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Abstract This paper examines the origin and maturity of causal preposition zuò (坐) in the history of Chinese grammar. In pre-Qin Chinese, zuò is commonly used as a verb meaning “sit” and “sit on your knees”, or as a noun related to “seat”. It is also often used in the legal context as a legal term to mean “crime”, “conviction” or “punishment for a crime”. According to the documents unearthed in the Qin and Han Dynasties and the documents handed down from the Warring States Period to the Middle Ages, this paper argues that the late Warring States to the Western Han is an important stage in the semantic evolution of zuò, and the usage of the reason preposition of “sit” has developed and matured by the Eastern Han Dynasty.Most previous studies generally agree that the causal preposition zuò originates from its legal usage, but they differ on the specific era and mechanism of its emergence. This paper holds that the key mechanism is “contextual absorption”. In legal discourse, zuò often appears in “zuò+object+result predicate” structure. The object usually indicates a crime, criminal act, fault or related fact, and the predicate after it indicates a legal judgment, punishment or corresponding consequence, such as removal from office, execution, exile or loss of nobility. Therefore, the whole structure expresses the meaning of “being sentenced or punished for committing some sin”. Because zuò appears repeatedly in this linguistic environment, the meaning of “reason” originally provided by the whole context is gradually absorbed by zuò itself.The paper first discusses how to identify the prepositional status of zuò. In the Shuihudi Qin bamboo slips, most examples of zuò still retain a strong legal verb meaning. However, some examples have shown obvious prepositional characteristic. The object following zuò is no longer limited to a fixed legal crime, but may be a complex verbal phrase or subject-predicate structure. The semantic focus of the sentence also shifts from the action of “crime” to the cause of the legal result. These examples indicate that the causal prepositional use of zuò had already appeared by the late Warring States period.In Western Han literature, especially the Shiji, the structure “zuò+object+result predicate” became highly productive. The objects of zuò could be nouns, nominal phrases, verbal phrases, subject-predicate structures, or even clauses. Some objects still indicate traditional legal charges, such as disrespect, conspiracy, witchcraft, etc. while others describe specific facts or circumstances that caused punishment or other consequences. As the object becomes more concrete and factual, the verbal meaning “to commit a crime” is weakened, and the causal meaning “because of” becomes more prominent. Comparison with the causal preposition yǐ (以) shows that zuò gradually occupied a similar syntactic position and performed a similar grammatical function, especially in contexts of crime, fault, judgment, and punishment.The paper further argues that the use of causal preposition zuò has matured in the Eastern Han Dynasty. This can be seen in four respects. First, the semantic scope of the object governed by zuò expands from legal charges to more general causes, facts, and situations. Second, zuò has entered relatively fixed reason expression format, such as “zuò...gù” and “zuò...suǒ zhì”, which parallel causal expressions formed with yǐ, yīn (因), and yòng (用). Third, zuò can be modified by adverb components such as xi (悉), zheng (正), jie (皆) or dan (但) showing that its grammatical function had become stable and flexible. Fourth, zuò appeared in contexts parallel to or interchangeable with yǐ and yīn, demonstrating that it had entered the system of causal prepositions. Quantitative statistics also supports this development. In early Qin legal literature, the objects of zuò was almost entirely a legal crime or criminal act. In Shiji and Hanshu, the use of zuò has increased significantly, and some objects have begun to indicate general facts or reasons. By the Eastern Han, causal zuò appeared in historical works, commentaries, Taoist texts, and early Buddhist translations, and it was no longer limited to strict legal contexts.After the Wei and Jin Dynasties, causal zuò declined rapidly. Although its usage had once expanded, it still retained a strong association with legal discourse and classical written style. As the system of causal prepositions changed, forms such as wéi (为), yīn, and later yīnwèi (因为) became more common and gradually replaced older and more literary expressions such as yǐ and zuò.In conclusion, the causal preposition zuò is not suddenly produced. the legal meaning provides the semantic basis, the construction “zuò+object+result predicate” supplied the syntactic condition, and repeated use in crime-punishment contexts enabled it to absorb the causal meaning of the whole structure. Causal zuò has already emerged in the late Warring States period, developed rapidly from Qin to Western Han, and matured completely in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
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Received: 14 April 2025
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2026, Vol. 56 
