从约数范畴到推测情态:汉语推测副词的重要来源

From Approximate Quantity to Epistemic Modals:an Essential Diachronic Pattern in Chinese

推测情态副词"大概""大约""估计"源自约数义实词,这一演变在汉语中反复出现,其认知机制在于:人们对事态真实性程度进行不精确量化,通过隐喻在语言中用约数义词表达出来。判断推测副词的形成有语义和句法形式等依据;在句法形式上,名源推测副词和动源推测副词形成所需条件有明显差异。

Epistemic adverbs‘dagai’,‘dayue’and‘guji’all originate from words meaning‘approximate quantities’and the motivation is the quantification of the degree of authenticity of the statement,which is expressed in words meaning‘approximate quantities’.Both syntactic and semantic proof can be detected to describe the course and evolution of these adverbs while there are differences with regard to adverbs of noun origin and adverbs of verb origin.