2 - Copular Word and Construction

Summary

This chapter discusses a fundamental change in copula structures from Old to Middle Chinese, which in turn caused a series of consequent developments that significantly altered the texture of Chinese grammar at the time. Old Chinese lacks such a copula verb, as there is no linking verb between the subject and the complement, and the copula construction at the time was obligatorily marked by a sentence-final particle yě that followed the complement, unlike other verbs.