“非理想”的语言事实在理论建设中的地位与作用——“同义反复”的非范畴化理论解释

A reexamination of the tautological construction in light of the linguistic decategorization theory

本文的主要目的是考察“非理想”2的语言事实在语言学理论建设中的重要地位与作用。为此,本文从语义、句法、功能相结合的角度,将生成语法无法解释的“非理想的”NP+(will)BE+NP(boys will be boys)句式纳入非范畴化理论框架下统一解释。研究表明,这种尝试是可行的、有效的。由此证明,“非理想的”语言事实并非是非理想的,它们对深化和扩展语言学理论具有不可估量的作用。语言事实的理想与否取决于理论研究的取向和理论的背景假设。本文还附带考察了在英汉两种语言中,该句式在意义上的异同。深入考察发现,将该句式称之为“同义反复”只是一种基于表象的理论抽象,只能说明部分的语言事实,因而是欠妥的。

This paper reports on a study that aims to expound the essential and indispensable role of the 'non?ideal' linguistic data in theory constructions. In the study, the tautological construction 'NP + (will)BE + NP' (e.g. boys are/will be boys), which is regarded as non-ideal by the Chomskians, serves as the target of research. A unified theoretical account is given in conformity with the linguistic decategorization theory. According to this account, the notions of 'ideal' or 'non?ideal' are largely determined by the research paradigm and theoretical assumptions, and it is unnecessary to make a dichotomous distinction of linguistic data as ideal and non?ideal. A close examination of the similarities and differences of the'NP + (will)BE + NP' construction both in Chinese and English reveals two important findings. First, the Chinese construction prototypically expresses a categorical contrast and, when it expresses an attitudinal meaning, a modal adverb is to be used before the verb. But it is vice versa in English. Second, only when it expresses a categorical contrast can the construction be regarded as truly tautological.