“以”字介词结构的前置动因和机制

The Motivations and Mechanisms of Prepositional Structure of Chinese Character Yi

从焦点理论出发,通过在最小对立对儿中鉴别工具短语"以"字介词结构前置和后置的功能和意义差别,以"易之以羊"和"以羊易之"为突破口,证明:"以"字介词结构前置时表"方式",后置时表"完成";"以"字结构的前置与"完成"语义标记的演进密切相关,而中古时期的相关语言现象验证了这一观点的解释力。

Based on the focus theory, this paper tries to filter out some subtle differences in a minimal pair between two instrumental phrases, i.e. the position of preposition yi （以） structure in Classical Chinese. With the analysis of yi zhi yi yang （易之以羊） and yi yang yi zhi （以羊易之）, we conclude that the prepositional structure indicates manner, while the other indicates completion. The instrumental phrases are closely connected with the development of the semantic marker of completion, and the related linguistic facts in Medieval Chinese give a strong support to the viewpoint we have argued.