制约“们”字用法的语法规则和语用原则

Syntactic Rules and Pragmatic Principles Restricting the Usage of the Chinese Character Men

现代汉语中“们”的用法和功能一直是汉语数范畴研究中的热点问题。学界多有讨论,却一直悬而未决。我们认为只有准确地把问题归档至它们应在的位置,才能为从根本上解决这些问题创造条件。本文提出“们”的用法是刚性的语法规则和柔性的语用原则共同作用的结果。前者决定了必用或者必不用“们”的语法条件,而后者则定义了可用可不用时使用“们”的语用环境。原本可不用却使用“们”主要是受语用因素的驱动,目的在于凸显和强化名词性成分的复数义。这种刚柔并济的处理方案不仅可以消除有关此问题的讨论中经常不得不使用“倾向”等等模棱两可的不理想概括方式,为相关的语言现象提供更加彻底的分析实践和更为深刻的理论解释,同时也为语言现象的全面解释提供了可行的分析框架。

The usage and the function of men in Modern Chinese have always been a hot topic in the study of the Chinese category of number,but no consensus has been reached.We argue that only by accurately situating the issues in their proper contexts can we create the conditions to fundamentally solve the problem.In this paper,we propose that the usage of men is the result of the combined influence of rigid grammatical rules and flexible pragmatic principles.The former determines the grammatical conditions for the obligatory or nonobligatory use of men,while the latter defines the pragmatic contexts in which the use of men is optional.Furthermore,the use of men,when it is not obligatory,is primarily driven by pragmatic factors,with the purpose of highlighting and emphasizing the plural meaning of the noun.This analytical framework can eliminate the ambiguous generalization such as"tendency"frequently employed in the discussion about this issue,providing a more thorough analysis and a more profound theoretical explanation for related linguistic phenomena.