语气词“者”的形成及其语气义

The Formation of Modal Particle "Zhe(者)" and Its Modal Meaning

语气词"者"源于表自指的指代词"者","者"本是一个指称标记,功能是名词化;后来表提顿和话语标记功能凸现。这一过程大致开始于战国初,在战国中后期语气词"者"得以形成。提顿词、话题标记、假设语气词具有同一性,这是一条非常普遍的语言共性。汉代以来,带"者"的假设句开始增多,"者"字慢慢沾染上假设语气,与之同时表停顿语气的"者"还大量存在。

The modal particle zhe （者） came from the demonstrative pronoun zhe （者）. Firstly, zhe （者） was a indicating mark, and then, it had the function of pause and topic -indicating. Approximately, the process began in the beginning of the period of the Warring States. In the mid and late time of the period, the modal particle zhe（者） was formed. The word indicating pause, topic mark and the hypothetical modal particle were identical. Since the Han Dynasty, the hypothetical sentences with zhe（者） increased, the character zhe（者） was gradually related with the hypothetical mood, and the one with the function of pause abounded at the same time.