《马氏文通》“断词”新解

New Understandings of “Be” in Mashi Wentong

要】《马氏文通》中的“断词”是指介于起词与表词之间的“为”“是”“非”“即”“乃”诸字。它是一种句子成分 ,而不是一种词类。它同起词、表词一起构成“起词 +断词 +表词”句式 ,可以把“断词”看作是与表词相对的“坐动”即谓语动词。“断辞”同断词的意思完全相同。“决辞”有 5种意义 ,其中只有一种意义与断词相同。“决词”少见 ,其意义较为含糊。

Duan Ci” in classical Chinese refers to the various forms of “be”: wei, shi, fei, ji, nai, etc. They should be viewed as sentential constituents rather than lexical items: together with “qi ci” and “biao ci”, they form the following sentence type: S Qi Cci + Duan Ci + Biao Ci. “Duan Ci” may be viewed as a kind of predicate in contrast with “Biao Ci”. “Jue Ci” has five meanings, only one of which is equivalent to “Duan Ci”. “Jue Ci” are small in number and their meanings are ambiguous.