从积极评价到情态:汉语形源助动词的语义探源——兼论道义情态的语义本质

From positive evaluation to modality:The semantic origin and development of Chinese deadjectival modal auxiliaries and the semantic core of deontic modality

文章基于对汉语情态助动词“可”“足”“宜”“好”之语义来源的剖析,探讨从积极评价到情态这一具有跨语言普遍性的演变路径的语义基础和变化机制。文章认为,四词之所以能够由积极评价义发展出情态义,根本原因是以潜在事件为评价对象的积极评价义与动力、道义、估价三类情态义之间存在密切的语义关联;四词语义演变的根本性机制是语用推理和隐涵义的固化,具体的推理模式主要有两种——凸显化模式和回溯推理模式。文章最后重新审视了道义情态范畴,认为道义情态义本质上是评价性的。

This paper discusses the semantic origin of modal auxiliaries ke(可),zu(足),yi(宜)and hao(好)and explores the semantic basis and mechanisms of the universal path of grammaticalization from positive evaluation to modality.The paper argues that the fundamental reason for such development of the four words from expressing positive evaluation to the marking of modality lies in the close semantic connection between positive evaluation and three types of modality:dynamic modality,deontic modality and evaluative modality.The underlying mechanisms of such diachronic semantic change include pragmatic inference(highlighting pattern and abduction pattern)and the conventionalization of the inferred meaning.Furthermore,the paper also revisits the categorization of deontic modality and suggests that deontic meanings are essentially evaluative.