“大不了”的情态语义探析

An Analysis on Modal Meanings of “Dabuliao”

从情态的角度考察"大不了"的语义内容,可以对"大不了"的四种用法之间的区别和联系有一个清晰的认识。"大不了"在语言使用中可以表达认识情态、道义情态、评价情态三种不同的情态语义,但在语用功能上却表现出一致性,都反映出说话人对命题内容的严重程度进行主观小化,持有不以为然的主观态度。本文最后对"大不了"的主观性特征进行了考察,认为不同语义内容的"大不了"包含的主观性强弱存在一定差别。

The exploration of the semantic contents of “dabuliao”from the modality perspective will help clarify the distinction and relation between the four usages of “Dabuliao”.Although “Dabuliao” expresses three different modality semantic types： epistemic modality, deontic modality, evaluation modality, their discourse functions are identical, which shows the subjective degradation of the proposition and disapprobatory attitude of the speaker. This paper also discusses the subjectivity of “Dabuliao”, and holds that there are certain difference of the intensity of subjectivity among the different modality semantic types of “Dabuliao”.