关于名动优先的历时分析

A diachronic analysis of noun/verb priority

一种语言中究竟是名词优先还是动词优先,是论证该语言具有时间特质或是空间特质的重要依据,但以往的研究较多关注共时方面的证据,历时方面的考证相对较少,而且结论不一。此外,以往这方面的研究都是基于对特定语言的分析,特别是对英汉语言进行比较,较少从一般语言发展的层面展开研究。本文围绕名动优先这一话题,通过回顾前人的研究,从一般语言起源、一般语言演化以及儿童语言发展这三个历时层面探讨名动优先的问题,指出名词优先是一般语言发展的基本规律,而特定语言所体现出来的名词优先或动词优先现象,都是特定语言结构及社会文化因素影响的结果。

The issue of whether nouns or verbs came first determines to some extent the trait of temporality or spatiality in a language. Previous studies focus more on the synchronic evidences, with less research on diachronic evidences, and the research results vary greatly. Besides, previous studies are more concerned with specific languages, especially with English and Chinese contrastive analyses, rarely touching upon general language development. By focusing on the topic of noun/verb prior-ity, this study first reviews some previous relevant research and then tackles the topic from three diachronic facets, that is, the general language’s origin, its evolution and children’s language development. It is proposed that noun priority is the basic principle of general language development, and the noun priority or verb priority in specific languages is a result or reflection of the influence of specific linguistic structure and socio-cultural elements.