“这”“那”与汉语有定表达——从英汉对比角度考察分析

Zhe(这),Na(那)and Definite Expressions in Chinese

本文通过英汉语料对比,尝试回答两个问题:什么因素影响光杆名词和“这”“那”在有定表达中的使用?“这”“那”是否发展为有定标记?“这”“那”与光杆名词相比,在有定表达六大类中的使用比例分别为情境指示40%,回指12%,特殊共享知识4%,框架内联想2%,普遍共享知识和唯一事物0%.可辨识度高低是影响“这”“那”使用的重要因素.不同大类的可辨识度不同,回指内部也存在可辨识度差异,有定名词的可辨识度较高时,倾向于选用光杆名词;有定名词的可辨识度较低时,倾向于加上“这”“那”.而通过观察有定标记功能扩展序列中英语定冠词“the”的表现及汉语“这”“那”的表现,我们发现“这”“那”在有些例子中已经失去了指别功能,开始具有有定标记的性质,但用例较少,强制性极低,在有定标记功能扩展等级上处于低等级位置,因此还够不上严格意义的有定标记.

What factors affect the definite expressions between bare noun and Zhe/Na(this/that)?Whether Zhe/Na has developed to the stages of definite markings?We try to answer these two questions by comparing Chinese with English.Compared to bare noun,the proportions of Zhe/Na in the six types of definite expressions are 40%in situational,12%in anaphoric,4%in shared specific knowledge,1%in frame-based association,and 0%in shared general knowledge or unique entity.To answer the first question,we found that the degree of identifiability is the most important factor which affects definite expressions between bare noun and Zhe/Na.First,the degree of identifiability varies according to different types of functions.Second,there are three elements that influence the degrees of identifiability in type three(anaphoric).If a definite noun phrase enjoys a higher degree of identifiability,bare noun is preferred to;if a definite noun phrase enjoys a lower degree of identifiability,Zhe/Na will be preferred to.To answer the second question,we take a look at a table which we got from our study,some examples of Zhe/Na have no distinctive function,and began to show up the function of definite marking.However,such kind of examples has a low number and is not compulsory.Furthermore,Zhe/Na stayed on the low level,so they are not proper definite markings.