词音变化与构式省缩——禁止词“别”的产生路径补说

Sound change and construction clipping:On the negative imperative bie(别) and its development pathway

"别"是明清以来北方汉语中常见的表禁止的否定副词。对"别"的来源和产生途径以往有多种看法,本文在前人研究基础上,通过综合考察历史语料和语音变化,尝试提出一种新的补充性解释,认为"别"的产生途径可能是"不要"变音为"别要",然后省缩为"别"。其完整过程经历三个阶段:(Ⅰ)词汇化:从"不""要"连用,词汇化为表禁止的"不要";(Ⅱ)词音变化:"不要"变读为"别要"("别-"是"不-"的变音);(Ⅲ)省缩:"别要"省缩为"别"。

Different opinions exist in the literature regarding the origin and development pathway for the negative imperative bie(别),the most commonly used negative adverb in Northern Mandarin that indicates prohibition.With comparison of previous works,this study proposes a new explanation based on findings from a comprehensive investigation of historical documents and sound change,arguing that the origin of bie may be traced back to buyao(不要),which phonetically changed to bieyao(别要) and then was further clipped to bie.It is shown that the entire process involves the following three phases:1)lexicalization:buyao was lexicalized to express prohibition from the combination of bu(不)and yao(要),which originally meant "unnecessary";2)sound change:buyao was pronounced as bieyao,where bie-was a phonetic alternation of bu-;3)clipping:bieyao was clipped to bie,which is argued not to have been contracted directly from buyao.