The Development Of "Yu(于)" And Its "V/A Yu(于)X" Structure

From the period of inscription on carapaces and bones to modern Chinese,the development of "yu(于)" in the long term complicated its usage.This thesis focus on the further development of "yu(于)" used after verbs and adjectives in modern Chinese.The further development of "yu(于)" is,in fact,the period of development of post-affix.In some cases,"yu(于)" forms fusions with predicates preceding,in others cases,"yu(于)" develops into a zero-form,leaves a trace in the deep sructure of the sentences and takes part in a mew circle of grammaticlization.The mechanisms of development are different after verbs and adjectives.The fusion of verbs and "yu(于)" follows the steps of "V+ yu(于)X"→"V+yu(于)+X"→"V^{(monosyllable)}yu(于)+X"or "V^(disyllable)+X".The fusion and the dropping of "yu(于)" cause the change of the coordination valence from monovalency to divalency.Verbs can be separated into introvert ones and extrovert ones according to the directions of movement.Which kinds of verbs can be used with "yu(于)" has a close relationship with the directions. This thesis,first of all,makes a research of the development of "yu(于)" in ancient Chinese and separates this development into three important parts:from verb to preposition in the period of inscription on carapaces and bones;the further development of preposition to affix from pre-Qin to Tang Dynasties;the further development of affix after Wei and Jin Period.The historical development of "yu(于)" has a close relationship with its further grammaticlization in modern Chinese.This part of research focus on building a solid base for the next two parts of this thesis.The second part of the thesis analyses three groups of "V+yu(于)" to find out the progression of generalization of yu(于)'s choice of verbs with its further grammaticlization.Adjectives can be separated into comparable ones and incomparable ones.The comparable ones can't form fusions easily with "yu(于)" no matter how many syllables process the adjectives.And the extension of adjectives influences also the fusion.Bigger the extension is,easier the fusion happens.In the other hand,the monosyllabic incomparable adjectives form fusions with "yu(于)" and turn into object-necessary-verbs as a whole,while "yu(于)" after double-syllabic incomparable ones drops and then,for the adjectives preceding,changes happen from adjectives to verb and,for the coordination valence,from monovalency to divalency.We do this research under the direction of three theories of grammaticlization, coordination valence and syntactic rhythm,by combining the scientific ways of description and interpretation,diachronic and synchronic,by analysing and comparing a huge quantity of sentences,by absorbing the fruits of previous studies and giving new points and analysis in order to analyse the development of "yu(于)" and its "V/A yu(于)X" structure adequately and completely.