“是”的句法语义属性研究

Syntactic properties of Mandarin Chinese “SHI”

本文探讨“[是[…XP…]]”结构中“是”的句法及语义属性。文章提出界定焦点的两个语义标准:(1 )激起另项集合;(2 )表征方面具有[+对比]和[+穷尽]特征,并指出“[是[…XP…]]”结构符合(1 )和(2 )的界定标准。“是”可以看成焦点标记词,不管在分裂句还是非分裂句中,其区别仅在于焦点强弱程度的不同。焦点化实质上是一种与语用结合紧密的算子移位,这样处理可以:(1 )克服“岛阻隔”难题,(2 )避免“相对最小化效果”,(3 )符合“光杆短语结构原则”的要求。“是”在句法表征上的不同位置(C0 或T0 )主要是因为逻辑式中存在不同的焦点算子:明确焦点算子和焦点泛算子。所有焦点特征都要得到核查,用泛算子还是焦点算子,取决于所要核查特征的强弱:特征越强,越有可能用焦点算子来进行运算(在句法表征上“是”位于C0 位置) ;特征越弱,越有可能使用泛算子来进行运算(在句法表征上“是”在T0 位置)。

This paper explores the syntactic properties of SHI and the [shi [...XP...]] construction in syntactic interface conditions. Two semantic criteria have been advanced in delimiting FOCUS:(1) evoking alternative set; (2) the representation characterized by [+Contrastive] and [+Exhaustive] features. [shi[...XP...]] is in agreement with the two criteria. We argue that focalization is a pragmatic A-movement: (1)the movement of [shi[...XP...]] should obey the locality principle and it displays “Relativized Minimality Effect”; (2) the focalization is subject to “Bare Phrase Structure” rule. The notion to unify the two superficially different SHI is the abstract focus-operator: the stronger the [+FOCUS] is, the more likely the explicit focus-operator SHI will be used and shi occupies the C0 position in syntax; the weaker the feature is, the more likely the general, implicit, abstract focus-operator ASSERT will be employed, which results in the in-situ [+FOCUS] feature checking, and in this case, shi is located at T0 position in syntax.