On the syntax of the suo construction in clasical Chinese
古汉语所字结构之句法分析
Jen Ting 丁仁

Abstract 摘要
This paper investigates the suo construction in Classical Chinese and attempts to provide a proper syntactic analysis of it by comparing it with its modern Chinese counterpart. I extend and modify Ting’s (2003a) analysis of the modern suo construction to account for the Classical suo construction. Like its counterpart in modern Chinese, the Classical suo is a clitic in overt syntax, raising from N0 to I0 in overt syntax. This explains its fixed position with respect to other elements in the clause, as well as the fact that it may stand for grammatical object, location, but not grammatical subject. The reason why it may stand for manner and reason as well as grammatical object of a preposition, in contrast to the modern suo, is due to different categorial status of coverbs in modern and Classical Chinese; namely, that modern Chinese prepositions are in fact verbs in Classical Chinese. Unlike the modern suo, which is a variable, the Classical suo undergoes further movement from I0 to C0 at LF to fulfill its operator status. I argue that this explains why suo is optional in modern Chinese, but obligatory in Classical Chinese. This analysis echoes the conventional wisdom, which may be traced back to Ma (1898) that the classical suo is a relative pronoun. But crucially I argue that suo is such a pronoun, not in the overt syntax, but at LF.

本文研究古汉语所字结构，希望藉由与现代汉语所字结构之比较，对其提出一个合理的分析。本文延伸及修改丁（2003a）对现代汉语所字结构的分析，以解释古汉语与现代汉语所字结构句法表现的不同。如同现代汉语的所，古汉语的所为一粘着性代词，在句法操作层面由N0提升至I0。这可解释其在句中的固定位置，及可指代及物动词宾语、地点但非主语等语言事实。但古汉语的所，与现代汉语不同，可指代方式、原因及介词宾语，这是由于现代汉语的介词在古汉语其实是动词之故。而所字在古汉语与现代汉语另一不同之处在于现代汉语可省略所字，但古汉语不容许省略。这是由于古汉语的所会在逻辑形式进一步由I0提升至C0。因此我主张现代汉语的所为变量，而古汉语的所则为运符。这个分析呼应马建忠认为所为接读代字的主张，不同之处在于本文认为所在逻辑形式，而非句法操作层面，才成为接读代字。

Subject Keywords 关键词

Classical Chinese 古汉语 The particle suo 所字 Clitic 弱代词 Relative clause 关系子句 Head movement 核心语移动

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