A Research Into The Origin And Formative Cause Of The Copula 是 In Chinese

The origin and formative cause of Chinese copula ' 是' is a significant question, which was first put forward by Wang Li in the Copula in Chinese Grammar (1937). Because it has the meaning of confirmation, the copula '是' is in emantical relation to the adjective '是' and in grammatical relation to demonstrative pronoun ' 是' . That is to say, there are relations as follows: pronoun 是 confirmation 是 grammatical relation \ / semantical relation copula 是However, it is believed that there is not any relation between the demonstrative pronoun '是' and the adjective '是' in remote ages. So on the question of the origin and formative cause of the copula '是' , the contention has been carrying on from the 1950's up to now.About the origin of the copula '是', there are such viewpoints as 'Pronoun' and'Adjective'. And about the formative cause of it, what produces the greatest impact are thetheories of both 'Position' and 'the Influence of Same-morphology'. The theory of'Position' believes that the pronoun '是' became copular function because it often inthe place between subject and predicate, while the theory of 'the Influence ofSame-morphology' believes that the pronoun '是' became a copula because it is underthe influence of the same-morphological adjective '是' . Both viewpoints take thetheory that the copula '是' came from the pronoun ' 是' as their starting point.Up to now the theories of originating from the pronoun and of forming from the positionare regarded as the final conclusion. However, the views will find themselves in a tightcorner. First, among the set of closely demonstrative pronouns 兹, 斯, 之, 此 and 是 inremote ages, why what became judicial verb was not others but '是' ? Explaining misproblem through the theory of 'Position', we'll encounter another problem: second,both ' 此' and '是' can be put in the same grammatical position, why what becamejudicial verb was not '此' but '是' ?Third, why what became judicial verb wasnot '为' or '乃' , the grammatical position of which was more advantageous,but '是' ? Explaining through that the pronoun '是' was influenced by the adjective'是' .it will lead to a new problem: fourth, if there is not any relation at all betweenthe '是' expressing demonstrative pronoun and the '是' expressing 'right' or 'correct'in remote ages, just as between the '然' expressing burning and the '然' expressinganswering, how it was possible that the '是' expressing 'right' or 'correct' influenced the demonstrative pronoun '是'? Now that it is impossible that a word gets some meaning from outside, how did '是' become a copula that is of the meaning of confirmation?As a doctrine of single syntactical function, the theory of 'Pronoun' or of 'Adjective' certainly leads to such a basic question: what kind of part of speech the predecessor of the copula '是' actually was? What kind of relation the predecessor of the copula '是' actually was in with both the demonstrative pronoun '是' and the adjective '是'? How it actually became a copula?Whether a point of view is correct or not is based upon its ability of explanation. It makes known that the theories of both 'Pronoun' and 'Position' have some shortcomings because they are faced with many unsolvable difficulties. Any new point of view must be able to give a reasonable and satisfactory explanation. To this end, we have done a large-scale investigation, studying seventeen classical documents and the inscriptions on ancient bronze objects in both the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period, and got accurate data. Using the methods of contrast, replacement and so on, the thesis reached conclusions as follows:I. The confirmative meaning of the copula '是' did not originate from outside, but from '是' itself.i. When it originally emerged, ' 是' was not a pure demonstrative pronoun as today, but a notional demonstrative pronoun with the meaning of the Holy. Having contrasted '是' wi...