Ba and bei constructions in Chinese: Implications of development and usage in comparison with Thai.

摘要

This study examines the ba and bei constructions based on the data from three literary works, namely Hong lou meng, Er nü yingxiong zhuan, and Laocan youji. It also investigates both kinds of construction using other resources occurring in different historical periods. The objective is to see whether we can provide a better understanding of how the ba and bei constructions have developed and come to their current usage.; Chapter I states the objective and approach of the thesis. Chapter II provides a review of previous analyses of ba and bei constructions in both synchronic and diachronic aspects together with the earlier studies regarding the Thai ?au and thuuk sentences. Chapter III classifies the patterns of ba and bei sentences found in the three works. It also takes another look at the characteristics attributed to both kinds of usages. It argues that both notions of ‘boundedness’ and ‘affectedness’ should be employed in the analysis of ba construction. It also exhibits the relationship between ba and earlier morphemes like yi and jiang. In the case of bei, it shows that ‘affectedness’ is the most obvious notion in Chinese passive constructions. The morpheme bei is also related to earlier morphemes like yu, jian, wei. In all, the data of ba and bei from our three literary works do not suggest any egregious difference in terms of the use of these constructions in early Mandarin (which these works represent) and in modern Mandarin.; Chapter IV presents the Thai ?au and thuuk sentences in a similar manner as that of ba and bei. Chapter V demonstrates that compared to ?au, the ba sentences seem to head down to grammaticalization reflecting in the stronger degree of dependency on the part of ba -NP as related to the following VP. As for bei and thuuk, there are many similarities between them. The only difference is the case where bei is regarded as being used in non-passive situations expressing the ‘cause’ of the whole sentence. Chapter VI discusses the related issues of word class/word meaning as well as the SVCs.