中纳言中所见副词的语义扩张——以「せめて」为中心

Semantic Expansion of Adverbs Seen in Chu-nagon—Centered on “せめて”

本文以“现代日语书面语均衡语料库”作为语料来源,分析了副词「せめて」的语义扩张程度。「せめて」从“行为性叙法副词”向“叙法副词”的其他子类,进而向程度副词进行语义扩张。「せめて」的基本用法被认为是“愿望/应该”,然而通过本文对例句的统计分析发现:与“条件性叙法”呼应使用的「せめて」占到总用例23.38%,超过了与“愿望/应该”呼应的比例15.37%。这表明在实际语境中,「せめて」更多地与“条件性叙法”相关联,这种用法正在逐渐增多。该研究发现在一定程度上具有参考意义。

This paper analyses the extent of semantic expansion of the adverb “せめて” using the Balanced Corpus of Contemporary Written Japanese as a corpus database. The semantic expansion of “せめて” starts from “behavioral narrative adverbs” to other subclasses of “narrative adverbs” and then to adverbs of degree. The basic usage of “せめて” is regarded as “wish/should”, but the statistical analysis of example sentences in this paper reveals that “せめて” which echoes “conditional narra-tive” accounts for 23.38% of the total number of cases, which is more than that of “せめて” which echoes “wish, should” accounts for 15.37%.