现代汉语疑问代词的基本语义分析

Basic Semantic Study on Wh-words

“疑问”是属于全句的功能范畴,在特指问句中,疑问代词只承载部分疑问信息,即只标记疑问点。我们假设:在疑问句中,“疑”和“问”是可以分立的。基于这一假设,疑问代词的基本语义是“指代某一范围中不确定的某一项”。由这一基本语义引申出的语义“未知”和“不定”形成了疑问和非疑问两种用法,而决定这两种用法的是语用上的原因:说话人是否真心寻求答案以及说话人对事实的知识状况。

The present thesis argues that the basic meaning of WH-words is an uncertain individual within a certain scope. The interrogative and non-interrogative uses of WH-words are considered the extension of the basic meaning. The cause of the two different uses is analyzed from some pragmatic factors — whether the speaker really seeks the answer and how much he/she knows about the facts concerned. The phonetic mark of the difference is found to be the changing stress on the WH-words.