中古汉语疑问句中"为"字的词性及来源

The Part of Speech and Origination of "wei" in the Mediaeval Chinese Interrogative Sentences

"为"字在疑问句中用作语气副词,加强疑问语气,这是中古汉语所特有的语言现象。其用例始见于公元2世纪后期的东汉佛经,最初只用于是非问句和特指问句,大约在三国时期,功能扩展而可以用于反问句中。时下把这类"为"定性为表不确定推测语气的副词或表反问语气的副词的观点,都有失偏颇,它是一个可用于各类疑问句的语气副词。语气副词"为"产生的句法基础是选择问句,语义基础是"为"的判断词用法。在语气副词"为"的历时发展过程中,它的使用和发展表现出明显的不平衡性。语气副词"为"在唐代以后很快退出语言舞台,主要原因是"为"字在判断词竞争领域的全面崩溃。

This article discusses the part of speech and origination of 'wei' in the interrogative sentences in mediaeval Chinese. First of all, through the document investigation and analysis, this paper questions the v present viewpoint and brings forward some new viewpoint: 'wei' was only a mood adverb which could be used in all kinds of interrogative sentences, rather than a particular interrogative mood word. Secondly, the paper discusses the origination of mood adverb 'wei' with respect to its sentence structure and semantics. In addition, the development of mood adverb 'wei' is also traced. In fact it already appeared in the Buddhism documents of the East Han Dynasty, prevailed in the Wei Jin and South and North Dynasties and faded away in the Tang Dynasty.