汉语话题化结构限制的构式语法新解

A New Account of Constraints on Topicalization in Chinese within Construction Grammar

话题化结构限制在生成语法中一直未能得到令人满意的解释。信息结构假设(BCI)认为提取难度与提取所在构式的背景化程度或认知激活程度有关。汉语中的复杂名词短语、属格语位于句首位置时,容易成为关注焦点,因此这些构式中的成分比较容易提取,从而形成所谓主宾不对称现象。双宾构式、及物性构式中宾语能否话题化由事件参与者在语言加工者认知中的激活程度来决定,而认知激活程度又由动词词汇义和构式义共同决定。汉语话题结构中的提取限制主要由构式的信息结构特征决定。

Constraints on Topicalization in Chinese have been controversial in generative linguistics. This study adopts an emergentist proposal, i.e., the BCI hypothesis, which holds that ＂backgrounded constructions are islands.＂ Backgrounded constructions in Chinese are defined as elements are not the primary topic, subject, and focus. When complex noun phrase, genitives, and adverbial clauses are in the position of the primary topic, they attract more attention, which explains why extractions from them are relatively easy. Whether elements in ditransitive constructions and transitive constructions can be extracted is decided by their prominence in the events, which is again decided by the constructional and lexical semantics of the verbs involved. The results suggest that information structural properties of constructions account for constraints on topicalization in Chinese naturally.