日语时间副词为何能做定语——兼谈名词的时间性

Why Can Temporal Adverbs Be Used as Attributes in Japanese:Also on the Temporality of Nouns

做定语不是副词的常规用法,在做定语的副词中,时间副词是比较突出的一类。本文主要考察两个问题:什么样的名词能够被时间副词修饰;什么样的时间副词能够修饰名词。根据时间性的有无,名词可以分为"过程名词"和"非过程名词"两类:过程名词内含时间性,非过程名词不含时间性。只有过程名词才能被时间副词(特别是体副词)修饰。能做定语的时间副词具有以下两条倾向性规律:第一,语义越"实"越易做定语,语义越"虚"越不易做定语;第二,越是从"外部"修饰限制情状的越易做定语,越是从"内部"修饰限制情状的越不易做定语。过程名词与时间副词在"时间性"上的契合关系是时间副词能做定语的语义基础。

For most adverbs, being used as an attribute is not a common usage. Among the adverbs used as attributes, tempo- ral adverbs are noteworthy. This thesis is intended to find out what kind of temporal adverbs can be used as attributes and what kind of nouns can be modified by temporal adverbs. It is suggested that nouns can be divided into two categories ： event nouns and entity nouns. Event nouns convey a meaning of temporality and entity nouns do not. Only event nouns can be modified by temporal adverbs. There are two tendentious rules for temporal adverbs being used as attributes. The first rule is that temporal adverbs conveying lexical meaning （ not grammatical meaning） are easier to be used as attributes. The second rule is that temporal adverbs modifying situation from external （ not from internal） are easier to be used as an attribute. The agreement of temporality between event nouns and temporal adverbs is the semantic basis of temporal adverbs＇ being used as attributes.