Chinese particles

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In classical Chinese philology, words are divided into two classes: the shizi (實字 lit. "solid word") and the xuzi (虛字 lit. "empty word"). The former include what modern linguists call verbs, nouns, and adjectives, while the latter includes what modern linguists call particles. Opinions differ as to which category pronouns and adverbs belong to. Chinese particles are also known as yuzhu (語助), zhuzi (助字), zhuci (助詞/助辭), yunci (語辭) or simply ci (辭).

The character for a Chinese particle is often used phonetically. The meaning of a Chinese particle depends on its position in the sentence, and the context. For example, the common particle qi (其), which etymologically means a "winnowing basket" (later written as 箕), can have the following meanings:

character (pinyin)	usage	example
其 (qí)	third-person possessive adjective: his/her/its/their	工欲善其事，必先利其器。 A workman who wants to do his job well has to sharpen his tools first.
	demonstrative adjective: that/those	以其人之道，還治其人之身。 Punish that person (someone) with his very own tricks.
	suffix before adjective or verb	北風其涼，雨雪其雱。 The northern wind is cool; the snow falls heavily.
	to express doubt, uncertainty	吾其還也。I had better go.　君其問諸水濱。 You have to go to the riverside to make an inquiry, I'm afraid.
	to express hope, command	吾子其無廢先君之功！ Boy, don't ruin the accomplishment of your father!
	to form a rhetorical question	欲加之罪，其無辭乎？ How could we fail to find words, when we want to accuse someone?

[edit] Studies

The first book devoted to the studies of the Chinese particles is Speech Helpers (語助) by Lu Yiwei (盧以緯) of the Yuan Dynasty. More important works concerning the particles followed, including Some Notes on the Helping Words (助字辨略) by Liu Qi (劉淇) and Explanations of the Articles Found in the Classics (經傳釋詞) by Wang Yinzhi (王引之), both published during the Qing Dynasty. These works focus on the particles found in the Confucius classics, paying little attentions to the particles used in the vernacular literature. The Compilation and Explanations of the Colloquial Terms Found in Classical Poetry and Dramas (詩詞曲語辭彙釋) by Zhang Xiang (張相), published posthumously in 1953, was the first work covering the particles found in the vernacular literature. In English, there is A Dictionary of the Chinese Particles by W. A. C. H. Dobson (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1974).