基于使用的两个“差点儿没VP”构式新解

A usage-based constructionist account of chadianermei(差点儿没)VP andchadianer(差点儿)mei(没)VP

“差点儿没”的歧义现象在传统研究中历来被视为一组同形结构的语义对立,“企望说”“色彩说”“预期说”等学说均试图以单一的因素对两者做区分。本文以基于使用的构式语言观作为理论框架和方法,对两个“差点儿没VP”的用例进行基于频率的构式分析,提出两个“差点儿没VP”实为具有区别性特征的两个构式,其中未发生义构式的VP是极端的损害和情绪状态,该构式是一种戏剧化的叙事;发生义构式是“差点儿”后接“愿而不能”的情况,语义为想要发生的事情差点儿不能发生,该构式强调事件经历者的意愿。两个构式不相互对立,但分别与“差点儿VP”形成包含关系。

The chadianermei(差点儿没)VP structure,literally meaning"almost not VP",has paradoxical meanings.In some cases,the VP event took place while in the other cases it did not occur at all.Traditional approaches assume the interpretation is contingent upon a certain factor which can be,for instance,the speaker's expectation of the outcome(Zhu,1959)or the semantic prosody of the VP(Mao,1985).But none of these hypotheses can fully account for this peculiar phenomenon.This study opts for the assumption that the two contradictory interpretations are the result of two similar yet distinguishable structures chadianermei VP and chadianer mei VP(Li,1986;Jiang,2008).Informed by theories and through the usage-based constructionist approach,the study analyzes the usage instances of the two constructions in corpus,and identify their respective central functions and meanings.Their relations with the related chadianer VP are also discussed.