Title : A Historical Perspective of the Chinese Word 有 yǒu in the Chinese Language

Author(s) : Chanyaporn Chawla

Pages : 1-27

Abstract in English : In Chinese linguistics, there has been a
long-term interest in the many uses of有 yǒu.
However, a number of these studies limit the
functions of 有 yǒu only to a particular
period (i.e. the Archaic or Modern period).
Moreover, explanations as to why 有 yǒu
lost its dominance and was substituted by
other words is rarely given. Thus, this paper
will synthesize the key interpretations on the
variety of functions of 有 yǒu during their
development from the Archaic to Modern
Chinese periods, and provide explanations
for its semantic and syntactic characteristics.
In addition, this paper also supports Hopper
and Traugott (2003)’s view that during the
process of grammaticalization, a content
word can shift its function to be a
grammatical one.