语义学与形态句法变异:以英汉语量级等比句为例

Semantics and Morphosyntactic Variation: The Case of Scalar Equatives in English and Mandarin

英汉语量级等比句有共同的语义构件,表达相似的真值条件,但它们在形态句法上存在一系列系统性的差异。这一系列差异可以归结为两类"程度"概念的分立:一类程度表示对量的测量,对应于实数的集合;另一类表示量的名物化,对应于抽象的类。采纳前者的比较句,比较语义通过(非)对称顺序关系实现;采纳后者的比较句,比较语义通过类所具属性之相似比较实现。这一分析准确预测了英汉语具有不同的句法组构关系和语义组合方式:和英语不同,汉语等比句在句法上是一种广义的修饰结构,在语义组合上采取交集类操作。这一结论表明语义学在形态句法变异中起更为直接的作用,某些跨语言的形态句法变异,应该归结于深层(词汇)语义概念的对立。

Although scalar equatives in English and Mandarin share a common set of semantic building blocks, and express similar truth conditions, there are a variety of morphosyntactic differences between them.These differences can be reduced to different conceptualizations of degree: one type of degree refers to abstract representation of measurement, corresponding to points, while the other type of degree refers to nominalized properties, corresponding to kinds.Comparatives adopting the former rely on the (asymmetrical) ordering of points, while the comparatives that adopt the latter recur to comparison of similarity of properties.This analysis correctly predicts the difference in syntax and semantics between English and Mandarin equatives: unlike English, Mandarin scalar equatives should be analyzed as modificational structures, which adopt intersective semantics in semantic composition.This article argues for a transparent relationship between variation in form and variation in meaning, and demonstrates that semantics plays a rather direct role in explaining certain cross-linguistic morphosyntactic variations.