英汉假设条件句比较

A formal description of Chinese expressions of hypothetical conditions in comparison with English

任何一部英语语法里都有专门的章节阐述假设(即“虚拟”)条件句,因为假设条件句要求动词时态后移 然而在汉语语法书里,或者根本不提假设条件这一问题,或者仅仅举例说明有的条件句表达的是与已知事实相反的“纯假设”。由于对汉语假设条件的表达形式缺乏具体描写,一般认为在汉语中不存在确定的形式标记假设条件。本文的大量例句表明,汉语标记假设条件主要通过1)从句动词的体态;2)“早”之类的直指词;3)主句句尾的语气助词“呢”和“了”;4)某些条件从属词,特别是“要不是”;和5)给条件从属词加句重音。最后,汉语有不带语法标记的假设条件句,这是熟知的,但一般以为英语没有。文章指出,英语同样也有这类句子。

Hypothetical conditions, marked in English by the backshift of verbs, receive regular treatmentin English grammar. In grammars of Chinese, however, the question of hypothetical conditions iseither not mentioned, or disposed of unanalytically with a few examples. The absence of formaldescriptions of Chinese hypothetical conditions has led to the belief that hypothetical conditions arenot marked in Chinese. With ample samples the author shows that hypothetical conditions areindicated in Chinese 1) by the unmarked verb form in the conditional clause with past completivereference; 2) by deictic words like zao (早); 3) by the particles ne (呢) and le (了) at the end ofa main clause; 4) by certain conditional subordinators, especially yaobushi (要不是); and 5) bysentence stress on the conditional subordinator. The paper ends with the observation that grammati-cally unmarked hypothetical conditions exist in both English and Chinese.