Abstract
The syntactic causative in Chinese is expressed by ‘Shi(使)’. There are disagreements concerning the word class of ‘Shi(使)’. This paper demonstrated how ‘Shi(使)’ has changed from a lexical verb in classical Chinese, meaning ‘to send’, to a grammatical causative marker in modern Chinese. I analyzed this change in the grammatical status of ‘Shi(使)’ in terms of the ‘movement of abstract force’, based on Talmy(1985)’s theory of ‘Force dynamics’. Using force dynamics, it is demonstrated here how a semantic change from ‘physical spatial movement’ to ‘movement of abstract force’ is accompanied by a grammatical change from lexical verb to causative marker.BR Thus force dynamics and grammaticalization processes show how ‘Shi(使)’ has undergone a change in its grammatical function. Rather than classifying ‘Shi(使)’ as a ‘proto-verb’ with a concrete meaning, it is better understood to function as a causative marker expressing a transfer of force (from causing event to caused event).BR
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