极性系统和汉语极性系统的特点研究

Polarity System and Characteristics of Chinese Polarity System

现代汉语极性系统是由表达同意/不同意这一极性意义的各级语言单位(主要是词和短语)分层、有序地构成的系统,其成员可称为极性成分。通过对表达极性意义的汉语“是”“不”与英语“yes”“no”、“是”“不”与其相关成分“是的/对”“不是/不对”的比较,可归纳出汉语极性系统的两大特点:第一,汉语极性系统只对相对极性特征敏感;第二,组成该系统的极性成分体现了语法化的连续性。作为是非问答语,“是”“不”分别表示同意和不同意,据此可论证肯定式“吗”问句在疑问程度上是信大于疑的,且对肯定回答的期待值在50%以上。除了“是”“不”,汉语“是”类成分(“是的/对”)和“不”类成分(“不是/不对”)在应答是非问句时也表同意和不同意,但其在句法特征、语用特征以及应答的疑问句类型等方面与“是”“不”存在差异。

The polarity system of modern Chinese is a hierarchically and orderly system composed of all levels of linguistic units(mainly words and phrases)expressing the polar meaning of agreement or disagreement,and the members of the system are called polar components.Through the comparative analysis of Chinese“shi”“bu”that express the polar meaning and English“yes”“no”,“shi”“bu”and their related components“shide/dui”and“bushi/budui”,two major characteristics of the Chinese polarity system are summarized:first,the Chinese polarity system is only sensitive to relative polarity features;second,the polarity components that make up the system reflect the continuity of grammaticalization.As an answer of yes-no questions,“shi”and“bu”respectively indicate agreement and disagreement.Based on this,it can be argued that the affirmative“ma”-questions is more believable than doubtful,and the expected value of the affirmative answer is more than 50%.In addition to“shi”and“bu”,the related components of Chinese“shi”(“shide/dui”)and the related components of Chinese“bu”(“bushi/budui”)also express agreement and disagreement when answering yes-no questions,but they are different from“shi”and“bu”in terms of syntactic characteristics,pragmatic characteristics,and types of interrogative sentences answered.