从古汉语训释模式看汉语的一些特点——话题、对言、词类表现和主观性

Revisiting Some Characteristics of Chinese from the Interpretive Mode in Old Chinese:Topic,Dui-speech,Word Class and Subjectivity

古代汉语训话文献以及一些其他文献在对近义词进行对比释义时,所用的训释模式非常精简,与语段话题同指的成分经常被省略,往往只留下最为关键的信息。小句的语义必须放在语篇中才能得到确切的理解。有时两个训释小句必须结合起来读,才能知道所讲的话题,也就是说话题可以在小句的并置中构建出来或说浮现出来,比较明显地体现了“对言明义”“对言生义”的特征。释语和被释语在语类属性上经常可以不一致,这表明古代汉语实词的词类差别在语言表达中并不太受重视。从来源上看,训释格式是从话题结构演变出来的。释语在前、被释语在后的格式重在表达归类,被释语在前、释语在后的格式重在表达内涵,具有更强的主观性。训释模式既反映了汉语自古至今普遍存在的一些属性,也反映了古代汉语的一些特色。

This article focuses on the interpretive mode in ancient Chinese exegesis literature and other literature from the perspectives of grammar and discourse organization.When comparing and interpreting synonyms in Old Chinese exegetic documents and some other documents,the interpretation forms used are very concise,and the component that refers to the discourse topic is often omitted,leaving only the most crucial information.The omitted components and the ones left behind after the omission have diverse and flexible syntactic positions,which are controlled by pragmatics instead of syntax.As a result,the semantics of the clauses must be understood within the discourse.The interpretive mode of synonyms in Old Chinese demonstrates the prominence of topics in the organization of discourse.Sometimes two explanatory clauses must be read together to understand the discourse topic being discussed,which means that the discourse topic can be constructed or emerge in the juxtaposition of the clauses,clearly reflecting the characteristic of"dui-speeches generating meaning"in Chinese,which is crucial to the correct understanding of ancient annotations and similar expressions.Due to the frequent component omission,the explanations and the interpreted terms often belong to different word classes,indicating that the differences in the word class of content words in Old Chinese were not attached with much importance.The frequent occurrence of word class dfferences between explanations and interpreted terms in Old Chinese also indicates to some extent that in Old Chinese,the differences in word classes among content words were more blurred than in modern Chinese.In the corresponding sentences of modern Chinese,the word class of interpreted terms and explanations are often consistent.This indicates that in modern Chinese,the word class boundaries between content words are clearer than those in Old Chinese,and the degree of differentiation between verbs and nouns has increased.Diachronically,the form of explanation was derived from the topic construction.The format of interpretation can be divided into two categories:"explanation+interpreted term"and"interpreted term+explanation".When the explanation is placed before the interpreted term,the clause is focused on expressing classification;when the explanation follows the interpreted term,the clause is focused on expressing connotation and can accommodate more types of semantic relationship,showing stronger subjectivity.The interpretive mode not only reflects some common features of Chinese language throughout the history,but also reflects some particular characteristics of Old Chinese.