RESTRICTED USE OF FIRST PERSON PRONOUNS IN ARCHAIC CHINESE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES IN CHINESE RHETORIC AND SYNTAX

Classical Chinese is particularly rich in respectful and self-depreciatory forms of address, respectively equivalent to terms or expressions such as the 'royal we' and 'your humble servant' in English or the 'nous de majesté' and the 'votre humble serviteur' in French. But the number of these terms of address in Chinese is by far greater than those registered in these two European languages. In view of this Chinese rhetoric particularity, it is therefore of interest to give a brief account of continued changes in these terms of address observed in classical texts. Moreover, the Chinese language is known to easily allow the dropping of pronouns when used as subjects or objects as long as their absence does not create contextual confusion. This paper will trace the development of these two apparently unrelated lexico-syntactic features since China's first historical documents as recorded in the oracle-bone and bronze inscriptions of the Shang dynasty.

關鍵字

Classical Chinese ； Personal pronouns ； Terms of address ； Lexical taboos ； Rhetoric ； Pronominal dropping

並列摘要

本文主旨是探討漢語代詞主語的省略現象和詞彙中所沉積的大量尊稱和謙稱用語兩個現象及其兩者間的關系。這分別在漢語語法和修辭上的兩個特點，在與一些外語比較下，更顯得令人注目。試舉代詞主語的省略為例。拉丁文和古希臘文的無主語句式，或俄語代詞主語的省略，都可以用它們的動詞形態變化來解釋。可是，為什麼在構詞形態貧乏的漢語裡，代詞主語的省略卻比好些西歐語言，向英語、法語，更普遍，更合乎習慣呢？只惜這類在不同語族出現的差異現象的成因，往往受到忽視。就漢語語法和修辭上這兩個特點而言，筆者認為它們間存在著一個互為因果的歷時關係，而其遠因可追溯到商代的語言去，特別是當時第一人稱代詞的御用化。固然本文的論證有待各方家的指正，但如果其中提出的那條線索獲得一定程度的肯定，那麼商代的語言，除了在字體方面與後世的一脈相承外，我們今天的口語和書面語，也承受著它的深遠的影響。總的來說，只有發掘，分析和歸納這些個別的差異，才能更好瞭解一個文化區域的語言系統特色是怎樣形成的。

並列關鍵字

古漢語；人稱代詞；避諱；尊稱；謙稱；主語省略

國際替代計量

RESTRICTED USE OF FIRST PERSON PRONOUNS IN ARCHAIC CHINESE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES IN CHINESE RHETORIC AND SYNTAX

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