《墨子》“籍设而亲VP”之“而”非代词辨析——从句法规律看文字之用一例

“Er(而)” in the Sentence “Jieshe Erqin VP(籍设而亲VP)” in Mo-tse Is Not a Pronoun——A Case of Analyzing the Use of Characters by Syntactic Rules

《墨子·鲁问》"籍设而亲在百里之外……"句中"而",多被看作第二人称代词,修饰名词"亲"。该句中"而"仍当是连词,连接动词"籍设"与后续"NP+VP"假设成分,表达语义上前者对后者的修饰关系,即说明后者为虚拟事件,而非真实事件。这一用法与《墨子·鲁问》另外2例"籍而VP"、2例"籍设而[(NP+)VP]"用法保持一致,是《鲁问》篇中"籍""籍设"尚未发展成为独立连词时的句法规律。将"籍设"简单看作假设连词,将"而亲"释为"你的父母亲",是受"籍设"语义虚化影响而忽略其句法上仍是动词的事实所导致的不当理解。

The character “er(而)” in the sentence “Jieshe Erqin VP(籍设而亲VP)” in the section Luwen of Mo-tse is usually said to be a second person pronoun modifying the noun “qin(亲)”. Actually, the “er” is still a conjunction connecting the verb “Jieshe(籍设)” and the following hypothetical part “NP+VP” indicates that the former part modifies the latter part in semantic, illustrating the latter is a virtual event, not real. This usage is consistent with 2 cases of “Jieer VP(籍而VP)” and 2 other cases of “Jieshe er[(NP+)VP]”, which shows the syntactic rule of “jie(籍)” and “Jieshe” when they haven’t developed into a conjunction in the section Luwen of Mo-tse. Taking “Jieshe” as a hypothetical conjunction and translating “Erqin” as “your parents” are not correct, resulting in the influence of the semantic reduction of “Jieshe” and neglecting the fact that it is still a verb in syntax.