「多義詞」是詞彙系統中相當核心的部份,也是對外華語教學中十分重要的議題。詞語在經過長時間的演變後,語義內容往往會有所擴增或縮減。本研究針對由「怕」所形成的「怕類詞語群」進行語義演變探源,並討論其義項分佈。所謂「怕類詞語群」包括「怕」、「恐怕」、「可怕」、「害怕」,本研究首先探討此類詞語群的共同詞素「怕」的語義演變,進而掌握此類詞語群中各個詞語的異同。研究發現,「怕」的語義歷史演變至今,出現了「恐懼」、「懼怕」、「擔心」、「可能」、「禁不住」、「厭煩」等語義,並由「恐懼」義延伸出。「害怕」及表「使人害怕」義的「可怕」。而「恐怕」已成為語氣副詞,「懼怕」義演變為帶有「可能」意味。「怕」、「害怕」、「可怕」、「恐怕」四個詞語間是以「怕」做為核心詞素,以鍊條式及輻射式結合成「複合式」的義項演變。其中,「懼怕」義較早出現,再延伸出「害怕」義及「可怕」義,換言之,內部詞義越鮮明者,其所延伸詞語的力量越強。此外,「怕類詞語群」四個詞語的搭配在不同情境可清楚分辨其特徵。本研究同時提出教學建議,期能協助學生習得此類詞語群。
Polysemy is a fairly central issue in lexical acquisition and also a very important subject for teaching Chinese as a second language (CSL). After a long period of evolution, word meanings can undergo extension or reduction. The main purpose of this study is hence to investigate the semantic evolution of four pa-related words such as pa, kongpa, kepa, and haipa in Chinese. The core lemma (i.e., pa) shared by this set of words is first discussed, followed by the major differences among these words. The results show that several meanings of pa have been generated such as fear, worry, possibility, disgust, etc., which are extended from feeling one's fear (haipa) to making someone fear (kepa). And kongpa has been used as an adverb carrying a sense of 'possibility'. With regard to the evolution of this set of words, pa emerged first, then expands to haipa and kepa, both of which have a sense of fear, indicating that the stronger a sense is, the stronger it expands. In addition, it has been found the meanings of these four pa-related words can be clearly distinguished in different contexts. Finally, some pedagogical implications are drawn from the study for teaching this set of words.