The Study Of The Word "Zhe(者)" In The Analects

In ancient Chinese,“zhe(者)” is one of the very important and activefunction words. It was produced in the late Western Zhou Dynasty and theSpring and Autumn Period, the high frequency in the spoken language. Itsflexible uses make many scholars divergent. First in the lexical category, theopinions have been entangled in the pronouns, auxiliary and modal particles.Then in the function,“zhe” is regarded as self-reference after noun phrasessince that it is refer to transferred-reference after predicate phrases. Thelexical category and function of the “zhe” can’t be unified, this article fromthe two aspects of the “zhe” concluded that “zhe” is a modal particle.The number of “zhe” is219in the Analects, it’s28after noun phrasesand191after predicate phrases. The predicate phrases can analysis from“AP+zhe”,“VP+zhe”,“CP+zhe”. We also discuss some of the specialstructure of the word “zhe”, such as “you……zhe(有……者)”,“suo……zhe(所……者)”, and the complex modal particles “zhe ye(者也)”,“ye zhe(也者)”.Through all of the word “zhe” in the Analects, it’s appeared in thelocation of freedom, not only the single word, such as the “ren(仁)”,“zhang(杖)”, but also a long or a short phrase such as “知德者鲜矣”,“屏气 似不息者”, also have a sentence or clause, such as “鲁无君子者”,“不逆诈，不億不信，抑亦先觉者，是贤乎” and so on.Regardless of what position, what role of the word“zhe”appear in thesentence, it should be regarded as a single morpheme with the property ofmodal particles. It emphasizes the ingredients before the “zhe”, suggests theafter ingredients after the “zhe”, also complements the syllables. The specificrole in the sentence is in accordance with the sentence structure and meaning,also can be a pause and slow rhythm to a certain extent. In the semantic itexpresses or deepens the speaker’s tone and attitude.