英语属格的演变——两种去屈折化

The Evolution of English Genitives—Two Models of Deflexion

英语属格在漫长的演变过程中同时受到了两种去屈折化机制的作用,这与大多数印欧语的单一的语法化方式并不相同。本文首先讨论了当代英语中的属格词尾“-’s”的语法地位的问题,认为-’s是不典型的附着形式,在此基础上系统地归纳了词尾演变的进程,分析了多种在属格发展过程中出现的重要现象以及问题,论证了s-属格的去语法化,进而揭示英语属格在语言接触下的独有的演变模式。

The evolution of English genitive case has been influenced by two types of deflexion in the long course of language change. This varies from the mechanism possessed by most Indo-European languages. Starting with studying the grammatical status of the genitive marker –’s, this article argues that –’s is now an atypical clitic. After that, the development of genitive constructions is de-scribed from both the morphological and the syntactic perspectives and within such a description, several important phenomena are investigated. In consideration of the degrammaticalization of Saxon genitive and the emergence of Roman genitive, the unique developmental pattern of English genitives is revealed.