On the Origin of the Passive Form of"Wei"in Ancient Chinese
The passive form of"Wei"(为)originated in the late Warring States period.The passive preposition"Wei"was grammati-calized from the verb which means"to be".In the predicate object structure"Wei NN"and"Wei N"structure,N is the noun-verb multi-category word,the differentiation of noun-verb in ancient Chinese makes the N in"Wei NN"and"Wei N"evolve into a verb,and makes"Wei"change from a verb grammar to a passive preposition."Wei NN"and"Wei N"evolved from the predicate object structure to passive"Wei NV"and"Wei V".
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