A Study of the Grammaticalization of the GIVE Verb in Chinese

This thesis provides a detailed study of the GIVE verb gei in Mandarin Chinese, with a focus on the historical process of grammaticalization that it underwent since ancient times.;In Mandarin Chinese, gei, which basically means "to give", performs multiple syntactic functions, including those as a causative verb, a dative marker, a benefactive marker, a malefactive marker, an allative marker, a disposal marker, and a passive marker. Based on a thorough examination of texts of various sorts from the Pre-Qin to Modern periods, this thesis argues that gei acquired its meaning "to give" in the Pre-Qin period, developed into a dative marker in the Han period, and eventually took on other grammatical functions through two different paths of grammaticalization. One of the pathways was the extension through which the preverbal dative marker became a benefective marker in the Ming dynasty, a function from which the uses as an allative marker, a malefactive marker and a disposal marker were derived. The other pathway was one through which the serial verb construction [ V+DO+GEI+ IO+VP ] provided the syntactic condition for the causative use also in the Ming Dynasty. The causative use subsequently gave rise to the meaning "to permit"/"let" in the Qing Dynasty, and gei later became the marker of the passive.;This thesis consists of seven chapters. Chapter One is an introduction, with a brief account of previous discussions on gei and also a general description of the topics I will discuss in this thesis. Chapter two deals with the ways in which gei acquired the meaning "to give" and its various usages in ancient Chinese. Chapter Three describes the diachronic development of three types of dative construction. The following three chapters examine the different processes of grammaticalization that gei went through in its diachronic development. Chapter Four focuses on its uses as a benefactive marker, a malefactive marker and an allative marker. Chapter Five focuses on its use as a diposal marker. Chapter Six focuses on its uses as a causative verb and a passive marker. Chapter seven is a conclusion, with a summary of the major findings in the thesis. It also highlights some of the issues that await further investigations in our study of the multi-functional gei in Chinese.