User:Ser be etre shi/sandbox

Morphology

Discuss some reconstructed Old Chinese prefixes from Baxter (and Schuessler?)

==Pronouns TODO: Include pronoun tables from Schuessler(? is that the book?).

The language did not have a special 3rd-person personal pronoun that could be used in subject position, but the distal demonstrative 彼 bǐ 'that, those' and the anaphoric demonstrative 是 shì frequently take that role.

Basic constituent order

• SVO
• OV in negations with pronouns
• VOS in exclamations
• Stability of VO order: SOV > SVO controversy

Noun phrases

• structure

Verbs and verb phrases

• structure
• aspect markers (next to verbs and sentence-final)
• the four semantic usages: yì, bèi, shǐ, wèi

Numbers

Numerals are formed in a similar way to those of contemporary Chinese, combining units with multiples of 10. For example, 二十三 èr shí sān '23' (lit. "2 * 10 + 3").

• mention numerals can go before or after

Coverbs and postpositions

• mention term "locational" by Zadrapa

Adverbs and adverbials

• find notes about rán in Dawson
• try to include something about bare nouns as instrumental adverbials before a verb (from Fuller, the skull?)

Topicalization

• with yě, zé...

Negation

• include note about fú vs. bù; role of taboo

未 wèi may stand for 'never'.

Interrogative sentences

• yes/no
• content

Exclamatory and imperative sentences

• exclamatory
• imperative

Comparisons

• ADJ + yú
• see if can find about anything else, including equality...

Complex sentences

• parataxis and hypotaxis
• complement clauses
• relative clauses: with zhī, with suǒ and zhě
• temporal clauses
• conditional clauses

• conditions
  • Conditions may be expressed by mere juxtaposition of clauses.

• explanatory clauses
• concessive clauses

Example glossing

{{fs interlinear|lang=lzh|abbreviations=GLOSS:meaning; GLOSS2:meaning2
|CHINESE{{sfn|Lname|year|p=page}}
|PINYIN
|GLOSS
|""}}
 

Useful sentences

• example of condition: 下士聞道，大笑之，不笑，不足以為道！(Daodejing 41) The unlearned discovers the Dao, and roars into laughter, Without the laughs, it would not be the Dao.
• superlative: 天下之至柔，馳騁天下之至堅 (Daodejing 43) the world's softest steers the world's hardest
• purpose clauses: 弱之勝強， 柔之勝剛 (Daodejing 78) Be submissive to overcome dominance, Be gentle to overcome toughness
• topicalization (with yě) or coordination: 人之生也柔弱，其死也堅強。(Daodejing 76) People are born gentle and fragile, They die stiff and tough.
• yi...wei: 天地不仁，以萬物為芻狗 (Daodejing 5) The sky and the earth do not care, They regard the myriad things as straw dogs
• ke as a passive: 道可道，非恆道 (Daodejing 1) The Dao that can be stated, is not the eternal Dao
• all (jiē): 天下皆知美之爲美 (Daodejing 2) Everyone knows what beauty is
• comparison: 子曰、學如不及、猶恐失之。 (Lunyu, chap. 8/泰伯) The Master said, "Learn as if you could not reach your object, and were always fearing also lest you should lose it." (Giles)
• reciprocal: 音聲相和 (Daodejing 2) Music and voice are harmonized with each other

人人

rénrén

失

shī

其

qí

所

suǒ

好

hào

人人 失 其 所 好

rénrén shī qí suǒ hào

All men err in what they love (tr. Legge) (Classic of Rites 32.19)

先

xiān

previous

王

wáng

king

有

yǒu

have

至

zhì

most/perfect

德

dé

virtue

要

yào

important

道，

dào,

way,

以

yǐ

in_order_to

順

shùn

go_along

天

tiān

Heaven

下

xià

under

先 王 有 至 德 要 道， 以 順 天 下

xiān wáng yǒu zhì dé yào dào, yǐ shùn tiān xià

previous king have most/perfect virtue important way, in_order_to go_along Heaven under

"The ancient kings had perfect virtue and an all-embracing conduct, to go along the whole world." (Classic of Filial Piety)

宋

Sòng

Song

人

rén

person

或

huò

in_one_case

得

dé

get

玉

yù

jade

宋 人 或 得 玉

Sòng rén huò dé yù

Song person in_one_case get jade

"Among the people of Song, there was one that obtained jade." (Zuo Tradition, chapter 9, year 15)

吾

wú

1

生

shēng

life

也

yě

TOP

有

yǒu

have

涯，

yá,

shore/limit,

而

ér

and

知

zhī

know

也

yě

TOP

無

wú

not_have

涯

yá

shore/limit

吾 生 也 有 涯， 而 知 也 無 涯

wú shēng yě yǒu yá, ér zhī yě wú yá

1 life TOP have shore/limit, and know TOP not_have shore/limit

"My life has a limit but knowledge has none." (Zhuangzi)

Han Chinese

夫

fú

TOP

儒

rú

Confucian

者

zhě

AGT

之

zhī

POSS

言，

yán,

speech,

有

yǒu

exist

溢

yì

overflow

美

měi

beautiful

過

guò

exceed

實

shí

real

夫 儒 者 之 言， 有 溢 美 過 實

fú rú zhě zhī yán, yǒu yì měi guò shí

TOP Confucian AGT POSS speech, exist overflow beautiful exceed real

"Now there were things the Confucians said that overflowed in beauty and exceeded reality." (Wang Chong, Critical Essays, chapter 52)

瑞

ruì

auspicious

應

yìng

answer

之

zhī

POSS

物，

wù,

thing,

或

huò

sometimes

有

yǒu

exist

或

huò

sometimes

無

wú

not.exist

瑞 應 之 物， 或 有 或 無

ruì yìng zhī wù, huò yǒu huò wú

auspicious answer POSS thing, sometimes exist sometimes not.exist

"Auspicious omens sometimes exist, sometimes don't exist." (Wang Chong, Critical Essays, chapter 52)

師

Shī

Shi

曠

Kuàng

Kuang

曰：

yuē:

say:

何

hé

why

不

bù

not

炳

bǐng

bright

燭

zhú

candle

乎？

hū?

Q

師 曠 曰： 何 不 炳 燭 乎？

Shī Kuàng yuē: hé bù bǐng zhú hū?

Shi Kuang say: why not bright candle Q

"Shi Kuang said, 'Why don't you light a candle?'" (Garden of Stories)

Sources

• Aldridge, Edith (2013). Battistella, Edwin; Schilling, Natalie (eds.). "Chinese Historical Syntax: Pre-Archaic and Archaic Chinese" (PDF). Language and Linguistics Compass: Historical Linguistics. 7 (1). John Wiley and Sons Ltd.: 58–77. doi:10.1111/lnc3.12007. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
• Behr, Wolfgang (2006). "Morphological notes on the Old Chinese counterfactual" (PDF). Bochumer Jahrbuch zur Ostasienforschung. 30: 55–88. doi:10.5167/uzh-113964. Retrieved July 21, 2021.
• Barnes, Archie; Starr, Don; Ormerod, Graham (2009). Du's Handbook of Classical Chinese Grammar. Great Britain: Alcuin Academics. ISBN 978-1904623748.
• Dawson, Raymond (1984). A New Introduction to Classical Chinese. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-815460-7.
• Dong, Hongyuan (2014). A History of the Chinese Language. Abingdon, New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-315-79423-5.
• Fuller, Michael (2004). An Introduction to Literary Chinese (Revised ed.). Cambridge, Massachussets, London: Harvard University Asia Center. ISBN 0-674-01726-9.
• Harbsmeier, Christoph (1981). Aspects of Classical Chinese Syntax. London and Malmö: Curzon Press. ISBN 0-7007-0139-7.
• Peyraube, Alain (2008). "Ancient Chinese". In Woodard, Roger (ed.). The Ancient Languages of Asia and the Americas. Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521684941.
• Pulleyblank, Edwin (1995). Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar. Vancouver: UBC Press. ISBN 0774805056.
• Robins, Dan (2000). "Mass Nouns and Count Nouns in Classical Chinese". Early China. 25: 147–184. doi:10.1017/s0362502800004296.
• Schuessler, Axel (2007). "ABC Etymological Dictionary of Old Chinese". Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-2975-9. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Sun, Chaofen (1996). Word-Order Change and Grammaticalization in the History of Chinese. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804724180.
• Zádrapa, Lukáš (2011). Word Class Flexibility in Classical Chinese. Leiden and Boston: Brill. ISBN 9789004206311.
• Zádrapa, Lukáš (2017). "Word classes, pre-modern". Encyclopedia of Chinese language and linguistics. Vol. 4. Brill. pp. 566―576. ISBN 978-9004186439.

CITE BY ARTICLE INSTEAD:

• Meisterernst, Barbara, ed. (2016). New Aspects of Classical Chinese Grammar. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 9783447194952.

Further reading

• Gabelentz, Georg von der (1881). Chinesische Grammatik: Mit Ausschluss des niederen Stiles und der heutigen Umgangssprache (in German). Leipzig: T. O. Weigel. Retrieved 10 February 2012. (Original from Harvard University) (Digitized 2008-10-13)
• Hé Lèshì 何乐士; Yáng Bójùn 杨伯峻 (1992). Gǔ Hànyǔ yǔfǎ jí qí fāzhǎn 古汉语语法及其发展 ("Grammar and Development of Ancient Chinese") (in Chinese). Beijing: Yǔwén Chūbǎnshè 语文出版社. ISBN 7800063062.
• Julien, Stanislas (1869). Syntaxe nouvelle de la langue chinoise fondée sur la position des mots: suivie de deux traités sur les particules et les principaux termes de grammaire, d'une table des idiotismes, de fables, de légendes et d'apologues traduits mot à mot, premier volume (in French). Paris: Librairie de Maisonneuve. Retrieved 2015-08-23. (Original from Oxford University) (Digitized 2007-07-03)
• Julien, Stanislas (1870). Syntaxe nouvelle de la langue chinoise fondée sur la position des mots: suivie de deux traités sur les particules et les principaux termes de grammaire, d'une table des idiotismes, de fables, de légendes et d'apologues traduits mot à mot, second volume (in French). Paris: Librairie de Maisonneuve. Retrieved 2015-08-23. (Original from the University of California) (Digitized 2007-05-02)
• Rémusat, Abel (1822). Éléments de la grammaire chinoise, ou, principes généraux du kou-wen ou style antique: et du kouan-hoa, c'est-à-dire, de la langue commune généralement usitée dans l'Empire chinois (in French). Paris: Imprimerie Royale. Retrieved 2011-05-15. (Original from Harvard University)
• Yáng Qǐguó 杨启国 (2016). Gǔdài Hànyǔ yǔfǎ 古代汉语语法 ("Grammar of Ancient Chinese") (in Chinese). Beijing: Jīngjì kēxué chūbǎnshè 经济科学出版社. ISBN 9787514165913.
• Yì Mèngchún 易孟醇 (1989). Xiān Qín yǔfǎ 先秦语法 ("Pre-Qin Grammar") (in Chinese). Changsha: Húnán jiàoyù chūbǎnshè 湖南教育出版社. ISBN 753550941X.

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