从出土文献看上古汉语对称代词“而”的若干问题

The second person pronoun er(而)in excavated texts of Archaic Chinese

上古汉语中"而"的对称代词用法,过去受限于材料,认识一直很含糊。不少学者主张读如"尔",也有一些学者认为用同"乃",前者也是当前出土文献研究者最流行的看法。随着古文字材料不断增多,出现这种"而"的文例也越加丰富。本文对出土和传世文献中对称代词"而"进行全面清理和集中考辨,指出当前确切无疑的用例最早见于春秋早期的秦武公鼎铭文,做定语和主语是最主要的语法功能。这种"而"常出现在要求、引导、劝诫、警告等语境或盟誓、爻辞等特定语体中,呈现出强调尊威、拔高发出者身份地位的语用特征。"而"与"尔"上古读音不近,既非通假也非同源。代词"而"是"乃"的分化,同源但非通用。"而"是上古汉语一个相对独立的对称代词,不宜与"尔"或"乃"简单趋同。

Due to limited materials,many issues concerning the second person pronoun er(而) in Archaic Chinese still remain unsolved. Some claim that er(而) should be interpreted as er(尔) while others believe that it is related to nai(乃) . Thanks to the increasing number of newly discovered materials,more evidences on the use of er(而) are found. Based on analysis of excavated texts and extant literature,this paper points out that the earliest occurrence of er(而) as second person pronoun is attested in the bronze inscription of the Lord Wu tripod of the early Spring and Autumn Period. It mainly functioned as a modifier or a subject, and mostly appeared in contexts expressing requirements, suggestions and warnings, emphasizing the authority of the speaker. Since this kind of er(而) is not similar with er(尔) on the phonological level,they should not be derived from the same origin. Besides,er(而) is also different from nai(乃) although they share the same origin. The second person pronoun er(而) should not be simply regarded as the same as er(尔) or nai(乃) .