制图理论下英语“why+not+NP”结构的句法推导

A Cartographic Approach to the Syntactic Derivation of the English “Why+not+NP” Construction

本文以制图理论为基础,探讨了英语中的"why+not+NP"结构的句法表现与句法推导。从表面上看,该结构似乎是由三个相互独立的词组合并而成的线性序列形式。通过细致的分析,我们论证该结构实际上是由一个具有完整语音表达式的特殊疑问句经历相关成分的移位和语音删略推导而成,残余成分在句法和语义上密切关联。根据这一分析,"why+not+NP"结构的句法推导涉及否定标记词not与名词词组NP的显性移位,为了凸显"not+NP"所具有的句子对比焦点信息,该序列之后的所有成分在语音式层面被语音删略。本文的分析不仅能够为"why+not+NP"结构提供合理的解释,还可以应用到"why+not+PP"以及"why+not+VP"等类似结构中。

Taking the cartographic approach,this article discusses the syntactic behaviors and derivational mechanisms of the "why +not+NP"construction in English. On the surface,this construction seems to be composed of three independent phrases. Through a detailed analysis,we argue that in fact the construction derives from a fully-fledged interrogative sentence whose relevant constituents have undergone an operation of movement and deletion,thus stranding the remnant constituents which are closely related both syntactically and semantically. On this account,the syntactic derivation of the "why +not+NP"construction involves the overt movement of the negative marker not and NP,and subsequent deletion of all the constituents that followthe sequence at PF for the purpose of highlighting the contrastive focus carried by "not+NP".The proposed analysis can not only provide a principled explanation for the syntax of the "why +not+NP"construction,and it can also be extended to some similar constructions like "why + not + PP"and"why+not+VP".