以의 문법화 과정 고찰 (上) - ≪詩經≫에 나타난 용례를 바탕으로

Abstract

This paper investigates the grammaticalization path of yǐ 以 in Old Chinese by analyzing all occurrences of it in The Book of Odes(Shijing≪詩經≫), a pre-classical text in the classification of Pulleyblank(1995). This text is chosen because it reflects a key early stage in the grammaticalization of 以. While the original verbal usages of 以 remain in this stage, it has also started to appear much more frequently as a preposition and a conjunction with a wide range of usages. 以 is originally a verb meaning ‘to lead’, and the meaning is extended to ‘to take’, ‘to bring’, ‘to hold’, and ‘to reach’. From a verb, it is further grammaticalized into a preposition with a wide range of usages, such as an instrumental marker and a direct-object marker. It is also used with a factitive verb 為 in the form [以……為……]. From its usage as an instrumental marker, it is further grammaticalized into a cause marker, a locative marker, and an agent marker. Each grammaticalization path is convincingly proved by providing ample examples from other languages which underwent a very similar path of grammaticalization. This shows that the grammaticalization path of 以 shown in The Book of Odes is not just limited to Old Chinese, but is very plausible from the perspective of linguistic typology. Finally, based on the analysis of the occurrences of 以 in this text, the semantic map of 以 is drawn.