汉语史上疑问形式的类型学转变及其机制——焦点标记“是”的产生及其影响

The process and mechanism of the typological change of the question form in the history or Chinese:The emergence of the focus marker shi and its effects

本文探讨汉语发展史上最重要的事件之一——疑问手段的变化。古代汉语是用疑同代词置于动词(介词)之前的语序变换方法表示疑问的,然而这种变换语序的方法自魏晋以后就消失了。本文认为,古汉语的疑问形式并不是上古汉语 SOV 特征的残留,而是焦点和附着成分相互作用的结果。这一语法现象的消失与同一时期发生的另一重要事件密切相关。原为指代词的"是"在战国末期发展成为一个判断词,并进而演化成一个焦点语法标记。"是"的语法化对旧疑问形式的消失有多方面的影响,其中最重要的一点是,它作为焦点标记取代了旧的语序表达方式。文章还从人类语言发展的共性加以论证。本文的分析同样适用于古汉语的有关否定、强调等语序变换问题。

The paper addresses one of the most important developments in the history of Chinese,the word order change of question sentences.Classical Chinese employed word order shift to express interrogative sentences,fronting patient wh-elements immediately prior to its verb or preposition. However,this questioning method gradually became out of use around the fifth century.It argues that the question form in Classical Chinese resulted from the expression of focus and the special syntactic behavior of clitics rather than the relic of the SOV word order of the pre-historical Chi- nese.The disappearance of the questioning method was due to the further grammaticalization of the copular shi,originated from a demonstrative pronoun,into a focus marker at that time.With this proposal,the word order shift of interrogative sentences was in essence a way to express fo- cus,and it finally gave its way to the new focus device.This development was evidenced in many other languages.The present analysis can also explain the special kind of word order in Classical Chinese involved in negation and emphasis.