Typology of the complement (buyu) in Chinese: history and the present

Abstract

This article reviews the numerous classifications of complement (补语 buyu), interpreted as a special part
of a sentence in Chinese linguistics. Based on the original works of Chinese grammarians, we trace the evolution of
approach to the concept of an element that supplements the semantics of a verb or an adjective in the predicate, to
try to discover the reasons for discrepancies in the terminology and typology of the complement frequently found in
Chinese language teaching materials and linguistic literature. Using both formal and semantic criteria for distinguishing
the types of complement results in a blurring of class boundaries not only within the same kind of sentence constituents,
but also in relation to object and adverbial modifier. The contemporary approach to the classification is based on the
latest normative grammar recently published as a new Standard for International Chinese Language Education.