| Abstract |
In ancient Chinese language, verbs such as “來” and “往” (i.e., to arrive at and to depart for) were paired to describe the movement rather than modern usage as “來” and “去” (come and go) . In respect with semantic features, the usage of “來” and “往” is distinct from terms of related meaning or terms of matched meaning, and therefore it constitutes opposition. In this article, I infer the approach of “來” and “往” that is subject to its opposite movement in literal meaning. Further, other related verbs such as “之” (to move toward), “適” (to reach), “如” (to go to) and “逝” (to pass through) have similar meaning but they do not imply the approaching movement from one place to another; therefore, they do not constitute opposition. The verb “往” means to depart for somewhere without specifying the destination. Its semantic feature is an important factor to transform the verb from intransitive to transitive. There are three schemes that contribute to the transformation: (1) Terms of related meaning such as “之”, “適” and “如” with specifying destination are best suitable for introducing the aimed place; (2) Conventional word groups such as “往來” and “往反” are followed by the aimed place, which suggest the verb “往” is applicable to the same usage; (3) Linguistic rules are developed by the prevailing usage in a common environment. The rule of “往 + V + the aimed place” is such a structure of the multiple verbs with common predicates that is prevailing in ancient Chinese language.
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