‘所以’와 ‘於是’에 관한 소고

Abstract

This study explores ‘SUOYI’ and ‘YUSHI’ in modern Chinese that are the conjunctions representing the causal relationship between two simple sentences in a compound sentence. Analyzing the sentences where ‘SUOYI’ and ‘YUSHI’ are used, this paper aims to discuss what are the semantic functions that ‘SUOYI’ and ‘YUSHI’ can indicate, how these conjunctions are semantically related, and, especially, what are the characteristics of the usage of ‘SUOYI’ and ‘YUSHI’ when they represent the causal relationship between simple sentences. The causal relationships showed by ‘SUOYI’ are classified into three categories; ‘cause and effect’, ‘situation and inference’, and ‘situation and judgement’. The time order of the two simple sentences before and after ‘SUOYI’ does not affect the use of ‘SUOYI’. ‘YUSHI’ can only indicate the casual relationship between the simple sentences in ‘cause and effect’. At this point, the time order of the simple sentences must be kept. This is because the main basic function of ‘YUSHI’ is to emphasize the sequence of events by relating the front and rear simple sentences. In addition, the main clause indicating a result must be the dynamic one showing a process. ‘SUOYI’ and ‘YUSHI’ have such constrictions on the usage when they represent the causal relationship. As a result, if ‘YUSHI’ is used in the compound sentences indicating the causal relationship, it can be interchanged with ‘SUOYI’, but if ‘SUOYI’ is used, the possibilities for interchanging it with ‘YUSHI’ should be judged after examining the objectivity of the causal relationship ‘SUOYI’ indicates and the clarity of the time order between the simple sentences.