A Research On The Suo-structures In Hanfeizi

This dissertation is a comprehensive research on the Suo-structures in Hanfeizi, with an emphasis on the relation between the core predicates in Suo-Structures and the structures’form&function. At the beginning of this dissertation, we presented a description of Suo-structures from three aspects:the types of VPs, the existence of prepositions and the semantic types of the objects referred by Suo-structures. During the process, we also provided a more detailed classification of the semantic types of the objects referred by Suo-structures.After that, we examined the relation between the existence of prepositions in Suo-structures and the semantic types of the objects referred by Suo-structures, the interrelation between the two is obvious. Then, we examined the relation between the types of VPs in Suo-structures and the existence of prepositions&the semantic types of the objects referred by Suo-structures. We found that, if the VP is noun, passive structure or pivot structure, it has a profound effect on the existence of preposition in the structure; if the VP is noun, passive structure or predicate-complement structure, it has a profound effect on the type of the object referred by Suo-structure. But the proportion of the cases mentioned above is quite small; in contrast, the majority of the VPs are verbs, adjectives, predicate-object structures, adverbial modifier-verb structures, combined structures etc. The core predicates in Suo-structures are mainly verbs and adjectives, and these core predicates, have the strongest impact on the form&function of Suo-structures.We found that, if the core predicate is verb, the VP could be verb, predicate-object structure, predicate-complement structure, adverbial modifier-verb structure, combined structure etc., the VP may co-occur with preposition“以”,“与”,“为”,“由”or be in the Suo-structure independently. In this case, the Suo-structure could refer to object of the following semantic types:objective, locative, causal or instrumental. Majority of the structures refer to causal and instrumental have prepositions in them, and whether they have prepositions is unrelated to the core predicate. Most of the structures refer to objective and locative don’t have prepositions in them, those which have, it’s the character of core predicates make it happen.Theoretically, the semantic types of the objects referred by Suo-structures are diversified, while for a particular predicate, when it acts as the core predicate in a Suo-structure, the form of the structure and the semantic type of the object referred by it are usually fixed.If the core predicate is adjective, the form of Suo-structure coud be“所VP" or“所以VP ". When the VP is associative predication, it co-occurs with the preposition "以", if the adjective acts as VP individually, whether it co-occurs with preposition is up to the adjective. In most cases, when the adjective doesn’t co-occur with a preposition, the structure refers to conative, locative or time, and for a particular adjective, all the structures whose core predicate are acted by it, the structures always referred to one particular type of the three. Those adjectives that could comprise associative predications with other components, when they act as VPs of Suo-structures individually, the structures always refer to conative. If a Suo-structure’s VP’s components include preposition, the structure refers to causal or instrumental, and when the adjectives in it contains the plereme of negative, it usually refers to causal, while when the adjective in it contains the plereme of positive, it usually refers to instrumental.