Interpretation of the Category 介字 jiezi in the Grammar Theory of Ma Jianzhong

Abstract

The description of lexical units of the class 介字 jiezi ‘preposition’ in “Ma shi wen tong” (1898) is considered. This work is of particкитайскular significance for historiographical and episteкитайскmological research. A comparison with traditional Chinese linguistics’ dictionaries of function words (Lu Yiwei’s “Yu zhu”, Yuan Renlin’s “Xu zi shuo”, Liu Qi’s “Zhu zi bian lu e”, Wang Yinzhi’s “Jing zhuan shi ci”) is made, the views of grammarians of recent times are also considered. The proviкитайскsions from Ma Jianzhong’s grammar are illustrated with examples. Methods of description, compariкитайскson, and system analysis are used; a synchronic approach with diachronic elements is applied to the material. It is shown that prior to 1898 Chiкитайскnese philologists described the usage of preposiкитайскtions, but there were no special terms to mark such words; they were often designated by the general term 辭 ci; the variant 介字 jiezi was proкитайскposed by Ma Jianzhong. “Ma shi wen tong” deкитайскscribes in detail prepositional functioning of the signs 之 zhi, 於 yu, 以 yi, 與 yu, 爲 wei, as well as some others but in less detail. In general, lexical units of this category represent a system of eleкитайскments that marks the relationship between conкитайскtent words, however, some of the units considered by Ma Jianzhong among prepositions in modern grammatical theory are usually classified as conкитайскjunctions or function words. A general classificaкитайскtion of prepositions is not given. When explaining the rules for the use of separate lexical units, their syntactic positions and the possibility of combinaкитайскtion with some words of other classes are exкитайскplained. Ma Jianzhong also notes that the use of prepositions is similar to the use of transitive verbs.