The Study On The Prepositions Of Dunhuang Edition Platform Sutra

Platform Sutra is a Zen ana interpreted by Zen Sixth Buddha,and written by Fahai in the Tang Dynasty.As the earliest version of Platform Sutra we can find,Dunhuang edition was completed around 780 AD.Its content is vivid and colloquial,Platform Sutra opened the quotation type for the later Zen.As the reliable linguistic data,it plays an important role in studying linguistic features of early Old Mandarin.The paper takes the prepositions of Dunhuang Edition Platform Sutra as research object,and specific book exhaustion as research method,combined synchronic description with diachronic investigation,quantitative analysis with qualitative analysis,to do systematic and comprehensive research,and then to show the development and usage condition of prepositions in Dunhuang edition Platform Sutra and early Old Mandarin.Firstly,we summarize the research status of Chinese prepositions and Dunhuang Edition Platform Sutra,and then divide the prepositions of Dunhuang Edition Platform Sutra into five categories according to the semantic function.Based on the theory of grammaticalization theory and cognitive linguistics,adopting the research method of qualitative and quantitative analysis,we exhaustively describe and analyse 27 prepositions according to the classification standard.Briefly illustrate the prepositions’ functions from the perspective of diachronic process.Then,through investigating the distribution of prepositional phrases,we analyse the syntactic function of prepositional phrases,as well as the ellipsis and front-facing of prepositional object.In the view of diachronic,we especially describe the new birth or significant developed preposition in tang dynasty.Lastly,we summarize the general features of Dunhuang Edition Platform Sutra’s preposition in the view of synchronic and diachronic.The preposition system of Dunhuang Edition Platform Sutra basically reflects the preposition’s development trend of the Old Mandarin.The main feature is that the division of labor of prepositions is not meticulous enough.