“捉”的语法化演变历程

Grammatical Evolution of the Chinese Character “Zhuo”

“捉”的本义是“握、持”,作动词用。六朝时,“捉”的意义开始虚化,转向介词。隋唐以后,介词“捉”构成的处置句的用法比较普遍。明以后“捉”字句消失于文献资料。现代汉语只在少数方言中保留了“捉”字句的用法,“吴语西播”是这些方言共同保存“捉”字句的主要原因。

The original meaning of the Chinese character ＂zhuo＂ was ＂to grasp, to hold＂, functioning as a verb. The meaning of ＂zhuo＂ began to be empty and turned to a preposition during the period of Six Dynasties. After Sui and Tang Dynasties, handling sentences composed of the preposition ＂zhuo＂ became common. After Ming Dynasty, sentences contain- ing ＂zhuo＂ vanished in the literature materials. In modern Chinese language, the usage of sentences containing ＂zhuo＂ only exist in a small number of dialects, and ＂the westward spread of Wu language＂ is the main reason for these dialects to retain the usage of these sentences.