Modal verbs in Han period ChinesePart II: Negative Markers in combinationwith the modal auxiliary verbs kĕ 可 and

kĕ yĭ 可可*

Barbara MEISTERERNST

This article focuses on a synchronic analysis ofthe modal auxiliary verbs kĕ 可 and kĕ yĭ 可 可 in Hanperiod Chinese. The study reveals that in Hanperiod Chinese kĕ 可 and kĕ yĭ 可 可 predominantlyexpress root possibility values, while deonticvalues are mainly restricted to the negated formof the construction. Propositional values (eitherepistemic or evidential) are almost non-existentand co-occur only with verbs that licence anevidential interpretation, a notion which isalready present in Classical Chinese.Key words : auxiliaries, modality, Han periodChinese.

* Versions of this paper were presented at the XXIèmesJournées de Linguistique de l’Asie Orientale, Paris, June 2006 andthe 15th IACL conference in New York, 24-27 Mai 2007. Ithank the participants of these conferences. I am alsograteful to the two anonymous reviewers for theirhelpful remarks, and Waltraud Paul for her help informal questions. All remaining errors and shortcomingsare of course mine.Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2): pp-pp (2008)© CRLAO-EHESS 54, Bd Raspail 75006 Paris0153-3320/2008/037-00

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Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-ppCet article présente une étude synchronique surles verbes auxiliaires modaux kĕ 可 et kĕ yĭ 可 可 dansle chinois de la période Han. La discussion montreque les verbes modaux kĕ 可 et kĕ yĭ 可 可 y exprimentle plus souvent la possibilité radicale, lesvaleurs déontiques étant rares dans lesconstructions affirmatives. Quant aux valeurs demodalité propositionnelle (modalité épistémique ouévidentielle) elles sont presque inexistantes, etrestent limitées aux verbes permettant uneinterprétation évidentielle, notion qui existedéjà en chinois classique.Mots-clés : auxiliaires, modalité, chinois de la période Han. 1. INTRODUCTION

In part I of this article the syntax andthe semantics of the modal auxiliary verbs kĕ可 and kĕ yĭ 可 可 in an affirmative sentence havebeen discussed (Meisterernst 2008b). Thispart, part II, is devoted to the analysis ofthe combination of these modal verbs withnegative markers following the assumption(see e.g. de Haan (1997)) that theinterrelation between modals and negatives isof particular relevance in linguistic studieson modality. Since according to Traugott(1989:52) “the older meanings tend to bemaintained longer in negative environments”1

1 To exemplify this hypothesis Traugott (1989:52) quotesTottie (1985) who supports this hypothesis withevidence such as “the maintenance of the volitionalsense of will in We won’t go, and the relative paucity of

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Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-ppit can be hypothesized that the negatedmodals are less disposed to change fromindicating root modality to indicatingepistemic modality.2 Traditionally, twodifferent categories of negatives aredistinguished according to their initialconsonant in the Pre-Classical and ClassicalChinese language, all of which are stillpresent in Han period Chinese.3 Of these twogroups, the p/f-negatives express neutralnegation without any modal values involvedwhereas the m/w-negatives usually indicatedifferent modal values: these arepredominantly deontic (root modal) values,but they can also express epistemic modality.4

epistemic (as opposed to deontic) must not and especiallymustn’t in British English.” 2 As has been demonstrated in the first part of thisstudy, a change from deontic or root modal values topropositional (epistemic and evidential) values cannotbe confirmed for the Han period and epistemic valuesare still rare for kĕ 可 and kĕ yĭ 可 可 in Modern Mandarin(Meisterernst 2008b:116). 3 According to their initial, the negatives arecategorised into: (1) the so-called p/f-negatives, and(2) the so-called m/w-negatives. The first groupconsists of all negatives with a *p-initial –reconstructed for Middle Chinese and earlier stages ofChinese – which partly develops into an f-initial; thesecond group consists of all negatives with an *m-initial in Middle Chinese which develops into a w-initial.4 One of the anonymous reviewers pointed out that thenegatives bù 可 and fú 可 have to be distinguishedaccording to their coda: A coda *-t has beenreconstructed for fú 可 whereas the negative bù 可 isreconstructed with either no coda, or, depending on the

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Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-ppBoth, modally neutral negatives and negativeswith a modal value, can appear to modify themodal predicate: these are in particular theneutral negative bù 可 ‘ not’, the modalnegative wú 可 ‘(do) not’, together with itsvariants, and the aspecto-temporal and modalnegative wèi 可 ‘not yet’, ‘not at all, never’.The following two examples represent only themodally neutral negative and theaspectual/modal negative wèi 可:5

(1) 可 可 可 可 , 可 可 可 可 .Shĭjì: 112; 2961

zhōng bù kĕ jiù, yĭ ér qìzhī

finally NEG can finish, then abandon OBJ‘… when eventually it could not befinished, they gave it up.’6

(2) 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 Shĭjì: 33; 1532

system of reconstruction of Old Chinese, a voiced velarcoda. More relevant for the distinction between fú 可 andbù 可, he/she adds that, according to a note of the Hanscholar Hé Xiū 可 可 in his commentary to the Gōngyángzhuàn 可 可 可, the negative fú 可 has to be considered anemphatic form of bù 可 , which can indeed include a modalnotion. However since no instances of the negative fú 可modifying kĕ (yĭ) 可 (可 ) are attested in the texts underinvestigation, this issue which is certainly ofinterest will not be pursued here.5 These are the missing examples (4) and (5) in Part I.6 Unless stated otherwise all translations of the Chinese examples are mine.

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Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-ppshì wèi kĕ biān ér zhì

yĕ this NEGmod can whip CON leave FIN‘Someone like him cannot be whippedwithout consequences.’

In Classical and Han period Chinese, themodally neutral negative bù 可 ‘ not’, theaspectual and modal negative wèi 可 ‘not yet’,‘not at all, never’, and the modal negativewú 可 ‘ not’ can appear to modify the modalpredicate. Although the negative marker wèi 可has predominantly been analysed as anaspectual negative, it has been pointed out(Harbsmeier 1991, Meisterernst, 2008a) thatit can also express modal notions dependingon the semantics of the verb. In thefollowing discussion, the syntactic andsemantic constraints of a negated modalpredicate will be analysed with particularregard to the position of the negative markerin relation to the modal auxiliary verb andto possible semantic differences evoked bythe employment of a neutral or a modalnegative marker. In the examples presented inthe following section the different syntacticstructures involved with the modal auxiliarykĕ 可 will not be distinguished since they allcan, to the same extent, express differentroot modal values respectively, whereasepistemic modal values hardly ever turn up,as was shown in Part I.

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Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-pp2. THE MODAL VERBS KĔ 可 AND KĔ YĬ 可 可 INCOMBINATION WITH NEGATIVE MARKERS

2.1. Negation of 可 kĕ and 可 可 kĕ yĭ by themodally neutral negative bù 可

The most important neutral negative – andthe only one of relevance in the texts underconsideration – is bù 可 (*pt, *put)7 which asa neutral negative simply denies thesituation the verb refers to independently ofthe mode or the aspect of the verb. Althoughhistorically this negative was typical forintransitive verbal predicates establishing adescriptive relation between the subject andthe predicate,8 in Classical and Han periodChinese it occurs with different kinds ofverbal predicates. Two different positionsare available for the negative bù 可 : (1)preceding the auxiliary verb kĕ 可 and (2)preceding V2. Very frequent are instances ofdouble negation, with the negative bù 可 bothpreceding the auxiliary verb and precedingV2, resulting in the expression of a strongdeontic modality.

7 All Middle Chinese reconstructions are taken fromPulleyblank (1991).8 Djamouri (1991:15) remarks: “BU apparaîtessentiellement dans des énoncés ‘attributifs’,s’appliquant soit à des verbes proprement intransitifs,soit à des caractérisants traduisant une propriétédescriptive, en position prédicative, …”.

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Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-pp2.1.1. The negative bù 可 in the structure [bù可 + kĕ 可 (可) + VP], i.e. [NEG Vmod VP]

Instances with a negative markerpreceding kĕ 可 in general express the rootmodal (deontic) value of prohibition. Theycan refer to both an agent-oriented modalitycorresponding to an obligation in theaffirmative: ‘must’, or a speaker-orientedmodality, corresponding to permission in theaffirmative: ‘may’.

a) [Bù 可 + kĕ 可 (可) + VP] expressing deonticmodality, prohibition ‘CANNOT = must not’:

(3) 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ， 可 可 可 可 可 ． Shĭjì:67; 2210

yĭ wú cóng dàifū zhī hòu,bù kĕ yĭ tú xíng

because I follow dignitary SUB after,NEG can YI on.foot go

‘… since I follow the grand masters, Icannot / may not go on foot.’

(4) 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ， ；gù jūnzĭ bù kĕxūyú lí lĭ, therefore gentleman NEG can for.a.moment

separate rite, xūyú lí lĭ

zé bào màn zhī for.a.moment separate rite then cruelnegligent SUB xìng qióng wài;

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Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-ppbehaviour exhaust outside; ‘Therefore the gentleman must not evenfor a while neglect the rites, if heneglects the rites even for a while, thencruelty and negligence will be everywhereoutside [from where the rites enter].’

Shĭjì: 24;1237

In both examples the deontic modality ofprohibition is expressed, corresponding inthe affirmative to the agent-orientedmodality of obligation. The matrix verb isintransitive in example (3) and transitive inexample (4); in example (3) it is modallymodified by kĕ yĭ 可 可 and in example (4) by kĕ可 alone. The agent in both examples isexpressed and displays the feature [+human]and an adverbial phrase precedes the matrixverb. Contrastively, in the following example(5), which exhibits the same modal value as(3) and (4), the verb is passivized, and thepatient displays the feature [-human].

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Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-pp(5) 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ，可 可 可 可 ． Shĭjì:32; 1486

Yíwú suŏ jū guó guó zhòng,bù kĕ shī yĕ

Yiwu REL live country country important,NEG can neglect FIN‘When Yiwu lives in a country, thiscountry becomes important and must not beneglected.’

Examples (3)–(5) all exhibit agent-orientedmodality and correspond to an obligation,whereas the determination of the followingexamples (6)–(8) as expressing agent- orspeaker-oriented modality seems to be lessstraightforward.

(6) 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ， ？Shĭjì: 7; 322

suī jí bù kĕ yĭ qū,nài hé qì zhī

even.if urgent NEG can YI drive forward,what.about abandon OBJ

‘However urgent our situation be, wecannot / must not hurry [too much]; howcould we possibly abandon them (thechildren) / and there is no way ofabandoning the children?’

(7) 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ， 。 Shĭjì: 39;1647

Jìn bù kĕ jiǎ dào yĕ, shì qiĕmiè Yú

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Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-ppJin NEG can lend way FIN, this FUT/MOD

destroy Yu‘Jin must / may not be given permissionto pass [through our territory], thiswould certainly destroy Yu.’

(8) 可 可 可 ， 可 可 可 ， ...Shĭjì: 40; 1728

Qín hŭ láng, bù kĕ xìnQin tiger wolf, NEG can trust‘[The king of] Qin is like a tiger or awolf; he cannot / must not be trusted.’

All three instances clearly express thedeontic modality of prohibition, and althoughan agent-oriented interpretationcorresponding to an obligation in theaffirmative seems to be quite feasible, aninterpretation of the modal value ascorresponding to the speaker-orientedmodality of permission cannot be excluded;particularly in example (8).9 In example (6),the verb following kĕ yĭ 可 可 remainsintransitive, whereas in (7), theditransitive verb jiǎ 可 ‘ lend someonesomething’, and (8) the transitive verb xìn 可‘trust someone’ are passivized.

9 Kĕ xìn 可 可 ‘can / may be trusted’ is one of the morefrequently occurring combinations of kĕ 可 with a stateverb in the Shĭjì which occasionally licences anevaluative analysis. Another example of the combinationkĕ 可 + state verb involving an evaluative notion hasbeen presented in part I (Meisterernst 2008b: 99,example (13)).

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Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-ppExamples (9) and (10) evidently indicate

a speaker-oriented prohibition correspondingto permission in the supposed affirmative. Inexample (9) the transitive verb is passivizedwhereas in (10), a transitive verb follows kĕyĭ 可 可. Both the patient in (9), and the agentin (10) display the feature [+human]

(9) 可 可 可 ，可 可 可 可 ．Shĭjì: 40; 169810

rĕn rén yĕ, bù kĕ lìyĕ

relentless man FIN, NEG can establish FIN‘He is a relentless person and cannot /must not be established [as heirapparent].’

(10) 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可， ， ，可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ．shī zài zhì mìng ér yĭ,

bĭng mìng zé bù army be.at decide order CON finish,

receive order then NEG wēi, zhuān mìng zé bù

xiào, gù jūn zhīauthoritative, claim order then NEGfilial, therefore ruler SUB sì dí bù kĕ yĭ shuò

shīoffspring son NEG can YI lead army‘In the army it is all just about issuingorders; but if someone has to accept

10 This instance is a quotation from Zuŏzhuàn, Wén 1(Shísānjīng zhùshū 1837 可).

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Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-pporders, then he is not authoritative, andif he gives orders himself, then he isnot filial; therefore the son of a rulercannot / must not lead an army.’ Shĭjì: 39; 1643

In the following two examples (11) and (12)both interpretations of kĕ 可 , expressingdeontic modality or expressing rootpossibility, are possible. The matrix verb istransitive and the agent, specified in (11)but non-specified in (12), is [+human].

(11) 可 可 可 可 可 可 ， 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ， ， 可 可 可 可 可 .chén wén bài jūn zhī jiàng,bù kĕ yĭ yán yŏng, subject hear defeat army SUB general, NEGcan YI speak bravery,wáng guó zhī dàifū, bù kĕ

yĭ tú cúnperish land SUB dignitary, NEG can YI

plan exist‘I have heard that the general of adefeated army may not speak about braveryand the dignitaries of a perished countrymay not devise plans for maintenance.’Shĭjì: 92; 2617

(12) 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可， Shĭjì: 24;122211

11 This instance is a quotation from Lĭjì, Yuèjì (Shísānjīng zhùshū 1540 可).

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Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-ppyuè zhōng bù kĕ yĭ yŭ,

bù kĕ yĭ dǎo gŭmusic finally NEG can YI discuss, NEG canYI talk antiquity‘When the music is finished one may notdiscuss, nor talk about antiquity.’

b) [Bù 可 + kĕ 可 ( 可 ) + VP] expressing rootpossibility ‘CANNOT=cannot, could not’:

(13) 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ， 可 可 可 ．Shĭjì: 6; 292

hé jué bù kĕ fù yŏng,yú làn bù

river burst NEG can again block, fishovercook NEG kĕ fù quán can again complete ‘[It was as if] a river had burst itsbanks and these could not be repairedagain and fish were overcooked and couldnot be made whole again.’

In this example, kĕ 可 apparently expressesroot possibility; no external circumstancesare present as enabling conditions for thecompletion of the situation referred to bythe matrix verb. The verb is passivized. Thefollowing example (14) is structurally quitesimilar to example (13).

(14) 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ，qiè qiē tòng sĭ zhĕ bù kĕ fù

shēng ér xíng

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Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-ppI sharp pain die NOM NEG can againlive CON punish zhĕ bù kĕ fù xùNOM NEG can again continue‘I feel a sharp pain because the deadcannot be made alive again and those whohave lost extremities by punishment(lit.: have been punished) cannot havethem replaced.’ Shĭjì: 105; 2795

(15) 可 可 可 可 可 可 ， 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ，... Shĭjì: 40; 1729

Qĭng Xiāng wáng Héng yuán nián, Qín yāoHuái wáng Qing Xiang king Heng first year, Qinpress Huai kingbù kĕ dé dìNEG can get country‘In the first year of Heng, king QingXiang, Qin put a lot of pressure on KingHuai, but could not get the country.’

In this example, too, root possibility, maybeincluding a notion of ability, is expressed.The exact circumstances which prevent thesituation from being completed are notdetermined. The specified agent, a state, candisplay both the features [-human] and[+human], since the name of a state canalways also metonymically refer to the rulerof the state. The matrix verb following kĕ 可is transitive.

Apparently all instances of kĕ (yĭ) 可 ( 可 )negated by bù 可 , the modally neutral

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Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-ppnegative, express root modal values. Negatedby bù 可 , the unambiguously deontic values ina narrower sense are more frequentlyrepresented than the root possibility values,in contrast to the same construction in theaffirmative which predominantly representsroot possibility values and less frequentlydeontic values in a narrower sense. Most ofthe examples indicate a clear prohibitionwhich can either be agent-oriented, namely,corresponding to an obligation in therespective affirmative, or speaker-oriented,namely, corresponding to permission in theaffirmative which agrees well with Peyraube’sanalysis of the construction bù kĕ 可 可 VP.12

With the negated modal auxiliary kĕ (yĭ) 可 (可), it can occasionally be difficult to draw aclear line between the agent-oriented and thespeaker-oriented values.

12 Peyraube (1999: 40) “Of these four fundamentalmeanings of the auxiliary kĕ, the first one (expressionof a permission, i.e. deontic modality) is the mostcommon one, especially this is always the meaningexpressed by the negative form bu kĕ VP, …”

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Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-pp2.1.2. The negative bù 可 in the structure [bù可 + kĕ 可 (可) + bù 可 VP], i.e. [NEG Vmod NEG VP]

Double negation, namely, a negativemarker preceding kĕ 可 and a negative markerpreceding the matrix verb always expressesstrong deontic modality. This usually codes astrong obligation ‘must’, while, in contrastto the affirmative construction, it neverexpresses root possibility.

(16) 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ， Shĭjì:130; 3298

gù yŏu guó zhĕ bù kĕ yĭbù zhī chūn qiū

therefore have state NOM NEG can YI NEG knowspring autumn

‘Therefore, those who have a state / areresponsible for a state must know theSpring and Autumn Annals …’

(17) 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ， 可 可 可 可 可 ．Shĭjì: 120; 3108

dà jiàngjūn zūn zhòngyì guì, jūn bù

great general venerable important morehonour, prince NEG

kĕ yĭ bù bàican YI NEG bow‘The great general is very important andis receiving more and more honours, youmust show him your reverence.’

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Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-ppIn examples (16) and (17) the agent of thestrong obligation is specified and displaysthe feature [+human]. The title jūn 可 ‘prince’refers to the addressee and corresponds to apolite second person pronoun. The verb istransitive in (16) and intransitive in (17).In the following example the agent is notspecified, but it is quite obvious from thecontext that it is the addressee andcorresponds to a second person pronoun.Between the second negative marker and thematrix verb an adverb and the reflexivepronoun zì 可 ‘self’ are inserted.

(18) 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ．Shĭjì: 7; 312

dàn rì bù kĕ bù zǎo zìlái xiè Xiàng wángmorning day NEG can NEG early self come

apologize Xiang king‘You must come yourself early tomorrowmorning and apologize to king Xiang.’

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Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-pp2.1.3. The negative bù 可 in the structure [kĕ可 (可) + bù 可 VP], i.e. [Vmod NEG VP]

Whereas examples (16) to (18) all exhibitdouble negation, in the examples (19) and(20) only the matrix VP is negated in arhetorical question. The structure kĕ 可 NEG VPmainly appears in rhetorical questions, ashas already been claimed for ClassicalChinese by Liu (2000:94). Both examplesclearly express the deontic modal value ofobligation ‘must not?’ The agent in bothinstances displays the feature [+human], andthe verb is an intransitive state verb.

(19) 可 可 可 可 可 ， 可 可 可 可 ？Shĭjì: 40; 1737

shì zhī yú rén yĕ, kĕ bùshèn yú

influence SUB at man FIN, can NEG carefulFIN

‘And in using one’s power with regard tohuman beings, must one not be careful /one must be careful!?’

(20) 可 可 可 可 可 可 ， 可 可 可 可 ， 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ！

zĭ sūn jiāo shēwàng zhī, yĭ wáng

son grandson arrogant extravagant forgetOBJ, so forget

qí jiā, wéi rén zĭ kĕ bùshèn hū

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Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-ppits family, be man son can NEG careful

FIN‘The sons and grandsons are arrogant andextravagant and forget them (= theachievements of their ancestors) and sothey ruin their families; [therefore], ifone is someone’s son, is it thenpermissible not to be careful? = one hasto be careful.’Shĭjì: 33; 1520

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Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-pp2.2. Negation with the aspectual-modalnegative wèi 可 in the structure [wèi 可 + kĕ 可 +VP], i.e. [NEG Vmod VP]

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Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-ppAccording to most grammars, the basic

notion of wèi 可 is to denote a situation inthe past which has not yet started or reachedits completion at the reference time, usuallyglossed in Modern Mandarin by méiyŏu 可 可 .13 Inthis function as an aspectual negative markerwèi 可 selects, similar to méiyŏu 可 可 in ModernMandarin, an event as its complement.14 But forsome occurrences, particularly in combinationwith modal verbs such as néng 可 ‘can, be ableto’, kĕ 可 ‘ can’, and zú 可 ‘ suffice’, it isglossed by bù 可 and often denotes a situationwhich will never be completed or even occur.15

In these cases it can imply a tenselesscategorical judgement16 which to a certainextent conforms with Harbsmeier’s (1981)analysis, who demonstrates that wèi 可 can adopta logical function besides its so-calledtemporal or aspectual functions.17 As a modal13 A detailed analysis of the negative marker wèi 可 ,also in combination with modal verbs has been presentedin Meisterernst (2008a).14 The same has been shown for méiyŏu 可 可 in acomprehensive study by Lin (2003).15 Examples for this structure can be found e.g. in He etal. (1985) and in Gŭdài Hànyŭ xūcí cídiǎn (2000).16 A similar analysis is provided in Dobson (1959: 43) whodescribes the difference between bù 可 and wèi 可 asfollows: “The difference is between particular denial (anenvisaged instance), and universal denial (all envisagedinstances).” Accordingly, wèi 可 in these cases could beconsidered a universal negative.17 Harbsmeier (1981:42): “In this section I want todemonstrate that there also is a non-temporal ‘gnomic’use of wei which is naturally related to but clearlydistinct from the basic temporal ‘not yet’. In this

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Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-ppnegative, wèi 可 predominantly expresses astrong categorial denial. Instances with thenegative wèi preceding kĕ 可 are quite frequent,but the negative is confined to the auxiliaryverb, no instances of wèi 可 preceding V2exist.

a) Wèi 可 expressing deontic modality ‘CANNOT =must not’:

In examples (21) and (22), the speaker-oriented deontic value of prohibition isexpressed which would correspond topermission in the respective affirmative.They both refer to a context in which theprognostication of an oracle has to beconsidered and they both include an aspectualnotion due to the situation type of thematrix verb. Both examples representing adeontic notion are quotations from Classicaltexts. Genuine Han period examples negated bywèi 可 expressing a deontic modal value arevery difficult to find.

(21) 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ． Shĭjì: 33; 151618

wèi kĕ yĭ qī wŏ xiānwáng

NEG can YI approach I former king‘gnomic’ sense, wei comes to mean ‘not necessarily’,‘not quite’, etc. like the non-temporal ‘still’ ...Gnomic wei will be seen to refer to a ‘logical’ ratherthan a temporal progression.”18 This instance is a quotation from Shàngshū, Zhōushū,Jīnténg 可可， 可可， 可可 (Shísānjīng zhùshū 196 可).

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Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-pp‘I must not approach our former kings

(yet).’

(22) 可 可 可 可 ， 可 可 可 可 ．Shĭjì: 40; 170019

dĭng zhī qīng zhòng, wèi kĕ wènyĕ

tripod SUB light heavy, NEG can ask FIN‘One must not ask (yet) about theheaviness / importance of the tripods.’

19 This instance is again a quotation from Zuŏzhuàn, Xuān3 (Shísānjīng zhùshū 1868 可).

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Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-ppb) Wèi 可 expressing root possibility‘CANNOT=cannot, could not’:

In the following example kĕ 可 apparentlyexpresses root possibility. Externalcircumstances still deny the non-specifiedagent the expected knowledge expressed by theverb zhī 可 ‘ know’. The matrix verb ispassivized and the patient has the feature[+abstract]. According to the semantics ofthe verb zhī 可 ‘know’, a possible evidentialnotion of the modal cannot be completelyexcluded. However, in the negated structure,an interpretation as expressing rootpossibility is certainly more conclusive.Examples of the verb zhī 可 negated by wèi 可are comparably frequent.

(23) 可 可 可 可 可 ： 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ．Shĭjì: 4; 16820

kè wèi xiàng guó yuē: Qínzhī qīng zhòng wèi kĕ

guest mean chancellor state say. Qin SUBlight heavy NEG can zhī yĕknow FIN‘The guest told the chancellor: “WhetherQin takes you lightly or seriously cannotbe known (yet).”’

20 Wèi kĕ zhī 可可可 is a very common phrase in Classical andHan period Chinese. It occurs frequently in theClassical literature.

25

Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-ppAltogether, most of the examples with wèi 可clearly involve a temporal interpretation andexpress deontic modality, namely, aprohibition and almost all of them expressthe modal value of root possibility.

26

Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-pp2.3. Negation with the modal negative wú 可 /可 in the structure [kĕ 可 + wú 可 + VP], i.e. [VmodNEG VP]

The most important modal negative markerand the only one relevant in this context iswú (*mu) 可 with its variants wú 可 and wú 可which originally represented two distinctmorphemes: (1) a modal negative, correctlywritten wú 可 , and (2) a verb meaning ‘nothave’, correctly written wú 可 (or wú 可 ).21 Asa modal negative it can express either rootmodal values or epistemic modal values.22 Inthe texts under consideration, most exampleswith the combination wú kĕ 可 可 are followed byzhĕ 可 . In these instances, wú 可 has to beanalysed as verbal ‘not have’. The onlyinstances relevant here are those with thestructure kĕ 可 NEG VP. Whereas, the samestructure kĕ 可 NEG VP with the negative markerbù 可 predominantly expresses rhetoricalquestions, as already mentioned, with themodal negative marker wú 可 statements areequally possible. In general, examples with21 Regarding these variants, Pulleyblank (1995:107)notes that “The morphemes were already homophonous inlate Zhou times and are confused in many texts such asthe Mencius, but were very likely pronounced differentlyat an early period.”22 This is the original function of the negative wú 可according to Djamouri (1991: 54). According toTakashima (1996), the p- and the m-negatives arehistorically distinguished (in the inscriptions) by theinvolvement of the will and the ability to control ofhuman beings.

27

Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-ppthe negative wú 可 (and its variant wú 可 ) arequite rare.23

a) Wú 可 / 可 expressing deontic modality(obligation) ‘CANNOT = must / may not’:

The following two examples (24) and (25) bothshow the deontic modal value of strongobligation: in a rhetorical question in (24),only the matrix verb is negated, while in anaffirmative sentence in (25), both the modalauxiliary verb and the matrix verb arenegated. Similar to the examples doublynegated by the negative marker bù 可, in thisinstance, too, double negation implies astrong obligation. In example (24), thematrix verb is passivized, whereas in (25),following kĕ yĭ 可 可 , it is not. The agent in(25) is specified and [+human].

(24) 可 可 可 可 ， 可 可 可 可 ， 可 可 可 可 ！Shĭjì: 66; 2177

Chŭ suī wú dào, yŏuchén ruò shì, kĕ wú Chu even.if not.have way, have subjectlike this, can NEG cún hū preserve FIN

23 The three examples in the Shĭjì with wú lĭ 可 可 will beleft out here (with kĕ yĭ 可 可 : Shĭjì: 32; 1488 and 70;2284; and with kĕ 可 Shĭjì: 42: 1765), since wú 可 incombination with lĭ 可 very likely has to be analysed asverbal.

28

Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-pp‘Chu may not have the right way, but ithas subjects like these, is it possiblethat it may not be preserved / it must bepreserved!’

(25) 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ， ．rén guŏ bù kĕ yĭ wú xué,

guàn Ăn zhī yán yĕ man really NEG can YI NEG learn, watch An

SUB word FINrì yì shènday more bad‘Men really must learn, according to yourwords it is getting worse daily.’

Shĭjì: 120; 310924

In the following example (26), the verbfollowing kĕ 可 is intransitive, again, thedeontic modal value of obligation isexpressed: ‘you are obliged not to go’, butregarding the attitude of the speaker, anevaluative notion is certainly involved.Apparently, the notion of obligation in thisexample is secondary, i.e. a reanalysis ofthe notion of advice or exhortation whichbelongs to the (speaker oriented) deonticmodal value of permission; the speaker does

24 There are only five instances of kĕ yĭ wu 可 可 可 in theShĭjì. This instance appears almost identically inHànshū: 50; 2320 as one of only two instances. But thephrase kĕ yĭ wú xué 可 可可可 also occurs in Zuŏzhuàn, Zhāo 18(Shísānjīng zhùshū 2086 可).

29

Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-ppnot have the official right to directlyoblige the crown prince.25

(26) 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ， 可 可 可 可 ， 可 可 可 可 可．

jiè dào jiàn tàizĭbái máo, jí shā

frontier brigand see crown prince whitebanner, then kill

tàizĭ, tàizĭkĕ wú xíng

crown prince, crown prince can NEG leave‘If the brigands at the frontiers seeyour white banner, they will kill you,you must not go.’ Shĭjì:37;159326

b) Wú 可 / 可 expressing root possibility‘CANNOT=cannot, could not’:

Occasionally, modal predicates negated withthe negative marker wú 可 can also indicateroot possibility, but this notion is confinedto the structure [kĕ 可 NEG VP]; doublenegation exclusively expresses strong deonticmodality:

(27) 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ， ， 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 可 ， ．

wèi dí ruò, yòng lìshǎo ér gōng duō, kĕ yĭ 25 This analysis is owed to one of the anonymousreviewers of the article.26 This is the only instance in the Shĭjì.

30

Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-ppfor enemy weak, use strength few CONsuccess many, can YIwú jĭn bǎi xìng zhī

láo, ér xù NEG complete hundred clan SUB effort, CON

continuewǎng gŭ zhī xūngo antiquity SUB merit‘Therefore my enemies are weak andwithout much effort the success will begreat, and it will be possible withoutexhausting the strength of the people tocontinue the great merits of antiquity.’

Shĭjì. 43; 180627

27 This is the only instance in the Shĭjì, there is nonein Hànshū. This instance is an almost literal quotationfrom Zhànguó cè 221/116/19.

31

Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-pp3. CONCLUDING REMARKS ON THE MODAL AUXILIARY KĔ 可/ KĔ YĬ 可 可 IN COMBINATION WITH NEGATIVES

This analysis of negative markers incombination with the modal verbs kĕ 可 and kĕ yĭ 可可 has shown that three different structuresinvolving negation are available for a modalpredicate with kĕ 可: (1) [NEG Vmod VP]; (2) [VmodNEG VP]; and (3) [NEG Vmod NEG VP]. Quiteobviously, in the first structure thenegative marker has wide scope, including thecomplete modal predicate, whereas in thesecond structure it has narrow scope, onlyincluding the matrix verb:

(1) NOT [POSSIBLE that VP](2) POSSIBLE [that NOT VP]

These distributions correspond to what Cormackand Smith label Pol[Neg], and Adv[Neg],roughly corresponding to sentential negationand verb phrase negation. (Cormack and Smith(2002:136f). In the first case, the entireproposition is denied whereas in the secondcase, only the VP is denied. The speaker-oriented modalities (speaker-orientedprohibition corresponding to permission in therespective affirmative) can only be expressedby the first structure: [NEG Vmod VP]. Thisleads to the hypothesis that speaker-orientedmodalities always refer to the entireproposition, a hypothesis which has to beverified for the other modal auxiliary verbsin Chinese as well. Agent oriented modalities

32

Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-pp(agent-oriented prohibition corresponding toobligation in the respective affirmative),obligation, and root possibility, can ingeneral be expressed by all three structures,but they are subject to certain constraintsregarding the negative marker employed. Withthe third structure, the doubly negatedstructure [NEG Vmod NEG VP], only strongobligation can be indicated.

bù+kĕ(yĭ)+V

bù+kĕ(yĭ)+bù+V

kĕ(yĭ)+bù+V

wèi+kĕ(yĭ)+V

(bù)kĕ(yĭ)+wú+V

Root modality + + + + +Deontic:Prohibition(<>obligation)

+ + +

Deontic:Prohibition(<>permission)

+ + *

Deontic:Agent-oriented(obligation)

+(strong)

+(strong)

+

Rootpossibility

+ + +

Epistemic

Table 1. Structures involving negation of modalpredicates with kĕ

33

Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-ppTable 1 shows that although all

structures with kĕ 可 and kĕ yĭ 可 可 involving anegative marker exclusively express rootmodal values, most of them in the narrowersense of deontic values, they differ in thedetails. Most widely employed are structureswith the simple neutral negation with bù 可modifying the modal auxiliary verb: NEG Vmod VP(structure 1), since they can refer to agent-oriented and speaker-oriented values ofprohibition and additionally to rootpossibility. Whereas in the affirmative, kĕ 可and kĕ yĭ 可 可 predominantly express rootpossibility values, and only exceptionallydeontic values in a narrower sense, in thenegative they predominantly express thedeontic value of prohibition. According tothe examples presented, the structure with adouble neutral negative marker: [NEG Vmod NEGVP] (structure 2) exclusively expressesagent-oriented strong obligation, it neverexpresses root possibility. The structurewith the neutral negative bù 可 modifying thematrix verb: [Vmod NEG VP] (structure 3)usually represents agent-oriented deonticvalues. The structure with the aspectualnegative wèi 可 : [NEG Vmod VP] (structure 1)expresses speaker-oriented deontic modalvalues, but apparently in Han period textsthe root possibility values, particularlywith the verb zhī 可 ‘know’, are more frequent.Structures with the modal negative wú 可[(NEG) Vmod NEG VP] (structure 2 and 3) are ingeneral quite rare and usually express agent-

34

Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-pporiented modal values, i.e. the deontic valueof obligation and occasionally rootpossibility.28

28 Example (26) can be regarded as a possible exception,since according to one of the reviewers, the modalvalue of obligation has to be considered a reanalysisof the modal value of permission; but the fact that thenegation marker only has scope over the verb ratherargues against an analysis as indicating a speaker-oriented modal value and supports the analysis of theexample of indicating obligation.

35

Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-ppOverall, there is an obvious constraint on

the position of the negative marker regardingspeaker-oriented modal values, namely,permission: these have to be represented bystructure 1, [NEG Vmod VP], to the effect thatthe negative marker has scope over the entiremodal proposition.29 But evidently themodality of the negative marker in generaldoes not seem to be indicative for the modalvalue of the predicate, although it must beadmitted that – as is to be expected – theneutral negative bù 可 displays the widestrange of employment of the negative markersunder consideration. Additionally, the tableshows that, although the deontic modal valuesare predominant in combination with negativemarkers as would be expected according toTraugott’s assumption that “older meaningstend to be maintained longer in negativeenvironments” (1989:52), root possibilityvalues are also attested and are even more

29 This corresponds well to what Cormack and Smithassume for their Modal1 and Modal2 contrast in English(2002:138): “In English, we find that the main divisionbetween Modal1 and Modal2 corresponds to the contrastbetween necessity and possibility, where obligationpatterns with the former, and permission with thelatter.” The position of the respective modals, withregard to the two different negation markers theyrepresent is as follows (ibidem, (13)): “CT (Modal1)Pol(POS/NEG) (Modal2) (Adv[NEG]) …” This means that instructures indicating permission the modal propositionis in the scope of the sentential negative which isexactly the case in structure 1 in Han period Chinese:[NEG Vmod VP].

36

Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-ppfrequent with e.g. the negative marker wèi 可.Neither a development from agent-oriented tospeaker-oriented, nor from ability to rootpossibility, or from root to epistemicvalues, as has been claimed in Bybee et al.(1994:240f) as the general paths ofgrammaticalization can be evidenced by thedata from Han period Chinese in comparisonwith the data presented in Peyraube (1999).

37

Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-ppAs has been demonstrated in the first

part of this study (Meisterernst 2008b), foraffirmative sentences in Han period Chinesethe predominant number by far of theinstances of the verb kĕ 可 and its variant kĕyĭ 可 可 expresses root modal values. Deonticvalues, both agent-oriented (obligation) andspeaker-oriented (permission) arecomparatively rare which does not necessarilyargue against their status as being morebasic than the other notions expressed;epistemic values are almost non existent.30

With kĕ 可 , in the structure kĕ 可 Vpass, bothvalues, obligation and permission, aresimultaneously attested, whereas with kĕ yĭ 可 可, in the structure kĕ yĭ 可 可 Vtr./itr., mainly thespeaker-oriented value of permission isattested. In the structure kĕ 可 Vtr./itr.,similar to the structure kĕ 可 Vpass, again bothdeontic modal values, obligation andpermission, are similarly attested. But byfar the most instances of kĕ 可 and kĕ yĭ 可 可equally express the root modal value of rootpossibility. This notion is apparently notderived from the notion of ability whichalso, but only occasionally, can be expressedby kĕ 可 / kĕ yĭ 可 可 . The different modalvalues of kĕ (yĭ) 可 ( 可 ) in an affirmativesentence are represented in Table 2. 30 In order to confirm this hypothesis, a detailed studyof the semantics of kĕ 可 and kĕ yĭ 可 可 from the time oftheir first appearance would be required which goesbeyond the purpose of the present study which focusesrather on a synchronic analysis of kĕ 可 and kĕyĭ 可 可 .

38

Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-pp

Kĕ 可 + VPpass

Kĕ yĭ 可 可 + VPtr/itr

Kĕ 可 + VPtr/itr

Deontic: agent-oriented (obligation)

+ (+) 31 +

Deontic: speaker-oriented (permission)

+ + +

Root possibility (strong, weak): agent-oriented

+ + +

Root: evaluative

(+) (+) (+)

Epistemic:Evidential, confined to

— (+) (+)

31 A plus sign in parentheses (+) indicates that aparticular modal value is extremely rare, if existentat all. The modal value of obligation is extremelyrare. This statement can be supported by Liu (1994:384) who does not give any examples which expressobligation for kĕ yĭ 可 可 + V.

39

Modal verbs in Han period Chinese. Part II / CLAO 37(2008) pp-ppevidential verbs

40

Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-ppTable 2. The modal values of kĕ 可 and kĕ yĭ 可 可 in

an affirmative sentence

According to the data, with the modalauxiliary verb kĕ 可 / kĕ yĭ 可 可 a developmentfrom the modal notion of ability to the modalnotion of root possibility which in Bybee etal. (1994:240f) has been assumed to be thegeneral path of grammaticalization cannot beconfirmed. Interestingly, the synchronic datafor kĕ 可 and kĕ yĭ 可 可 conform well with thesynchronic data for CAN in English aspresented in Coates (1983). In English aswell, the predominant number of instances ofCAN indicates root possibility (Coates1983:25). In some of the instances presented,an evaluative notion is involved whichaccording to Palmer (1986:121) belongs to thedeontic modal values widely defined.Regarding epistemic notions, they hardly everoccur in Han period texts. Only a fewinstances, mainly in combination with verbsthat licence an evidential interpretation,permit an epistemic interpretation, alwaysconfined to this evidential interpretation.Since this notion is already present inClassical Chinese, no development can beattested from deontic to epistemic notionsfrom Classical to Han period Chinese.

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Barbara MEISTERERNST

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Meisterernst B. / Cahiers de Linguistique – Asie Orientale 37(2008) pp-ppDepartment of Eastern Languages and Cultures Faculty of Arts and Philosophy Blandijnberg 2 - B-9000 Gent BELGIUM ddurkinm@aol.com