I THE CLASSICAL CHINESE MODAL PARTICLE, YI E Christoph Harbsmeier -':. University of Oslo il- i' . I I Reprinted from Proceedings on the Second International Conference on Sinology Academia Sinica Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China June 1989 TE{E C[,ASSTCA[, CF{INEBE h{OE}Ar, P,&RTEC{,E rr B Ctrtristoph l{arbsineier Unirersity of Oslo I. Introductory Remarks Joseph Henri Fr6mare, the incomparabre pioneer in the fierd of chinese gram- mar' \'Yrote in 1730 "Nutla enim proprie liltera vactla est, secl in se semper aliqwid siqni- rtcet".t L'Iy teacher David tlawkes, from u,hom I ought to have learnt mucrr more than tr have, in the introduction to his transiation of l{ung ,t,ott hkeng, cjeciared it his abiding principle to insist on translating erer5rthi*g he found in sen- tences.2 his The precise force of modal particles is notoriously difficult to pin down. But these modal particles do exist, and they should be no more neglected than the fine distinction between the aorist and the perfect forms of the verb in Classical Greek.s trn this article I aspire to live up to my teacher,s abiding principle, and to vindicate Joseph Henri pr6rnare,s grammatical statement, with respect to the modal particle vi I hope E' that the result will be a sharper and more coherent overall picture of the semantics of the word yj E and of the sernantics of sen- tences involving the particle yi a.4 since I am explicitry presenting much of the evidence my analysis is based on, the patient reader wiil, I hope, find it convenient to try out alternative interpretations of modal yi d to the one presented here. If someone comes up with a better solution, I shall not have presented the mate. rial in vain. XE. The ltleamings cf yd fr, I shali begin by relatiag the grammatical usages of yi E to the verbal uses in a scheinatic i,vay. I shall constrtie a sentence ending in modal yi E as deriving speaking uo charactcr is 'en.rpty'. CLaracters ' li;.nt"o"t'y alu,er,s do mcan sor:erl:ing in thern- 2 Tsau Sliiue-cltin, The Story of lhe.9ione, vcl. 1, p.4d. 3 Note incidentally the'gnomic'riscs of the gererally past 4 terse Eicr-isi in ciassical Greek! I do not claim originality for my inteipretation. \lrheo ya;r shr-gu l{[[s (5s1_645) observed on one occasion tltat yi you er (Jung-t,en E|th4 Da-tsz-dian p. afi6), i'irrrnL he car.:re reasonal_.ry tt..'u' ehou Fa-kao (197i) is bv far the 3":::'.,tJlt best and ,i. ,ror, clerailed rrearrnent of yi * 471. -; I,, - PROCEEDINGS OF 2l.lD INTERi'.,lA1lOFlAL CONFERENCE ON SINOLOGY Seclion on Iinsuisiics & Palecgrophy by a process of grammaticaiization from a complex sentence consisting of senten- tial suhject follolved by the predicate li E. We note that the origin of the mociern perticle /e l' has been sho-u.,,n to haye similar verbal origins. Let n-re try to set up a schema on the interrelatecli uses of .t'i E: 1. trlltraqsitive Verfual Uses: 1. 1 .]rl E 'to clesist, to stop, to flnish' ( 1 ) ilT1+Em*fr)Fir-#141.. "If you certainly (cannot manage to desist)) have no alternative but to give up one, which of these three rvould you put first?" (Ltien i;u 12.7 (tr,vice), cf. D. C. I-au (1983) p. i11) .Iz The Su.en provides interesting evidence that yi means not just 'stop' (7r tt) but 'finish' (ckens FX): ( 2 ),fzfE 4H+H-tr-?FFR- 1ffi',t$.t{.. EEHa= E Ttl',t{e " To prepare the shielded wagons and make ready the necessary arms and equipment requires is only completed after three rnonths; to pile up earthen ramps against the walls is first finished after another three months. (Suen Tz 3.4, cf. Griffith (1963) p. 78) The Lau 7z ccnveniently links this to the 'exclamatory'l,i E: ( 3 ) 6EFE" If you do not behar-e accol'ding to the \\ray you come to an early end. (Lau Iz 30 and 55. \ote th: spi.l:-:'.'-:::.'-.::: r"'c:r.E,) N{ost significantl}', :n c:,::=::-,: '.:::- - -: :-: -:-: -- ..-. ::l .r: l. .'.'e find the idiom t:e li EtjE 'then that i.:t.^^.s il-= l--ill=r, 1..:r- l. ::: .: :- - -.. :- : -- .:.:': ( 4 ) rEHR;tHl-, F=='=-- -. --- - -,,-. ;:-, (A duke is about= to commit suicide and sa-rs:) "if the dead have no knorvle- dge, then there is no more to be said. But if they do have knorvledge, then how will I be able to face Jung Fu in the underworld?"6 (Guan Tz ch,32,ed. lVan-you- wen-ku vol. 2, p. 4l) 1..1.1 yi er Effi'rvhen that was {inished, then...} then after a rvhile' In Sr.)i er Efri Sz'Sr and only after that Sz'the yl E must be taken to have Sr as its subject:'when Sr was finishetl then (and only tlien) Sr'. Compare first, 5 The cases where yi E seems to be a phonetic loan for yi J>) are not important in our context, The extremely rare cases when it is supposed to be used as a demonstrative pronoun, Luen Yu 17.22, in any case, is not a case of pronominal yi E, as Yang Bojun (1965) p. 197 rightly points out. Why the Er Ya ffi{6 dictionary deflnes yl f,, as tsz [L remains something of a puzzle to me, unless this simply represents a mistaken forced aitempt to make sense of Luen Yu 77,22, Guo Pu *llH seems to think of it as a phonetic loan. (Cf. Liu Qi (1955) p. 132). Chou Fa-kao (1975) p. 315, footnote 2 disregards the question of the systematic interrelation of the various meanings of yi E which is the starting point of our investigation. 6 Contrast W. A. Rickett (1985) p. 429 "If , on dying, I had not known any better, it would be all right, but having known, how will I be able to fact Zhongfu in the netherworld?" *472- PARTICLE YI E. Horbsmeier: THE CIASSICAL CHINESE MODAI. in preparation, the following example: ( 5 ) E,x9+1Lffi6\t*^. Shang ) Ilaving He finisheil killing Kung Fu and then assassinated Duke (Tzuo Juan, D'Jke Tluan alreatly killed Kung Fu he then assassinated Duke Shang. 2.5) ( 6 ) ffi+61+ft, Effitft.Azo ' had finisheil)) flnallv For a whole year he did not catch any fish. (when this p' a fish did bite... (tuang Tz 26'12, cf' Watson (1968) 296) flnally) then The combination yi er Effi comes to mean something like 'then after a while': (7 ) 4fiql%-Ee, Effi.BIJ. had flnisheil)) "Originally Jeng and Liang were one state' Then (when that finally they were separated'" (Han Fei 7z 30'38'3) 1.1.2 yi tze EF\ 6when that was finishet! then"') then after a while' Occasionally, we find the variant yi tze E.Htl: (8) x$sz=,?@&,, EEiJ@+. he did change The neighbour,s son would not change his ways. In the end hisways.(LiuShrChuenChiou13'3,ed'ChenQiyoup'689) 1. 1.3 yi hu Z* '(I) am finisheillalas!' (e) f,+e+" 12. 8) ,,I am done for! I am done fott" (Tzuo luan, Duke Jau L.1.4 yi Yi E*.'(tr) am finisheil' 1.1.4.t yi yi hu EgA+ '(I) am surelv flnished!' (10) EA+" ,,I am surely ilone 1ort,, (Luen Yu 5.27, 15.13) 1.1.4.2 yi yi fu Ere* '(I) am ilone for' aren't I?' (11) F\,HZ<6, i'J4HE" EE4*" up its Chart' I am "The Phoenix does not appear nor does the River offer C. Lau (1983) p. 79 who-understand- done for, aren't l?" (Luen Yu 9'9, contrast: D. ably-disregards the fir'al fu *.') all' 1. 1.5 yi er f,ffi'(I) arn flnisheil, that's The madman of Chu sings: (r2) EmEfrl. ,,(you) (You) are done f or, that's al'l!,', (Luen Yu 78'5' are done for, that's all! 'ffi' fina1 er fot which cf. D. C. I-au (i983) p. 183 who disregar<1s the troublesome that I do not long for you; see T,zuo Juan, Shiuan 4 and Luett Yu 9.31 "it is not Waiey (193s) p. 1a5.) you house is far away, that,s alli'' and the note in A. rvith respect to this' 1. 1.6 yi yan tzai Effi&,'(tr) am finisheil (13) -C,Efi! It is all over with respect to thisl (Shr Jins 40' 1-3) & t' , ! -473* t: I PROCEEDiNIGS OF 2AID INTERNAIIONAI, CON,CERENCE ON SINOI.OGY.-'vvr re-ionSEt on linguisrics ?ransitiye & Poleosrophv :' , verbal uses: a.l r.lri a 3) LJ ro cause to finish, I.i E is used (14)_ for 'to cause to finishrlir'I$, -e2*u*."unuitively '" inrn a job, rernove 1,1rh." ;;;,Trr,". ,,,^---. from office,: face. him (Lte;t yttr.li]t" -dismissed n" ;;:',J'[#;i shorved no resentrnent .s)_ rz*z,ryE;:' "' :T;' on hi, His n{ajesty,s cnict, mar certainr. tt.i, eo.'lf"'-"i:ts caused to risss)'r"r){rbe corne to an end. Finafi]' *u *u1q;vou (Liu s7, gooro (101 crennition .' ir.,'ra;L#.;;.,:-I_::", or:,i E: canon: J.i:,1,\'^u1,,ri;i;IL!." 'ro E,pranatio*,":iil}iu::r cause to nnish,. or .*,in""o; nnish makins. 'rrrrt'sii,?ij;.i". 'to cause o.irri to finish'. (A4o?.2,A. 3. Aiivcrr;isr arr*r,,rrtu, c.