Проблемы китайского и общего языкознания. К 90-летию С. Е. Яхонтова

 599  Analysis of “full” words in Classical Chinese based on the Book of Laozi   3.3. Intransitive verbs (Vi, VPi) Nikitina does not divide OC verbs into transitive and intransitive, whereas Yakhontov suggests their division into two independent word classes (see above). Intransitive verbs due to their semantic nature demand one actant (subject), they do not have necessarily take any object. Yakhon- tov writes: “Intransitive verbs … have two meanings: basic and causative. In their basic meaning they can be used under any conditions without any limitations; they can take even an object, while the object with and without preposition 於 yū has the same meaning with them. Compare: 入 rù ‚he entered‛, 入室 rù shì ‚he entered the room‛, 入於室 rù yū shì ‚he entered into the room‛.“ If intransitive verbs control an object in the sense of logical (direct) ob- ject, they change their categorial meaning into causative transitive verb. Compare e. g. 去之 qù zhī „he left him“ vs. „he expelled him“ < „he caused him to leave“. The first usage of the verb 去 qù „leave“ is basic, the second is causative. Thus, intransitive verbs have as their common function the funciton of predicative verb which does not take the direct object. All other functions are special, including the function of causative transitive verb. In nominal functions they receive mostly the meaning of abstract denomination of the given process (“a walk”, “joy”). Verbs relatively rarely carry out attributive and adverbial functions. Most of the verbs (both transitive and intransitive, except of modal verbs) can be used in one of the five verbal aspects: general, inchoative (begin an action or get into a state), continuative (continue to perform an action or to be in a state), conative (try to perform an action) and resultative (finish an ac- tion with the desired result). The theory of OC aspects is still not elaborated in detail, but it seems that certain verbs do prefer the pair of aspects cona- tive — resultative, while others inchoative — continuative. As Yakhontov further mentions, some of the verbs take a transitional po- sition between transitive and intransitive verbs, similarly there exist verbs which occupy a transitional position between verbs and adjectives, but both are of relatively small number. For that reason it is sometimes uneasy to judge whether the given word is rather adjective or intransitive verb, respectively transitive or intransitive verb. Despite of existence of such border cases I find it useful to distinguish between these three word classes. Syntactic functions of intransitive verbs attested in the text of Laozi : 1. vi (intransitive verb in function of objectless predicative verb) 死而不 亡者壽 “Who has died but did not vanish, has reached longevity.“ (XXXIII)