论“媳妇”的形成过程

On the Formation of Xifu(媳妇)

"媳妇"最初写作"息妇",产生于晚唐五代的北方话,是"新妇"在特定地域的转音变体。"新妇"在语音、语义等条件综合作用下转写为"息妇","息妇"通过偏旁类化写成"媳妇"。而"媳妇"可以单说"媳",则是汉字类化以后构形理据的重新分析导致双音词内部形式重新分析的结果。"媳妇"的形成过程体现了汉语词汇演变过程中语音、语义、汉字构形以及构词形式之间互动的界面关系,具有较为独特的历史词汇学价值。

Abstract This paper focuses on tracing the headstream and development of the word xifu（媳妇）. Xifu（息妇） , the original form of xifu（媳妇）came from xinfu（新妇） as a sound variety originated in late Tang Dynasty, under the conditions composed by phonology, semantics and so on, and then got substituted by xifu（媳妇）, by the way of identification of radical of Chinese character. It is because the reanalysis of the motivation of Chinese character induces the reanalysis of the word formation that xifu（媳妇）can be abbreviated as xi（媳）. The process of the formation and change of xifu （媳妇）shows an important and valuable pattern of the lexical change of Chinese, namely the interface among sound, semantics, motivation of Chinese character, and the construction of words.