Study On Chinese Causal Prepositions Evolution Process

Chinese prepositions play an important role in grammar that is useful to express determinate meanings. As a subcategory in Chinese prepositions, Chinese causal prepositions’existence is beyond all questions. Chinese causal prepositions mainly come from two sources:some of them directly traced from verb while some of them traced from functional extension on other prepositions. As a morpheme, some of these causal prepositions combine another preposition into a disyllabic causal preposition, some of them loses their functions because of economy principle. In this thesis, we combine synchronic study with diachronic study, using sememe analysis, semantic structure analysis and subcategory comparison to discuss the evolution process of Chinese causal prepositions in detail. The Chinese causal prepositions include "yin(因)","yuan(缘)","zuo(坐)","zuo(做)","yu(于)","hu(乎)", you(由)""yi(以),"yong(用)","zhu(着)","jiang(将)","bei(被)","chi(吃)","wei(为)", etc.In the first chapter, we are trying to review the research status of Chinese preposition and Chinese causal prepositions, and then define the Chinese causal prepositions’scope we will discuss on this basis. In the second chapter and the third chapter, we use some ways such as sememe analysis, semantic structure analysis and subcategory comparison to discuss the evolution process of Chinese causal prepositions. In the second chapter, we focus on studying the causal prepositions that traced from verb, including "yin(因)","yuan(缘)","zuo(坐)","zuo(做)",etc. When there are two verbs in one sentence, one of them like "you(由)","yin(因)","yuan(缘)","zuo(坐)","zuo(做)" begin to acting as the prepositions. When this kind of sentence pattern is widely used, these words’grammaticalization are finished. In the third chapter, we analysis the causal prepositions traced from functional extension on other prepositions, such as "yu(于)" and "hu(乎)""you(由)" which are directly traced from prepositions of locality;"yi(以)","yong(用)","zhu(着)","jiang(将)" which are directly traced from prepositions of tool;"bei(被)","chi(吃)" which are directly traced from passive preposition and "wei(为)" which is directly traced from prepositions of purpose.