Research on the Changes of Word Combinations (Taking the Changes in the Combinations of Some Verbs and Nouns Before the Sui Dynasty as an Example)

Author: Zhang Yisan
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-06-01
Features: Language is a system, and so is its vocabulary. The systematic nature of Chinese vocabulary has become a consensus among scholars. In recent years, some scholars engaged in the study of medieval and modern Chinese vocabulary have moved beyond traditional research models such as word etymology and monographic vocabulary studies, attempting to understand the historical development of Chinese vocabulary from a systemic perspective. This has contributed to the advancement of Chinese lexical history research and opened up new paths. Research from the perspectives of common words (basic words), semantic fields, word clusters, and word combinations serves as clear evidence. Yisan studies the diachronic changes in the collocation of verbs and nouns before the Sui Dynasty from the angle of word collocation and examines historical vocabulary from the perspective of word combination, which helps to explore the lexical system of Chinese and offers a new approach to historical lexical research.
Inspired by the research practices and theoretical reflections of predecessors, the author conducts a specialized study on the diachronic changes of word collocation, a topic with pioneering significance. This is because:
First, examining word collocation changes provides an angle for observing the history of language. Language changes manifest in phonology, grammar, vocabulary, and other aspects, and word collocation changes are an objective reality of linguistic evolution. Exploring this phenomenon is undoubtedly meaningful. From the perspective of lexical history, this book not only pays attention to the changes of individual words but also to the changes in the relationships between words. From the perspective of grammar, the examination of word collocation changes not only focuses on the evolution of grammatical rules but also takes into account the changes in the grammatical functions of each word. For example, among food-related verbs, "drink," "eat," and "rice" all had causative meanings in ancient times and could take object complements indicating the agent. This book outlines the process of the decline of their causative meanings by observing the diachronic evolution of their collocations with object complements indicating the agent. Specifically, during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, only "drink" retained its causative meaning, but it was limited to taking animal noun complements, while the causative meanings of "eat" and "rice" had significantly declined in colloquial usage (111–175 pages).
Second, examining word collocation changes also provides an angle for studying the evolution of word meaning. Modern linguistic theory tells us that word meaning includes lexical meaning, connotative meaning, stylistic meaning, and collocative meaning. Research on word collocation changes pays more attention to the collocative meaning and its evolution, offering a new perspective for observing word meaning changes compared to previous studies. For example, the verb "walk" originally meant "run" in the pre-Qin and Han periods, but in modern Chinese, "run" cannot take a noun complement indicating the goal of the action, whereas "walk" can. Wang Li, the editor-in-chief of Classical Chinese: Common Words, listed two meanings for "walk": "① run; ② run toward," recognizing that modern "run" and ancient "walk" do not have a one-to-one relationship and that the two words differ in grammatical function and meaning. Wang’s inclusion of these meanings accurately grasps the meaning of "walk" in ancient times. However, to determine when the grammatical function of "walk" taking a noun complement was lost and how this process unfolded, one must examine the collocation changes of "walk." Based on research and analysis, this book concludes that during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the collocation "walk (place name)" became more frequent, indicating that the grammatical function of "walk" taking a noun complement indicating the goal and direction of the action had already declined (271–286 pages). This book has made valuable contributions to this issue.
By studying the collocations of verbs and nouns in the categories of food, travel and transportation, and other verbs such as "slaughter," "wear," and "beat," this book, building on the research of predecessors and contemporaries, outlines the trajectory of word meaning evolution from the perspective of word collocation, enriching the study of Chinese history. The author points out that the emergence of new words, the obsolescence of old words, and the replacement of common words can all be reflected through word collocation changes. The book provides detailed and specific descriptions of some words to prove this point. For example, "cross" and "ford" form a set of synonyms in the sense of "crossing (a river)." In the pre-Qin period, "cross" was more active than "ford"; after the Han Dynasty, "ford" gradually replaced "cross," with a broader semantic range and more collocative functions (297–309 pages). Another example is the verb "like," which originally meant "go to (a place)" and was a common meaning in pre-Qin texts, used frequently. However, by the medieval period, especially in texts with strong colloquial characteristics, the verb "like" had become relatively rare and was approaching obsolescence (295–297 pages). Research and conclusions of this kind go beyond existing studies, reflecting the valuable significance of word collocation research.
The findings of this book can serve the fields of ancient text collation, textual authentication, and dictionary compilation. For example, in the Great attributed to the post-Han translation, the term "drink air" appears, meaning "to swallow one’s anger," and it appears three times. "Air" refers to anger, a noun indicating psychological activity. After investigating the collocation characteristics of the word "drink," the author points out that the collocation of "drink" with nouns indicating psychological activity emerged during the Three Kingdoms and Southern and Northern Dynasties period, specifically in the Qi and Liang dynasties. The earliest occurrence of "drink air" in Chinese texts is found in the Book of Wei, indicating that this linguistic phenomenon developed after the Three Kingdoms period. This provides evidence for determining that the translation date of the Great is not earlier than the Three Kingdoms (310–313 pages).
The character "rule" also developed a new meaning of "reside in" based on its original meaning of "," forming collocations such as "rule the Yanchang Palace" and "rule the astronomical hall." This gave rise to the new meaning of "reside in," which is not included in large-scale dictionaries such as the Great Chinese Dictionary (321–322 pages).
Beyond detailed research, the book has also made significant efforts in the investigation and statistical analysis of materials. The author employs methods such as classification, enumeration, and tabular statistics, with substantial and meticulous analysis, reflecting the author’s rigorous and diligent academic style. In today’s climate, this is particularly commendable and. The book’s features are not limited to these, and readers can discover them through careful reading. Here, they are not all listed.
Research on verb-noun collocation requires examining and analyzing a large number of texts, and few previous studies have been published in this field. Therefore, this book represents pioneering work, and its challenges are also considerable. However, from a higher standard, there are still some issues that require further examination and research. The book examines verbs in the categories of food, travel and transportation, as well as several verbs such as "slaughter," "wear," and "beat." In terms of quantity, the scope of examined verbs is somewhat limited. For example, in Chapter 1, the author examined the collocations of "sick" expressing the meaning of illness and pointed out that the collocations centered on "sick" differ between ancient and modern Chinese. In the pre-Qin period, the main collocative verbs were "have," "encounter," and "be"; by the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, new verbs such as "lie," "be," "develop," "get," "be born," "cause," "embrace," "be struck by," "sleep," "be affected by," "rise," "become," "stagnate," and "form" were added, with a significant increase in number and clear changes (1–4 pages). The author’s examination is thorough and meticulous. What could be supplemented is that during the Six Dynasties period, "feel" could also combine with "sick" to form the phrase "feel sick." For example, in the Biography of Zhang Xintai of the Southern Qi Book (，，，。，。。), "Xingshi was at home, holding funds from Yongzhou, and saw thirty million coins. The Prince of Cangwu led people to rob them, and they were exhausted overnight. Xingshi was frightened and fell ill and died." In the Biography of Chu Cheng of the Southern History (，，。), "Yuzhang Wang fell ill, and Emperor Gao called Chu Cheng to treat him, and he recovered immediately." There are also phrases such as "feel air sickness," "feel illness," "feel mental illness," and "feel foot illness," with many examples. This combination was also common in modern Chinese. For example, in Shao’s Anecdotal Records by Shao Botuan () (，，，。), "In the summer of the tenth year of Xining, Master Kangjie felt a slight illness, and his vitality gradually decreased, while his spirit became clearer." In Lao Can You Ji () (，，。), "Who knew that this son-in-law felt the seasonal fever last July and by the middle of August, he was dead." The phrase "feel sick" and related examples could be added.
In summary, this book has made valuable attempts in the study of verb-noun collocation, and there is still much room for exploration in this field. In the future, the scope of research should be expanded, the mechanisms and patterns of evolution should be revealed, and verb-noun collocation should be studied more systematically and comprehensively, with further efforts in other types of collocations, to advance the study of word collocation changes.
This book is a specialized study on the diachronic changes of word collocation, inspired by the research practices and theoretical reflections of predecessors, employing methods such as classification, enumeration, and tabular statistics. By examining the collocations of verbs and nouns in the categories of food, travel and transportation, and others, it outlines the trajectory of word meaning evolution from the perspective of word collocation, enriching the study of Chinese history. The materials are substantial, and the analysis is meticulous.