四川方言中的“老几”、“几娘”

On the 老几,几娘 in Sichuan Dialects

四川方言中的“老儿’、“几娘”之“几”,作为泛指代词,用以指一定的不便明言或不必明言的人(或事物),作用相当于“某”。对“几”的这一用法,吕叔湘先生《近代汉语指代词》一书中未言及,各类语文性辞书亦未收录。本文认为:“几”的这一用法,在唐、五代的笔记小说、敦煌书仪中已经多见,而它的形成也许与当时的排行有关。

As a general referred pronoun of Sichuan dialects as in 老几 'Laoji'or 几娘 'Jiniang', 几 'Ji' refers to someone or something, which can not be indicated with convenience or is unnecessary to point out. 几 'Ji' is somewhat like 某 (someone or something). Lu Shuxiang does not mention this usage in his Pronoun in Modern Chinese. Neither does any Chinese dictionary. This paper, however, concludes that such a usage was already frequently found in stories and novels early in both Tang and Five Dynasties as well as in the documents of Dunhuang classics. Its formation might be associated with the way in which people greeted each other during that time.