也谈处所介词“著”的来源

On Origin of the Locative Preposition "Zhuo"

处所介词"著"的产生一般认为跟谓语动词能否造成附着状态有关,但文献资料却反映出"著"首先出现在不带"附着"义的动态动词之后。在唐以前含"著"的三种句法格式中,"V著N"式和"著NV"式分别包含了处所介词"著"的两种句法位置,是处所介词"著"借以产生的句法环境。动词之后的介词"著"的产生得益于汉语动补结构的产生,动词之前的"著"的虚化主要是由于"著"暗含受事宾语范围的扩大,它们具有不同的虚化途径。"VO著N"式也在文献里大量出现,但没有衍生出介词用法。

It is generally agreed that the generation of the locative preposition ＂zhuo＂ in Chinese is related to the semantic class of the predicate verb,i.e.,＂zhuo＂ is used when the verb allows a semantic complement to it.However,a review of the literature in this field shows that ＂zhuo＂ was first used after dynamic verbs which were not to be followed by semantic complements.Two of the three typical syntactic patterns that were popular before the Tang dynasty,i.e.,＂V ＋ zhuo ＋ N＂ and ＂zhuo ＋ N ＋ V＂,involved the two syntactic positions of the preposition and actually provided the contexts in which the latter was rooted.In the two cases,the use of ＂zhuo＂ as a preposition after the verb is accepted thanks to the birth of the ＂Verb ＋ Complement＂ structure in Chinese,and the grammaticalized ＂zhuo＂ before the verb most probably indicates an extended category of its object.Therefore,the grammaticalization of ＂zhuo＂ in both cases is realized by different means.Another typical pattern,i.e.,＂V ＋ O ＋ zhuo ＋ N＂,is also available in large numbers in the literature,from which,however,the use of ＂zhuo＂ as a preposition has not been derived.