers also these 6 functions. According to the author, this determines the second stage of the evolution of the structural particle ‘DE’ (embryo ‘DI’).

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Focusing on the archaic Chinese, the studies are dedicated to ‘ZHI’ and ‘ZHE’ • This presentation is aiming to describe our discoveries to the early archaic Chinese, but not to recall the final result which refers to the late-medieval Chinese. SO… (let’s go to the next slide)

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Applied diachronic approach Focus on the archaic period data •

Pre-archaic Chinese: – Inscription on shells (dated on 14 century BC), reported in “A concordance to fascicle three of inscriptions from the Yin ruins. 殷墟文字丙编通检” (K.TAKASHIMA 1986 ) Note: The inscription on shells 甲骨文, an archaeological discovery since 1920, is dated in 14 century BC. It is consecrated to the description of the divinatory ceremonies.

•

Early –archaic Chinese: – Inscription on bronze (from 1046 BC to 221 BC) reported in “Collections of the inscription on bronze of YIN ZHOU殷周金文集成引得”. (张亚初 2001) – Text of “Book of Odes” (1046 BC -476 BC), reported in “A concordance to SHI JING 诗经索引 » (吕岚陈宏天 1984). Note: – Inscription on bronze is for the use of the ritual ceremony dated since 11th century to 3rd century BC. – As for the ‘Book of Odes’, it is a collection of ritual, aristocratic and folk odes since 11th century to 5th century BC.

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Studies dedicated to ‘ZHI’ and ‘ZHE’ of Archaic Chinese Method of Analysis

• Analysis of the data from targeted corpus referring the vernacular language passage of the different eras: pre-archaic and early-archaic. • Diachronic comparisons – Comparisons should be affected to each particle: ‘ZHI’, ‘ZHE’ etc. • Theoretical support (cognitive linguistic)

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1. Pre-archaique Chinese Origin and evolution of ‘ZHI’ • At the beginning, merely ‘ZHI 之’ exists • Functions of ZHI:

ZHI Verb ‘to go’ Reanalysis

ZHI Verbe ‘to stop at (somewhere) Grammaticalisation

– Verb (V) – Locative pronoun (PL) – Demonstrative pronoun (PD)

ZHI Locative pronoun ‘there’

• The function of particle hasn’t been observed.

ZHI Demonstrative pronoun ‘That’ Origin of ZHE in early archaicChinese -- Yumei CHI

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Theoretical analysis Why ‘ZHI’ is a verb 1.

2. 3. 4.

Traugott (Hopper and TRAUGOTT 2003, p. 33) suggested that there are semantic/pragmatic factors in grammaticalisation that lead to unidirectionalities of change, specifically tendencies leading from concrete meanings to more abstract ones, and in particular to ones grounded in the speaker’s assessment of connections between propositions. Yue (Yue 1998) shows a possibility of demonstrative pronoun ‘ZHI’ coming from a motion verb is probable, even plausible. WU Fuxiang (吴福祥 2007 ) give an evidence with the example HOU 后 (back), which has realized the transformation from a motion verb to a locative word. The territory of YIN 殷 has been doubled during its reign of 254 years, due to the numerous conquests, which probably requested ‘to go’ in their divinatory texts. Origin of ZHE in early archaicChinese -- Yumei CHI

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Theoretical analysis Why ‘ZHI’ becomes a locative pronoun and a demonstrative pronoun? • Manfred Krifka M. (2001) : One important type of semantic change is that expressions denoting spatial notions are extended to cover other types of phenomena (cf. Traugott (1985) • Peyraube (2003) shows that during Pre-archaic Chinese, ‘the place word (locative pronouns) are presented directly by the nouns’ and ‘There are no fundamental differences between ordinary nouns and place words’.

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Pre-archaic Chinese- Data analysis of functions of ZHI

•

•

•

•

不其之 330 (4) – Bù qí zhī – NEG FUT Verb ‘go’ – Not to go?

王固曰：丙其雨之？331 (1) – Wáng gù yuē：bǐng qī yǔ zhī？ – Roi Gu Dire : Bing FUT can PL ‘there’ ? – King Gu says: In the saison of Bing, will it rain there?

•

之其凡？364 (1) – Zhī qí fán ? – Verb ‘Go’ FUT infringe ? – To go, will infringe (the desire of the heaven)

于之七月勿侑酒五伐？312 (4) – Yú zhī qí yuè wù yòu jiǔ wǔ fá ? – To be at PL ‘there’ the seventh month NEG presente alcool Wu-fa? – To be there in the seventh month, (and ) not to present the ceremony of alcohol of the type Wufa?

•

王勿隹（唯）之从276 (5) : – Wáng wù wéi zhī cóng – Kin NEG be like PD ‘that’ follow – It isn’t like that that the king will follow?

其曰之？193 (1), (3) – Qī yuē zhī ? – FUT tell PD ‘that’? – Will tell (us) that?

•

庚子启，之夕雨。477(2) – Gēng zǐ qǐ，zhī xī yǔ。 – Geng Zi (Season) start, PD ‘that’ evening rain – When the season Gengzi arrives, that evening, it will rain.

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2. Early-archaic Chinese 2.1 Evolutions of the functions of ZHI

Origin of ZHE in early archaicChinese -- Yumei CHI

,Z iy u Zh

PV

hi za

i

a t. Pa r

n.

90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Pr o

– Pronoun – Nominal particle (PV): ‘ZHI+V’ – Determinative particle (Part.a): ‘N1+ZHI+N2’

ZHI Oraculaire et Bronze

V

• Appearance of the determinative particle of the type a (Part.a) in the structure of ‘N1+ZHI+N2’, • Arrival of the nominal particle (PV) in the structure ‘ZHI+V(VP)’ • The functions of ZHI are composed of:

Oraculaire Bronze

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Theoretical analysis Why ‘ZHI’ becomes a nominal particle (PV) in the structure of ‘ZHI+V(VP)’ • Traugott (Traugott 2003) P111 : Full verb (verbe plein) > auxiliary (auxiliaire) > verbal clitic (enclos ‘bloc’ verbal) > verbal affix (affixe verbal). • Traugott estimates that ‘when 2 verbs form a verbal clitic’, semantically, the first verb will add the nuances of aspect, of direction to the proposition’.

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Early-archaic Chinese Origin of ZHI as nominal particle (PV) ZHI ZHI Verb ‘to ‘to go’ go’ Verb Reanalysis

Grammaticalisation

ZHI ZHI Verb ‘stop ‘stop at at (somewhere)’ (somewhere)’ Verb ZHI ZHI Locative pronoun pronoun ‘there’ ‘there’ Locative ZHI ZHI Nominalparticle particle(PV) (PV) Nominal Instructure structure‘ZHI ‘ZHI+V +V‘‘ In Origin of ZHE in early archaicChinese -- Yumei CHI

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Early-archaic Chinese Origin of ZHI as determinative particle (Part.a) ZHI 之 (Verb ‘to go’) Ré analyse

ZHI (verb ‘stop at’ ‘)

ZHI (Verb ‘to be at’)

Grammaticalisation

Grammaticalisation

ZHI ( Locative pronoun ‘there’) (N1)+ there (N1 那里)

ZHI (Preposition ‘in’ giving the subjective meaning of the destination.)

[N1 + ZHI ] + N2 = N1+ PPG (+ in) +N2 ZHI Part.a

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Early-archaic Chinese Analysis of the functions of ZHI in data •

•

•

余毕公之 之孙、吕伯之 之子 1.225 – Yú bì gōng zhī sūn、lǚ bó zhī zǐ – Yu Bi Master Part.a Grandson, Lu Master Part.a sons – The grandson of the Master Yu Bi, the son of the Master Lu. 蔡侯申之 之盥匜 16.10189 – Cài hóu shēn zhī guàn yí – Cai feudatory Shen Part.a wash (hand) container – The container (of the washing) of the feudatory of CAI (kingdom) named SHEN.

•

滕侯昃之 之造 (17.11079) – – –

蔡侯产之 之用剑 (18.11587) – – –

晋公之 之车 18.12028 – Jìn gōng zhī chē

Téng hóu zè zhī ī zào Teng feudatory PV manufacture Fabrication destined to the feudatory of the Kingdom TENG named ZE.

– Jin duke Part.a wagon – The wagon of the duke of JIN (Kingdom)

Origin of ZHE in early archaicChinese -- Yumei CHI

Cài hóu chăn zhī ī yòng jiàn Cai feudatory Chan PV utilize sword The use of the sword is destined to the feudatory of CAI named CHAN.

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2.2 Early-archaic Chinese Appearance and evolution of ZHE • •

•

•

Arrival of ZHE 者, is provoked in ‘parallelism (reciprocal strategy)’ belonging to analogy, by ZHI 之. Appearance of the functions of particles ZHE of the type b’(Part.b’) in structure ‘Adj+ZHE’, and type c’ (Part.c’) in architecture ‘V(VP)+ZHE’ . Increase of these two particles’ functions of ZHE in the ‘Book of Odes’, the second data source of the same period. Functions of ZHE in early-archaic Chinese: – Propre noun; -PD (Demonstrative pronoun plural); - PT (Temporal pronoun); - Part.c’ et Part.b’ (Particle of type c’ and type b’); Part.M (Modal particle)

In parallelism ‘analogy’

ZHI Verb ‘to go’

ZHE, probable verb ‘to go together’

ZHI PL (Locatif Pronoun), PD (Demonstrative Pronoun), PP (Personal Pronoun)

ZHE PDs (PL), PT (Temporal Pronoun)

Origin of ZHE in early archaicChinese -- Yumei CHI

ZHI PV (Nominal particle): ‘ZHI+V(VP)’), PV’

ZHE Part.c’, Part.b’

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Theoretical analysis How happens ‘parallelism (reciprocal strategy) ’ • Traugott (Traugott 2003). One important type of semantic change is that expressions denoting spatial notions are attended to cover other types of phenomena. • Manfred Krifka (Krifka 2001) This might point out that the experience of space has precedence over the experience of time.

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Theoretical analysis How ‘parallelism ’ works on the functions of pronouns between ‘ZHI’ and ‘ZHE’ In parallelism ‘analogy’

ZHI Verb ‘to go’

ZHE, probable verb ‘to go together’

ZHI PL (Locatif Pronoun ‘there’), PD (Demonstrative Pronoun ‘that’), PP (Personal Pronoun ‘he, she’)

ZHE PDs ‘those’ PT (Temporal Pronoun ‘at that moment’)

ZHI PV (Nominal particle):‘ZHI+V(VP)’, and PV’: ‘ZHI+Adj’ Origin of ZHE in early archaicChinese -- Yumei CHI

ZHE Part.c’, Part.b’ 23

Parallelism (reciprocal strategy) between ZHI and ZHE functions of demonstrative pronouns of ZHI and ZHE 1.

2.

3.

1. 以乐嘉宾、 朋友、者 者（诸）贤1.182 – Yǐ yuè jiā bīn、péng yóu、zhě ě xián – Yǒng băo yòng zhī – Make-happy wise guests, friends, PD (those) – Eternally preserve utilise PD ‘that’ people virtuous – Preserve and utilise it eternally. – Make happy the wise guests, friends, as well as those virtuous people. 后嗣用之 之 (15.9710) 2. 众卿事寮，众者 者(诸)君11.6016 – Hòu-sì yòng zhī – Zhòng qīng shì liáo，zhòng zhě ě jūn – Descendant utilise PD ‘that’ – Numerous dignitaries colleagues, numerous – The descendants will utilise it. PD (those) people of honour. – The numerous dignitaries and colleagues, 寡人非之 之，新君子之 之 (15.9734) those numerous people of honour. – Guă-rén fēi zhī，xīn jūn zǐ zhī 者老15.9713 – I not-to-be PD ‘like-that’, new man of 3. 用享孝于兄弟，婚媾，者 – Yòng xiáng xiào yú xiōng dì，hūn gòu，zhě ě lăo virtue (be) PD ‘like-that’. – Utilise take-advantage-of affiliate piety to brothers, – (If) I am not a such person, the new husbands-and-wives, PD (those) ancestors master will be so.

永保用之 之 (1.140)

–

Take advantage of the affiliate -piety, (in order that it will affect to) the brothers, the husbands and wives, and the ancestors.

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Theoretical analysis How ZHE becomes Temporal Pronoun (PT) • Traugott (Traugott 2003): One important type of semantic change is that expressions denoting spatial notions are attended to cover other types of phenomena. • Manfred Krifka (Krifka 2001): This might point out that the experience of space has precedence over the experience of time. – Because that ZHI 之 becomes locative pronoun ‘there’, thus, ZHE 者 will complete the sense of ‘those moment’, so it will be ‘at that moment’.

– Thus, an evolution from a locative pronoun to a temporal pronoun proves possible, thanks to a metaphor借喻. On the arrival of locative pronoun represented by ZHI, the birth of a temporal pronoun (PT) seems necessary, and this role will be assumed by ZHE. – ZHE is not directly derived from ZHI, but, ZHE is stimulated by ZHI in a mechanism of parallelism (reciprocal strategy belonging to analogy). ZHE is a product of parallelism provoked by ZHI.

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ZHE as PT (Temporal pronoun), stimulated by ZHI as PL (Locative Pronoun) Verb ‘to go’

ZHI Verb ‘to go’

ZHE Verb ‘to go together’

ZHI Locative pronoun ‘there ’

ZHE Temporal Pronoun ‘at that moment’

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Parallelism (reciprocal strategy) between ZHI (PL ) and ZHE (PT) 1.

2.

于之逊学 (1.121) 于之 – Yú zhī xún xué – To-be at PL ‘there’ humbly study. – To be there to study with the humble attitude. 而去之 之[1]游 （5.2840） – ér qù zhī yóu – so leave PL ‘there’ (go) travel – So, leave there to travel.

1.

2.

3. 3.

自之 之庇民 (1160.14) – Zì zhī bì mīn – From PL ‘there’ protect people. – From there to protect the people.

敢明扬告：昔者 者先王 （15 9734） – Găn míng yáng gào：xī zhě ě xiān wáng – Dare clear declare tell: past PT old king. – Dare clearly declare that in the past, (it was) the old king. 今者 者不乐，逝者 者其耋（秦风 车鄰126） – Jīn zhě bù lè，shì zhě qí dié – Now PT do-not enjoy, the-other-day (future) [1] PT FUT old. – (If you) don’t enjoy (the life) nowadays, at the moment when you will be old (and you will no more be happy) 始者 者不如今，云不我可[2] （小雅 何人斯 199） – Shǐ zhě bù rú jīn，yún bù wǒ kě – Beginning PT do-not like today, tell do-not I applaud – The time of the beginning wasn’t like today, (now) we applaud no more.

• [1] ZHI raise another possible interpretation, as the

•

verb ‘to go’. •

[1] SHE ZHE 逝者= TA RI 他日; 将来的时候, selon XIANG Xi 向熹 du « Shi Jing Ci Dian » [2] Equal to嘉

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Theoretical analysis How ZHE becomes particles in the type c’ (Part.c’) and b’ (Part.b’) • Traugott (Traugott 2003): One important type of semantic change is that expressions denoting spatial notions are attended to cover other types of phenomena. • YUE (Yue 1998) shows when ZHI 之assumes the role of a attributive marker ( equal to demonstrative particle , Part.a), it would exist another separated marker also having the function of nominalization, and then, there is a division of the tasks between two markers ZHI 之et ZHE 者 for these two roles. • However, we think that the functions of particle ZHE in the type b’ (Part.b’) and type c’ (Part. c’ )are stimulated by the functions of ZHI as nominal particle (PV). The analysis of this hypothesis will be exhibited in the next slide.

In parallelism

ZHI (PV) ‘ZHI+V(VP)’

Origin of ZHE in early archaicChinese -- Yumei CHI

ZHE (Part.b’) :‘Adj+ZHE’ or (Part.c’): ‘V(VP)+ZHE’

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Theoretical analysis How ZHE becomes particles of type b’ and type c’ • ZHI 之, as a nominal particle (PV) in the structure ‘ZHI+V’, aims to nominalize the post verb, and meanwhile, it will evoke subjectively the nuance of the aim, the destination of the verb, in bringing the implicit signification of : ‘a such action of the verb is destined to’. • Stimulated by ZHI of nominal particle (PV) with the parallelism, ZHE 者 as the particle of type b’ (Part.b’) in the structure ‘Adj+ZHE’ or the particle of the type c’ (Part.c’) in the architecture ‘V+ZHE’, will firstly nominalize the front verb or the front adjective, and ZHE will also add the nuance of ‘producer’, ‘conductor’ of the such action of the verb, or ‘director’, ‘the producer’ of the such situation of the adjective. • Thus, ZHE will attribute the sense of : ‘That (Those) who has conduct the action of the such verb, or that (those) who produce the situation of the such adjective.

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Parallelism (reciprocal strategy) between ZHI (PV: ‘ZHI+V’) et ZHE (Part.b’ : ‘Adj+ZHE’ and Part.c’: ‘V(VP)+ZHE’) 1.

滕侯昃之 之造 (17.11079) – Téng hóu zè zhī ī zào – Teng feudatory PV manufacture – Fabrication destined to the feudatory or the kingdom TENG called ZE.

2.

蔡侯产之 之用剑 (18.11587) – Cài hóu chăn zhī ī yòng jiàn – Cai feudatory Chan PV utilize sword – The utilization of the sword is destined to the feudatory CAI named CHAN.

3.

相邦义（张仪）之 之造 17.11394 – – –

1.

2.

进退讨伐者 者， 不行王命者 者。（16 10478） – Jìn tuì tăo fá zhě ě，bù xíng wáng mìng zhě ě。 – Go-ahead move-back conquer Part.c’, do-not execute (listen to) king order Part c’. – Those making conquest, doing the attack and the relapse, (as well as) those not listening to the royal order. 屯者 者曰陈纯 （16 10371） – Tún zhě ě yuē chén chún – Assemble Part.c’ name Chen-Chun – The gatherer names Chen-Chun.

Xiàng bāng yì（Zhāng Yí)zhī ī zào Xiang country Yi PV manufacture . Fabrication destined to YI of the country XIANG. Origin of ZHE in early archaicChinese -- Yumei CHI

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Parallelism (reciprocal strategy) between ZHI (PV: ‘ZHI+V’) et ZHE (Part.b’ : ‘Adj+ZHE’ and Part.c’: ‘V(VP)+ZHE’) 1.

智君子之 之用鉴[1]16.10288 – – –

1.

Zhì jūn zǐ zhī yòng Jiàn Distinguished sovereign PV utilize mirror The utilization of the mirror destined to the distinguished sovereign.

2.

曾侯乙之 之用戈 (17.11172) – – –

3.

Zēng hóu yǐ zhī yòng gē Zeng feudatory Yi PV utilize halberd The utilization of the halberd destined to the feudatory of ZENG named YI.

宋公差（佐）之 之所造茆族戈 17.11281 – – –

2.

知我者 者，谓我心忧，不知我者 者， 谓 我何求 （王风 黍离 65） – Zhī wǒ zhě，wèi wǒ xīn yōu， bù zhī wǒ zhě，wèi wǒ hé qiú – Know me Part.C’, tell I heart sad, do-not know me Part.c’, tell I what pursue – The one who knows me tells that my heart is sad, the one who doesn’t know me, ask what I pursue. 今夕何夕？见此粲者 者！（唐风绸缪 １１８） – Jīn xī hé xī？jiàn cǐ càn zhě！ – Today evening which evening? Meet this charming Part.b’. – Either this evening, or that evening, (I) will meet this charming lady.

Sòng gōng chāi (zuǒ) zhī suǒ zào máo zú gē SONG master Chai (Zuo) PV manufacture MAO clan halberd The fabrication of the halberd of the clan MAO is destined to the Master of SONG named ZUO. Origin of ZHE in early archaicChinese -- Yumei CHI

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Conclusion of the ‘origin of ZHE in early-archaic Chinese’ 1.

2.

This seems that ZHI 之arrived before ZHE 者. ZHI started as a full word, a verb symbolizing ‘to go’, then by a cognitive mechanism, it will go through several stages of derivations: • •

Firstly it becomes a locative pronoun (PL) ‘there’, and then transforms to the nominal particle (PV) in the structure ‘ZHI+V(VP)’ on the one side.

•

ZHI, as a nominal particle, aims to nominalize the post verb, and meanwhile, it will evoke subjectively the nuance of the aim, the destination of the verb, in bringing the implicit signification of : ‘a such action of the verb is destined to’.

On the other side, through ‘parallelism’ stimulation which belongs to ‘analogy’, ZHI will provoke the birth of the function of ZHE 者 • • • •

as full words, demonstrative pronoun (PD) standing for ‘those’ and temporal pronoun standing for ‘at that moment’, and finally, as the two structural particles (grammaticalized word) in the functions of the particles of type b’ (Part.b’) and c’ (Part.c’) residing in the structures ‘V(VP)+ZHE+N’ and ‘Adj+ZHE+N’. ZHE, as Particles b’ and c’, nominalizes the front verb or the front adjective, and ZHE will also add the nuance of ‘producer’, ‘conductor’ of the such action of the verb, or ‘director’, ‘the producer’ of the such situation of the adjective. ZHE will attribute the sense of : ‘That (Those) who has conduct the action of the such verb, or that (those) who produce the situation of the such adjective.

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Acknowledgements • Being absent in Paris, my thanks to the colleague WANG Jian who gives such help to this presentation. • Thanks for your attention. • Your comments are most welcome.

•

Source d’Images of bronze vessels : Wikipedia

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End of June 2011, the author in Nanluoguxiang Hutong, Beijing, China.

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