“喫”“食”“饮”历时替换的不平衡性及其认知

The Asymmetry Between the Diachronic Substitution of Chi(吃) for Shi (食)and Yin(饮)

上古汉语中分别用"食"和"饮"表示食用固体食物和流体食物。大约在魏晋时期,"吃"也用来表达这两个概念,开始了对"食"和"饮"的历时替换。在整个过程中,"吃1"发展迅速并最终完成了对"食"的替换,而"吃2"对"饮"的替换进展缓慢,最终被新兴的"喝"取代,两个替换过程表现出明显的不平衡性。本文试图从认知的角度分析抑制"吃2"发展的原因,进而解释这种不平衡性。

In archaic Chinese, the verb which conveys the meaning of eat (吃) has been signified by the word shi (食). In the meanwhile, the verb which conveys the meaning of drink has been signified by the word yin. In the period of Wei and Jin, the word chi is used for signifying the two concepts gradually. There exist the diachronic substitutions of chi for shi and yin. During the substitution, the word chi1 have developed rapidly and substituted the word shi finally. Comparatively, lacking of full department, the word chi2 and yin are both substututed by the word he which has lately emerged at last. There is the obvious disequilibrium between these substitutions. In cognitive linguistics approach, this paper tries to give a reason which results in the asymmetry.