构式与规则——英汉动补结构的语法共性

Construction and Rule: The Syntactic Commonality of English and Chinese Resultatives

英语动补结构是当今国际语言学界探讨句法与语义之间关系的一个核心问题,也是揭示语法构式属性的重要现象之一。转换生成学派认为,所有的构式都是由一组短语结构按照一定的规则而生成的,句法是独立于语义的抽象形式系统。然而,认知语言学(包括构式语法)的学者则认为,语法结构不是由规则生成的,而是在长期使用过程中约定俗成的格式(pattern),语法的基本单位是构式,每个构式都具有自身独立的意义和形式特征,可以影响用于其中的具体词语的语义和句法。本文根据英汉动补结构的共同使用规律,尝试揭示构式与规则之间的相互关系,尝试论证构式内部的各个成分之间的搭配规则决定整个构式的句法特征。

English resultative consfruction has been the focus of the research on the interaction between syntax and semantics, and it serves to be a central issue in exploring grammar. In the generative tradition, all the grammatical constructions are called ＇surface structure＇which is derived from a set of phrase structure rules. In the framework of cognitive-constructional linguistics, however, every construction constitutes a form-meaning pair which results from conventionalization. The meaning and function of a construction might alter the meaning and function of a verb. This article aims to identify the rules behind the application of resultatives and to explore the property of construction.