The Passive Form of the Wei Construction in Zhuziyulei

Author: Wei-Ju Kuo(Department of Chinese, National Taiwan Normal University)

Vol.&No.：Vol. 57, No. 1
Date：March 2012
Pages：1-22
DOI：10.3966/207451922012035701001

Abstract：

Researchers of the history of the Chinese language tend to rely on collections of colloquial data, such as Zhuziyulei, to examine the modern linguistic phenomena. This study, however, begins from the opposite direction, by treating Zhuziyulei as a collection of written words used by intellectuals at that time. Based on this presumption, this study attempts to elaborate why wei （為） was more frequently used in a passive form. In contrast to other colloquial forms, the wei （為） construction was a relatively classic form at that time and was often used as jargon, according to written records of lectures. Specifically, focusing on the construction of “為A V” is critical, because at that time the construction was more frequently used and more productive than before. This study indicates some grammatical features to support that the construction of “wei （為） A V” was possibly generalized from the popular colloquial construction “bei （被） A V.” In addition, the pervasive use of the wei construction was due to the form preferences of the writer. At the end of this paper, the writing preferences of Zhuxi’s students are discussed. The results reveal that some students preferred using the classic forms. The tendency of using classic Chinese was a feature of collections of Confucian at that time.

Keywords：the tendency of using Classic Chinese, Zhuziyulei, modern Chinese, wei construction, passive construction

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