On the complement of the degree 可以 kěyǐ in modern Chinese

The article is devoted to the use of the word 可以 kěyǐ in the position of the degree complement in the compound type predicate-resultative structure in the modern Chinese language. The study by Russian linguists of complement as part of the Chinese sentence has intensified in recent years, and due to the increasing interest in the Chinese language among more and more people, it is necessary to analyze the current state of the language and the changes occurring in it. The use of the word 可以 kěyǐ as the degree complement is a relatively new phenomenon; this article is of particular interest not only for the theoretical understanding of the use of this word in the position of the degree complement and the development of Russian linguistic research in this area, but also for practical application by those who study Chinese language at an in-depth level and wants to understand the subtleties of using different words. Especially in light of the fact that there are no similar works in the Russian-speaking scientific community, and we are the first to analyze the features of its use by analyzing dictionary meanings. The analysis of the dictionary meaning of this lexical unit is carried out on the basis of an analysis of the differences in the use of 可以 kěyǐ both in the position of the degree complement and as part of the state complement; this lexical unit in the position of the complement is considered from the point of view of its structural features and semantic indication. To do this, we analyze not only the dictionary meanings used in the two dictionaries given in the work, but also the accompanying examples. We are using the definitional method and the method of continuous sampling from the BLCU Corpus Center (BBC 语料库 yǔliàokù) corpus database, analyze the use of this complement with various lexical units as part of the predicative-resultative structure, on the basis of which the most frequently used adjectives in the predicate position and verbs are identified. We provide the description of the meanings that these lexical units carry, and with words with what connotation the complement of the degree 可以 kěyǐ can be used most often. The examples demonstrate what features lexical units with neutral and positive connotations acquire as part of a construction with the degree complement 可以 kěyǐ, on the basis of which we made a conclusion about the connotation of this degree complement. In the course of considering examples of the use of the degree complement 可以 kěyǐ and on the basis of conclusions supported by studies of the degree complement in Chinese language conducted by Chinese linguists, the author makes an assumption about the possible development of the dictionary meaning of the word 可以 kěyǐ into a designation of degree, which occurred due to the reduction of the state complement during the natural development of the language.

Chinese language, Chinese language syntax, complement, degree complement, state complement