本文從歷史的角度考察了漢語動補結構的由來及發展，並通過歷史韻律語法做出解釋。有證據表明，漢語動補的出現是漢語音節結構變化的結果：先是上古漢語致使前綴 *s-導致了致使動詞的清化，清濁別義由此出現；而後來清濁區別的消失又迫使漢語轉而採用句法手段表達致使義，由此產生了「V NPV」結構。漢語動補的發展又是韻律的要求使然：由於輔音韻尾的脫落，漢語從雙韻素音步逐漸過渡到了雙音節音步，以孤音節形式存在的 V1無法滿足音步要求，只能選擇插入「得」或吸引 V2提升融合，由此產生了「V-得」動補結構以及 V-V動結式。「V-得 NP V」與 V-V動結式兩類動補結構並存的局面則是信息結構的要求所致。

From a historical perspective, this paper shows that resultatives in Modern Chinese are the result of the development of Chinese phonological structures. Initially, due to the devoicing effect of the causative prefix *s-, Old Chinese developed a voicing alternation in intransitive/transitive verbs. Later, the loss of this alternation triggered the appearance of ‘V NP V’ constructions. Owing to the change of its syllabic structures, Chinese witnessed a historic foot shift: namely, a shift from a bimoraic foot to a disyllabic foot. In order to meet the prosodic requirement, ‘V NP V’ constructions in Middle Chinese developed into two forms of resultatives over a long period of time: that is, V-DE constructions and V-V compounds. The reason why both V-DE constructions and V-V compounds can be found in Modern Chinese lies in information structuring. Chinese is an end-focus language, in which the end of a sentence carries the natural focus. The coexistence of V-DE constructions and V-V compounds satisfies the need to express different emphases.