A Study of Independent Clauses: A Retrospect and Prospect of the Past Century

Independent clause (or word clause) is a kind of non-subject-predicate sentence, whose development, in a way, mirrors Chinese grammar explorers’ challenge to Indo-European grammar frame and the reflection on Chinese language facts. The present study starts from evolution and definition of the term "independent clause", then through reviewing Chinese grammatical theories such as "Ellipsis Theory", "De-ellipsis Theory", "Minor-sentence Theory", "Phrase-oriented theory", "Zi-centered Theory" and "Clause-pivot Approach", this paper points out the research gap concerning definition, classification and entry conditions of the previous studies. In addition, the classification and entry conditions have been discussed under the frame of cognitive grammar. This paper also puts forward some problems to be studied in the coming years, aiming at promoting the construction of the theoretical system of independent clauses and providing some theoretical and practical references for compiling Chinese grammar textbooks.