A Study On Chinese Passive Representation

This paper studies Chinese passive representation.Centered on the study of Chinese passive representation, this paper makes a comparative study from two perspectives. One is the comparison between synchronic and diachronic study, and between Chinese passive representation in recent and modern times, the others is the comparative study of Chinese and Korean passive representation.This paper consists of four chapters. From Chapter one to Chapter 3, it is about the comparison between synchronic and diachronic study, Chapter 4 is about the comparative study of Chinese and Korean passive representation.Chapter one discusses Chinese passive representation in recent times, focusing on its further development evolved from ancient Chinese language. It explores the grammaticalization process of prepositions that are typical of passive voice, mainly analyzing the development and changes of"bei","zhuo","chi","jiao". This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part discusses the grammaticalization process of bei, the second part the grammaticalization process of zhuo , the third part the grammaticalization process of chi.Chapter two discusses Chinese passive representation in modern times, focusing on syntactic devices and prepositions that are typical of passive voice in modern Chinese language, especially the most common device——preposition"bei", its new development. The traditional view of Chinese grammar study believes that sentences with the preposition"bei"indicate that the subject has unfortunate experiences. We find, in modern Chinese language, that the grammatical meaning of the preposition"bei"is to indicate passive voice. One reason why this change occurs is the influence of Indo-European language grammar. This change shows that Chinese grammar is becoming more sophisticated.Chapter three discusses the motive and mechanism behind the change. With the example of the grammaticalization process of"jiao", the author analyses the motive and mechanism behind the change from causative sentences to passive sentences. This study is done with middle and ancient Chinese language as corpus. Chapter four compares Chinese passive representation with that of the Korean language. Based on the discussion of Chinese passive representation in the previous chapters, the first part of this chapter briefly illustrates modern Korean passive representation, and the second part makes a comparison between the two. Korean language belongs to the category of agglutinative language,while Chinese language is a kind of analytical language. Through comparison,we can find that,in terms of language device,Chinese language uses "word",or function word to be specific,to indicate passive voice;while Korean language uses case function words and affixes. Chinese language uses combination method to indicate active and passive voice,while Korean language uses inflection method. In the Chinese language,we can simply use recipient sentences without the use of function words to indicate passive voice. In Chinese language, there exists"subject + verb + verb"pattern, which is actually one feature of modern Chinese grammar. In a "subject + verb + verb" sentence,when the major and minor subject are the recipient and agent respectively,it is the sentence pattern of passive voice without the use of typical passive symbols. In addition, when the subject is human being,this noun can be the recipient,but whether it is passive or not relies on the context. However,all these do not apply to the Korean language. In that sense, there are various ways to indicate passive voice in the Chinese language. This also brings about a problem. For Korean learners who study Chinese as the second language, it is difficult to master Chinese passive voice. By comparing Chinese passive voice and that of the Korean language, the author hopes that it will be easier for Korean learners to understand Chinese passive voice. The theoretical significance of the paper is to provide a sample for revealing the general features of language, while the practical significance is to help Korean learners learn Chinese more effectively and to help translators who are involved in Chinese-Korean translation to produce more precise and better work. The third part of this chapter, with the teaching experience on Chinese and Korean language translation over the years, the author further explains the differences of passive representation of the two languages.The final part is an appendix, studying a special case in the development of Chinese passive representation: passive voice sentences occurring in the different versions (It is the reflection of different language use at different period of time) of Lao Qida and Piao Tongshi. The Korean people are familiar with these two books. The Chinese language of Lao Qida and Piao Tongshi,viewed macroscopically,is a kind of synchronic material. Over the years since the publishment of the two books,some revisions have been made,so in this sense they also reflect the diachronic changes of Chinese language. We try to conduct a research on the development of Chinese passive voice over a period of time through examinations on the revisions and changes of different versions of the two books at different time.