反叙实动词宾语真假的语法条件及其概念动因

Conditions on the Interpretation of the Complement Clauses of the Counter-factive Verbs

本文讨论汉语反叙实动词的句法语义特点,特别是"假装"类动词跟其他反叙实动词不同的语义表现:其宾语在有些情况下是假的(如:假装害怕■不害怕),但在有些情况下却是真的(如:假装摔倒■摔倒了)。文章指出,"假装"类动词宾语的真假,跟宾语的情状类型直接相关:当宾语的情状类型为动作时,该宾语为真;当宾语的情状类型为状态时,该宾语为假。文章还基于"假装"的概念结构,从社会符号学的角度对这种相关性进行了解释:"假装"类动词的宾语既可以表示主体故意发出的假动作(真的发生了,用动作类动词表达,如"摔倒"),也可以表示主体通过假动作而制造的假象(虚假的表象,用状态类动词表达,如"害怕")。说话人对假装行为的动作(能指)和假象(常规所指)进行有选择、有侧重的语言编码,造成了"假装"类动词宾语的或真或假,以及相应动词在情状类型上的差别。

This paper investigates the syntactic and semantic properties of ＂pretend-type＂ verbs and other counter-factive verbs in Chinese. It has been noted that the complements of the pretend-type verbs sometimes have a false interpretation and sometimes have a true interpretation. For instance, if we are given a structure like jiazhuang haipa＇ intentionally to be afraid, we would know that it is false that the subject ofjiazhuang is afraid. However, if we are given a structure likejiazhuang shuaidao pretend that one has fallen down, we would know that it is true that the subject offiazhuang is the one who has fallen down. It is pointed out in this paper that the counter-factive verbs in Chinese share some common syntactic and semantic properties. For instance, these counter-factive verbs all presuppose that the proposition expressed by their complement clauses is false. As a result, contradiction would arise if the complement clause of the counter-factive verbs is followed by another clause which conforms to the truth of the complement clause, as shown below： （1） ertong ziji kai qiche , ta huanxiang bandeng flu shi qiche , qishi child self drive car he imagine stool just be car actually bandeng flu shi qiche stool just be car ＇ The child drives a car by himself. He imagines that the stool is a car. Actually the stool is a ear.＇ However, such a problem won＇t arise if the complement clause of the counter-factive verbs is followed by another clause which negates the truth of the complement clause, as shown below： （2） ertong ziji kai qiche, ta huanxiang bandeng flu shi qiche, qishi child self drive car he imagine stool just be car actually bandeng bu shi qiche stool not be car ＇ The child drives a car by himself. He imagines that the stool is a car. Actually the stool is not a car.＇ In addition, the complement clause of the counter-factive verbs in Chinese excludes negation. According to our study on the corpus, the occurrence frequency of the negative forms in counter-factive verb constructions is very low as compared with that of the positive forms. The difference between the pretend-type verbs and other counter-factive verbs is discussed in the paper. The complement clause of the pretend-type verbs sometimes expresses a false proposition, and sometimes expresses a true proposition. By analyzing the situation types of the verbs, we find that the truth value of the complement clause of the pretend-type verbs is determined by the situation types of the predicate of the complement clause. If the predicate of the complement clause denotes some action, it is true. If the predicate of the complement clause denotes a state, it is false. By analyzing the conceptual structure ofjiazhuang＇ pretend＇, this paper further shows that the complement clause of the pretend-type verbs can represent the false action that the subject deliberately carries out, namely the action that has indeed happened and is thus expressed by the action verb like shuaidao＇ to fall down＇, and that the complement clause can indicate a kind of false impression, as in the case associated with verbs like haipa ＇ to be afraid＇. In our study of 1,500 sentences with the pretend-type verbs as the predicates, there are only 30 sentences which do not assign a false interpretation to their complement clauses. The rest of the sentences all assign a false interpretation to their complement clauses. We think that the reason for this difference lies in the fact that speakers are willing to make counter-factive verbs conform to their counter-factive semantic functions. Finally, we argue that pretend-type verbs are the lexicalization of conceptualized pretending actions, which can be studied from the perspective of social semiotics.