The Evolution of the Concept of Complement (补语 bǔyǔ) in Chinese Linguistics

Abstract

The article is devoted to the description of buyu (补语 bǔyǔ), i. e. a linguistic concept of a complement perceived as a special part of a sentence in Chinese linguistics. The problem of
distinguishing grammatical units of a sentence that share one syntactic function is considered. Less than a century ago China did not have any knowledge of theoretical linguistics of its own, so it had to borrow the concept from foreign science. Thus, the notion of a complement that supplements the semantics of a verb or an adjective in a predicate was introduced by Li Jinxi who had borrowed it from English grammars and applied to Chinese syntax. However, soon enough it had become a subject of revision. The article reflects how the concept of buyu has become a mixture of related linguistic phenomena by its gradual meaning extension. Besides, the paper analyses topmost structural and semantic features of the units that perform the role of buyu in a sentence, as well as summarises the criteria for distinguishing it from other parts of a sentence, i. e. an object and adverbial modifier. It is claimed that a single and consistent approach should be employed to the relevant elements with the same syntactic function and that the existing descriptions of Chinese grammar should be reexamined providing the concept of buyu. Finally, the author stresses the necessity to use the term dopolnitel’niy element (‘an additional element’) for terminology consistency in Russian sinological literature.

Keywords:

Chinese language; Chinese grammar; Chinese syntax; Sentence parts; Parts of the sentence; Sentence elements; complement; buyu