Studies On Supporting Words In Guoyu

Guoyu, as the alleged masterpiece of Zuo Qiuming, was written in the Spring and Autumn period. The book is composed of twenty one volumes, including the accounts on eight empires of zhou, Lu, Jing, Qi, Zheng, Chu, Wu and Yue from the late West Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn period(about 976B.C—453). It is the earliest history of individual countries with comparatively rich historical data and detailed accounts events.Scholars have conducted studies on Guoyu since Han Dynasty, most of them laid emphasis on comment and annotation. Present literatures are mainly from the perspective of vocabulary and syntax, with very few of them on specific supporting word (Xu ci) or word class(adverb). There has been no systematic and comprehensive study on supporting words.This paper, following the traditional principle of collecting words and referring to the grammatical system proposed by He Leshi and Bai Zhaolin, covers five categories of supporting words, namely adverb, preposition, conjunction, auxiliary and modal particle. It also collects some compound supporting words and idiomatic phrases and lists all the supporting words used in Guoyu. Detailed analyses are also employed to explain the word class, usage, meaning, function and illustration. The context is also taken into consideration for a better understanding on the entry.This paper is divided into five chapters, with each chapter for one category. Several sections are also classified for the purpose of accounting the frequency, describing the usage and comparing the similarities and differences of various supporting words. A summary is presented at the end of each chapter to reveal the general picture of ancient Chinese supporting words from the late West Zhou Dynasty to the middle Warring States Period.Adverb is the major concern of this paper, which, in term of its function, can be generalized into nine categories. They are Time adverb, Scope adverb, Degree adverb, Negative adverb, Positive adverb, Mood adverb, Modal adverb, Frequency adverb and honorable adverb. There are 197 in number in this paper.Preposition, in the same way, falls into five categories: preposition of introducing place, time, object, manner and reason or result. There are 34 in this paper.Conjunction, according to its function, includes eight types: Coordinative conjunction, Adversative conjunction, Hypothetical conjunction, Causal conjunction, Progressive conjunction, Concessive conjunction and Alternative conjunction. The total number in this paper is 62.Structural auxiliary and Syllable auxiliary are distinguished in this paper. The number is 12.The use of modal particles is greatly determined by their positions in a sentence. When modal particles come to the beginning of a sentence, they function as introduction; to the middle, as mitigation; to the end, as statement, question, imperative and exclamation. There are as many as 29 in numbers.With comprehensive and mature use of supporting words, Guoyu takes a good reference from ancient usage of supporting words and shows the tendency to change. For instance, such illustrations can be found in Shangshu and the Book of Songs as degree adverb "大"and "愈"; scope adverb "并", "毕"and"悉"; time adverb "既", "终"and "方"; negative adverb"不", "弗", "末" "否", "非"and"莫". In Guoyu, "常" is only used as a noun. "行" in Guoyu functions as a verb or a noun. Those words in earlier ancient Chinese, however, can be used as adverbs.In sum, the use of supporting words in Guoyu represents the distinctive features of ancient Chinese supporting words from the late West Zhou Dynasty to the middle Warring States Period.