数词与定指:以数词“一”为例

Numerals and Definite Articles:Taking“One”as an Example

对于汉语这种缺乏定冠词的语言来说,何种语言成分能够承担定冠词的功能是过去30多年来的一个热点问题。基于跨语言和跨方言的事实:(1)鉴于自然数的基本功能是计量,而定冠词的基本功能是定指,自然数“1”不可能语法化为有定性标记,它只能发展出不定冠词的功能;(2)数词的计量功能与定冠词的确指功能相悖,这从逻辑上决定了前者没有发展成为后者的可能性;(3)数词“一”可作有定解读的现象,本质上是一种语用现象而非语法现象。

For languages like Chinese that do not have definite articles,what components can serve as definite articles has been of controversy over the past three decades.Given that the essential property of cardinal numbers is counting,and the intrinsic property of definite articles is definiteness(which as a grammatical marker would help speakers to uniquely identify a particular entity),based on cross-linguistic facts,it is concluded that the cardinal number"one"cannot possibly be grammaticalized into a definite article,but can be evolved into an indefinite article,that counting function of cardinal numbers is incompatible with the definiteness function of definite articles,which logically determines that there is no possibility that the former could be grammaticalized into the later,and that the numeral"one"being interpreted as a definite marker is essentially a pragmatic phenomenon rather than a grammatical phenomenon.