A linguistic and descriptive analysis of the evolution of the Chinese language curriculum : Focusing on the structure of Chinese characters

This study aimed to resolve the structural ambiguity in classifying the core grammatical elements of Predicate-Object and Predicate-Complement within the Classical Chinese curriculum and to propose clear distinction criteria. Empirical analysis of vocabulary in 2015 revised textbooks confirmed that theoretical ambiguity persists due to the overlapping predicate categories in current definitions, leading to words with nominal objects, such as ‘登山’ (climb a mountain), being confusingly classified as Predicate-Complement in practice. Consequently, the study proposed new distinction principles by focusing on the semantic function of the succeeding component (X) and incorporating characteristics of the Chinese Resultative Complement: X is classified as Predicate-Object if it denotes a ‘nominal object/target,’ and as Predicate-Complement if it denotes a ‘resultative/stative outcome’. This criterion contributes to enhancing the coherence of Classical Chinese grammar education, suggesting that future curriculum revisions should clarify the Predicate-Complement definition as ‘supplementing result and state’. Furthermore, these findings will serve as foundational data for subsequent research, including the verification of teaching-learning effectiveness and the analysis of ambiguity in other grammatical categories.