Verb-complement Phrases In The Water Margin (Shui Hu Zhuan)

Verb-complement phrases in The Water Margin (Shui Hu Zhuan)The aim of this thesis is to chase how the verb-complement phrases developed in pre-modern Chinese, highlighting the verb-complement phrases in Ming-Qing period. Many studies dedicated hitherto to the beginning of verb-complement phrase, including the process and the time of its burst. There's no exaggeration that this viewpoint leaded the main study about the verb-complement structure in Chinese to the Tang-Song period materials. It is assumed that the successive study of pre-modern Chinese is necessary not just to frame the whole development process of verb-complement phrases in Chinese but also to understand how this form now became very usual in modern Chinese. The Water Margin (Shui Hu Zhuan) was used to obtain this aim.It is a novel written in the Yuan-Ming dynasty and is considered to be the most suitable material for the Ming dynasty colloquial. 4 verb-complement phrase structures were sorted in this material: 1. verb-resultative complement(RC) phrase; 2. verb-directional complement(DC) phrase; 3. 'V得C' Verb-complement phrase; 4. 'V得O' Verb-complement phrase. Characteristics in its form, semantic and its sentence pattern were analyzed, and diachronic comparisons were also added for all these 4 structures. This thesis consists in 5 chapters and the detail of every chapter from the second one is the following:The second chapter of this thesis dedicates to the verb-resultative complement (RC) phrase. It can be sub-classified according to its Semantic orientation: recipient-orientation complement, agent-orientation complement and verbal-orientation complement; the complement still can be divided to phase complement, state complement and intensifying complement. The older forms like separate VC phrases or 'V+Neg+C(O)' negative forms diminished considerably in T he Water Margin (Shui Hu Zhuan), but 'VC+O' or 'Neg+(X)+VC(O)'forms increased. 'Vi+Vi+O' using the intransitive verb as a predicate became popular. The frequent usage of th e passive voice (ex. Sp+被/吃/为+(Np)+VC+O) or disposal construction (ex. Sa+将/把+Np+VC+O) is also remarkable. From the perspective of semantic, '死' began to substitute f or the use of '杀'. Verb-resultative complement (RC) phrase became to this extent much similar to that of modern Chinese.The third chapter presents the verb-directional complement (DC) phrase of this text. Classified the complement in directional, resultative and phase, 2 types of change were outstanding. First, new forms like 'V+C+O+C','V+CC+O','V+了+C'became ubiquitous. Second, old forms of the Song dynasty decreased. Even though the 'V+将+C' form was still in use, but the 'V+Neg+C(O)' form seldomused. These two characteristics made it s verb-complement phrase much closer to that of modern Chinese. Besides,'将'in'V+将+C'became a structural particle thereafter.The description about'V得O'form in the The Water Margin (Shui Hu Zhuan) is the main idea of the fourth chapter. This complement can be subdivided to resultative, phase and possible From the viewpoint of its form, 4 forms('V得','V得O','V不得(O)','VO不得') coexisted. Among these forms, the form'V不得(O)'was in common use whereby the role of possibility was more intensified than in the Song dynasty.'得'still played an outstanding role in the Water Margin (Shui Hu Zhuan), but its spread to the semantic field became thereafter overloaded and brought at last some semantic conflicts.The'V得C'form is discussed in the fifth chapter. The'V得C'form in the Water Margin(Shui Hu Zhuan) can be divided from its semantic. One is actualization complement whereby its subdivision is the resultative, directional, state and intensifying complement. The other is possible complement whereby its subdivision is resuitative and directional complement.'了'was used by design with the resultative complement, only for the emphasis and distinguish. The'V得OC'丙-form or'V得CO'form in the state complement showed that the typical pre-modern Chinese style still existed in the Water Margin (Shui Hu Zhuan).The negation of the possible complement increased in a huge quantity, especially the'V不CO'form. The resultative complement and the directional complement reduced mainly because each of them had semantic conflict with verb-resultative complement(RC) phrase and the verbdirectional complement(DC) phrase. The state complement developed to the extent that the resultative meaning and state meaning appeared, just like in modern Chinese. Intensifying complement appeared stabilized at this period.The Water Margin(Shui Hu Zhuan) is a transitional material between the Tang-Song dynasty and the modern China. Its verb-complement structure shows also a transitional characteristic. The direction of its development is bidirectional. One is conservative even some formal features began to disappear and was deprived of its productivity. The other is the birth of new forms. The verb-complement structure in the modern Chinese is made of these two strata.