制图理论框架下汉语认识和真值情态动词研究

The Syntax and Semantics of Chinese Epistemic and Alethic Modals: A Cartographic Solution

本文在制图理论框架下探讨汉语认识和真值情态动词语义特征和句法表现的映射关系。本研究发现汉语表达"可能性""盖然性"妁情态动词"可能"和"应该"既是认识情态(Epistemic Modal),也是真值情态(Alethic Modal)。根据制图理论(Cinque 1999,2006),前者位于标句词短语层,后者位于时制短语层。认识情态动词结构可分析为话题结构,句首名词是情态动词后接小句主语或宾语移位形成的话题。真值情态动词结构中的句首名词是位于时制短语指示语位置的主语。制图理论能够使我们更有效地探究情态动词语义特征与句法位置的映射关系。

This paper investigates the relationship between syntax and semantics of Chinese epistemic and alethic modals along the line of Cartographic Approach. There are controversies concerning syntactic properties of modals, such as keneng and yinggai, which denotes possibility and necessity respectively. Our investigation reveals that both of the modals can function as epistemic and alethic modals. The former denotes subjective judgment, while the latter denotes objective description. Following Cinque's Cartographic Approach ( 1999;2006 ), the epistemic modal is positioned in the CP layer, while the alethic modal in the TP layer. The syntactic analysis of various modal constructions shows that the initial noun in the epistemic modal construction is a topic, the initial noun in the alethic modal construction is a subject. Our study demonstrates that the Cartographic Approach is effective in accounting for the mapping mechanism between the syntax and semantics of modals.