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Article published In:
Language and Linguistics
Vol. 23:4 (2022) ► pp.601–643

The origin and the development of 焉 yān in Old Chinese

An example of Trans-East Asian linguistic study

| Korea University

The Old Chinese function word 焉 yān is frequently interpreted as a fusion of [於 (‘at/on/in’) + 此 (near demonstrative pronoun)] in terms of its meaning. Ever since Kennedy (1940a, b; 1953) argued that 焉 is a fusion of [於 + *an (third-person pronoun)], it has been controversial as to exactly which third-person pronoun/demonstrative pronoun *an corresponds to in Old Chinese. There is no third-person pronoun/demonstrative pronoun that is appropriate for this reconstruction.

This paper illustrates how 焉 *Ɂan is a fusion of 於 *Ɂa and *niɁ; *nih or *nɔɁ; *nɔh, which means ‘this’ in Proto-Austroasiatic (PAA). The demonstrative is borrowed into Chinese through language contact in the Early Archaic Chinese period (10th to 6th c. BC). This fusion is plausible in historical and phonological terms, while the grammaticalization path of 焉 also accords with that of [於 + demonstrative].

The grammaticalization path of 焉 is examined by analyzing all occurrences of it in the Bronze Inscriptions (BI), The book of odes (Shījīng 詩經), The book of documents (Shàngshū 尚書), and Zuo’s commentary (Zuǒzhuàn 左傳). Also, the usages of its etymological doublet 爰, which is considered to be a fusion of [于 *wa (‘at/on/in’) + near demonstrative pronoun], are analyzed in order to strengthen the argument.

Keywords: 焉 , Old Chinese reconstruction, Proto-Austroasiatic, language contact, borrowing, grammaticalization
Article outline
  • 1.Summary of previous studies on 焉
    • 1.1The usages of 焉 in Old Chinese
    • 1.2The origin of 焉
  • 2.Origin of *n: Sino-Tibetan or Austroasiatic?
    • 2.1Evaluating the possibility of a Sino-Tibetan origin for *n
    • 2.2Evaluating the possibility of an Austroasiatic origin for *n
      • 2.2.1The Austroasiatic languages: Introduction
      • 2.2.2Subgrouping of the Austroasiatic languages
      • 2.2.3The homeland of Austroasiatic languages
      • 2.2.4PAA word for ‘this’ and its reflexes in modern AA languages
  • 3.The occurrences of 爰 and 焉 in Archaic Chinese texts
    • 3.1 爰 in The book of documents and in The book of odes
      • 3.1.1 The book of documents
        • [ 爰 meaning 援 ‘pull by hand, aid’]
        • [ 爰 interpreted as 于時 ‘thereupon’ (s-and)]
        • [ 爰 used as a loanword for 曰 ‘say, is called’]
      • 3.1.2 爰 in The book of odes
        • [ 于 + anaphoric pronoun]
        • [ 爰 interpreted as 于時 ‘thereupon’ (s-and)]
        • [ 爰 interpreted as ‘where’]
    • 3.2 焉 in The book of documents and in The book of odes
      • 3.2.1 焉 in The book of documents
        • [ 於 + anaphoric pronoun]
        • [Adverbial suffix (equivalent to 然)]
      • 3.2.2 焉 in The book of odes
        • [ 於 + anaphoric pronoun]
        • [ 焉 used as an s-and ]
        • [ 焉 used as a question word ‘where’]
        • [ 焉 used as a sentence-final particle]
    • 3.3 焉 in Zuo’s commentary and Late Archaic Chinese texts
      • 3.3.1 焉 (= [於 + anaphoric pronoun]) shows a wide range of meaning
      • 3.3.2 焉 used as a question word ‘where’ or as a rhetorical question marker
      • 3.3.3 焉 used as a sentence-final modal particle
        • Previous studies on 焉 as a sentence-final particle
        • The use of 焉 as a sentence-final modal particle in Zuo’s commentary
        • [必/將/其…焉]: ‘It is certainly…’/ ‘It will…’/ ‘It is probably…’
        • [A如/猶B焉 ]: ‘It would be like…’
        • [ 有/無…焉 ]: ‘There would be (no)…’
        • [ 何…焉 ] ‘How…?’
  • 4.The grammaticalization path of 焉
    • 4.1Demonstrative (+ other element) > s-and
    • 4.2 焉 used as a question word
    • 4.3[於 + anaphoric pronoun] to sentence-final modal particle
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviations
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 12 October 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lali.00117.cha
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