试论连词“而”的出现

Abstract

In the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were no conjunctions between the verbs when several verbs or verbal components were used together in old Chinese. During the Chunqiu and Zhanguo periods, however, the use of “而” inserted between the verbs with ambiguity increased while there were no connections between the verbs without ambiguity in Jianyu compound structures, compuund structures, serial verb structures, modification structures, etc. In this paper, it is assumed that the conjunction 而 seems to have emerged in order to reduce ambiguity in verb series in Chinese sentences. Due to the necessity of expression, the verbs associated with 而 are often accompanied by other grammatical components, and this trend has developed into rich 而 sentences in later Chinese.