Above (14.1), it was mentioned that if two identical pronouns appear side by side in a text, this indicates a boundary between two sentences. This is explained by the fact that pronouns cannot be reduced. As for the doubling of significant words (particularly in the nominal function), this in itself cannot indicate a sentence boundary.
However, the texts also contain repetitions of names that denote concepts that, in principle, exist only in the singular, for example, 王 wáng "supreme ruler" (according to Zhou beliefs, there could only be one wang in the Celestial Empire). Such repetition of a significant word can signal a sentence boundary: 東宮納饗于王, 王賜公貝 dōng gōng nà xiǎng yú wáng, wáng cì gōng bèi "The heir to the throne offered a treat to the king. The king presented the king with shells."
Just like pronouns, noun phrases used as personal names cannot be doubled in Old Chinese. Therefore, the presence of two identical noun phrases in a row in a text indicates that one of them is the object of the first sentence (we can put a period after it), and the other is the subject of the second sentence: [...]告東宫, 東宫乃曰...[...] gào dōng gōng, dōng gōng nǎi yuē "[...] informed the heir. The heir said..."
In archaic language, the function word 眔 dà is used as a coordinating conjunction connecting nouns (6.3). In the early pre-classical language, 眔 dà also began to be used as a preposition expressing the idea of togetherness (corresponding to the English "s," "together with"). Therefore, the phrase "A 眔 dà B" can be rendered by the English "A and B" or "A together with B," which at first glance seem to be roughly the same thing. In reality, however, this is not the case.
Take, for example, the following sentence: 令眔奮克至 lìng dà fèn kè zhì.
It can be interpreted in two ways.
First, 令眔奮 lìng dà fèn can be interpreted as a noun phrase ("Ling and Fen"), which is the subject.
Second, 眔奮 dà fèn can be viewed as a forward indirect object with a preposition ("with Fen").
In the first case, one of the two homogeneous components of the subject can only be omitted together with the other (subject omission); in the second, the subject "Ling" can be omitted, and then the sentence will begin with an inverted object.
If the predicate is formed by the functional adverb 其 qí (its meaning did not change in the Early Preclassical language compared to the archaic language), then the indirect object with a preposition occupies a position between 其 qí and the predicate: 汝其以成周師氏戍于古次 rǔ qí yǐ chéng zhōu shī shì xū yú gǔ cì "With the help of officials from Chengzhou, defend the Gu camp."
According to this rule, the forward object with the preposition 眔 dà must also come between the adverb and the predicate: 走其眔厥子子孫孫萬年用 zǒu qí dà jué zǐ zǐ sūn sūn wàn nián yòng "Zou will enjoy [this] for ten thousand years, along with his sons and grandsons."
Finally, it should be noted that the preposition 眔 dà, in its grammatical properties, belongs to the same group as 以 yǐ. Prepositions in this group allow the omission of the indirect object before the predicate (for this feature of the preposition 以 yǐ, see below, 21.5). Because of this, the preposition 眔 dà in the text is not necessarily followed by a name: if the inverted indirect object introduced by 眔 dà is omitted, the preposition is immediately followed by the predicate.
Let us consider the following text from this point of view: 王命赐次率征自五偶贝小臣速蔑曆眔賜貝 wáng mìng cì cì shuài zhēng zì wǔ ǒu bèi xiǎo chén sù miè lì dà cì bèi "The ruler ordered that the shells captured during the campaign against Wuwu be granted to [the people in] the camp. Xiaochen Ci was rewarded for his efforts and, along with [others], received shells as a gift."
In this context, 眔 dà cannot be considered a conjunction, because as such it only connects nouns. Meanwhile, in our text, the word 眔 dà stands between the predicative phrase 蔑曆 miè lì "to be rewarded for past merits" and 賜 cì "to give", "to be gifted".
Another meaning of the function word 乃 nǎi, recorded in early pre-classical texts, is as follows.
The connection between individual clauses can be not only coordinative or causal, but also, in particular, conditional. In this case, the main clause defines a situation that would be possible given the circumstances noted in the subordinate clause. This dependence of the main clause on the subordinate clause is expressed through special function words that were absent in the archaic language.
乃 nǎi is a subordinating conjunction in a complex conditional sentence. It is placed before the predicate of the subordinate clause: 乃不用我教辭唯余一人弗恤 nǎi bù yòng wǒ jiào cí wéi yǔ yī rén fú xù "If you do not follow my teachings, I will be merciless."
令眔奮乃克至余其舍汝臣十家 lìng dà fèn nǎi kè zhì yú qí shè rǔ chén shí jiā "If you, Ling, or you, Fen, can arrive [first], I will grant you 10 subject families."
Another means of expressing the grammatical connection between the main clause and the relative clause is the subordinating conjunction 則 zé.
But it is not placed in the subordinate clause, but after it, before the main clause (just like 故 gù in a complex cause-and-effect clause): 來歳弗償則付四十秭 lái suì fú cháng zé fù sì shí zǐ "[If] you do not repay next year, you will pay 40 measures of grain."
Sometimes 則 zé can be duplicated by 乃 nǎi, but both conjunctions are optional and can be omitted. The presence of the conjunction 則 zé before the main clause can serve as an additional basis for dividing the text into sentences.
The normal position of objects with predicatives meaning "giving - taking away" in the archaic language was the indirect object preceding the direct object. This same word order is preserved in the Early Preclassical language: 賜汝鬯一卣 cì rǔ chàng yī yǒu "I give you one jug of wine."
But with the advent of the preposition 以 yǐ, a new construction arises in which the direct object becomes a prepositional one and can therefore be inverted: 以匡季告東宫 yǐ kuāng jì gào dōng gōng "inform the heir about Kuan Ji."
Perhaps here a rethinking of the relationship between the predicate and the complements occurred: the indirect object (addressee) became direct, and the direct object (object) became indirect.
In other words, the sentence 贈之芍藥 zèng zhī sháo yào should be translated as "She gave him a peony," while 贈之以芍藥 zèng zhī yǐ sháo yào should be translated as "She gave him a peony."
The cult of the earth, associated with the ritual of the "first furrow," occupies a significant place in the religious beliefs of the Zhou people. Every year, on a certain day in spring, the Son of Heaven, leading his retinue, arrived at a special sacred field. After performing the sacrifice rite, the ruler dug a furrow in the field, after which everyone else present at the ceremony followed his example. This rite undoubtedly, in a relict form, reflected a long-gone custom, according to which the supreme ruler participated in socially useful labor.
The interpretation of the Zhou term 臣 chén has a long history. Some scholars believe it referred to slaves. On the other hand, there are texts in which this meaning of the term cannot be considered legitimate. It is more likely that in the early Zhou period, the word 臣 chén referred to individuals related to a representative of higher social rank by subordination in a broad sense. A slave was a subject in relation to a lord, and an aristocrat was, in turn, a subject in relation to a zhuhou and ultimately to a king.
In Lesson 18, we encounter a kind of example of an arithmetic operation, in this case, addition. The ancient Chinese did not develop a method for recording actions as formulas. Examples of addition, subtraction, and so on were recorded descriptively. Specifically, terms, one of which became the subject and the other the object, were connected by the predicate 遺 wèi. The equal sign was conveyed by the predicate 為 wéi "to do," "to compose."