“只有……才”的逻辑语义及其来源

The Logical Semantic and the Origin of “zhiyou…cai”

"只有""才"是在主语、状语前后开始配对使用的。"只有"是焦点标记,"才"对焦点敏感,它们共同限制主语、状语。主谓之间隐含有条件关系,"只有"和"才"限制的状语也都是条件状语,"只有……才"的限制使它们获得了必要条件意义。

zhiyou （只有） and cai （才） starts to form pairs only before or after the subject or adverbial. When they are used in the context, zhiyou is a focus marker and cai is focus-sensitive operator, and they limit the subject together. There is implied conditional relationship between subject-predicate, and zhiyou…cai obtains necessary condition meaning from the limitation to the conditional relationship. Similarly, the adverbials limited by zhiyou and cai are also conditional adverbials, and zhiyou…cai turn the condition into necessary condition.