Les structures en BA en chinois vernaculaire médiéval et moderne.

Abstract

The BA constructions ("SNO-subject +BA + SN1-object + SV" in medieval and modern Chinese (8th-16th centuries) are not subjected to any of the fundamental constraints which regulate the same constructions in contemporary Chinese. Particularly, there is no constraint according to which the verb cannot be at the final position and must be followed by another constituent. The earliest BA forms are final verb forms, and several of these verbs are even monosyllabic, not being preceded by adverbials. It is therefore impossible that the surface structure condition of Huang Shuan-fan (1984) could explain the origin and the development of accusative markers BA. The BA constructions come from serial verbs constructions "V1 BA + O + V2" , where the object (O) is at the same time object of V1 and V2. This structure itself comes synchronically from "V1 BA + 01 + V2 + 02" by deleting the second object (02), when this latter is identical to the first (01). The verb BA's full meaning has been then taken away, and, through a grammaticalization process, a preposition has taken place to introduce pre-verbal objects. This diachronic derivation ("V1 BA + 0 + V2" > "PREP BA + 0 + V") occurred between the 7th and the 8th centuries.