将来时标记向认识情态功能的衍生

Future Markers and Epistemic Modalities

人类语言的一个普遍现象为,将来时标记又进一步发展出表达各种认识情态的用法,具有估计、预测等主观估价功能。本文论证,这一发展来自将来时标记的概念内容,将来时所指的都是未发生的事件,人们对其判断往往具有很高的主观性。本文讨论的重点是英语和汉语的有关现象,尝试对表面上看起来纷纭复杂的现象作出简单一致的解释。

It is cross-linguistically true that future markers tend to develop into epistemic modalities that express evaluation or prediction.Supported by data derived from Chinese and English,this paper argues that the said development is due to the future marker's unique conceptual structure,especially to the fact that it refers to an event in the future whose evaluation necessarily involves an element of subjectivity.