Research on the Origin and Causes of the Chinese Copula "is"

Author: Xiao Yaman
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: According to the grammatical classification of modern Chinese, the copula "" is a very special word—it is neither like ordinary words nor like ordinary grammatical words. Grammatical words are opposite to lexical words, representing a classification based on semantic and grammatical function. Grammatical words have no actual meaning; they only possess grammatical meaning or functional meaning. Lexical words, on the other hand, have concrete meaning. Grammatical words and lexical words are roughly similar to the early Chinese classification of empty words and substantive words based on semantic reality, which is why grammatical words are often directly regarded as empty words. The Chinese copula "" has no actual meaning, which aligns with the characteristics of empty words; however, an important grammatical feature of empty words is that they cannot stand alone as sentence components, whereas the copula "" primarily functions as the predicate, which does not align with the characteristics of empty words. Since the copula "" primarily functions as the predicate and its grammatical function is similar to that of transitive verbs, grammarians have classified it as a lexical word. However, it lacks concrete meaning and is quite different from other lexical words, which is why it was historically referred to as a "homophone." This book will treat it as a grammatical word and employ relevant grammatical theories to conduct research on it.