Revisiting the Syntactic Status of le in Chinese NP-le Construction

再論漢語“NP-了”句式中“了”之語法地位

賴昱達(Yu-Da Lai) ； 楊立勤(Li-Chin Yang)

《明道通識論叢》 4期 (2008/05) Pp. 43-65

https://doi.org/10.6954/MJGE.200805.0043

摘要

本篇文章旨在重新檢驗漢誤裡「無動式副詞子句」或所謂的「NP-了」句中「了」的語法地位及其所扮演的角色。我們認同Tang (2003)所提出的「無動式副詞子句」事實上帶有一個未發音(phonetically null)的連繫動詞「是」的看法，然而我們對該句式中的句末助詞「了」須視爲一種必要實現之時式(obligatorily realized tense)的看法及其必要性提出質疑，將該句式中的「了」分析爲時式(Tense)首先要面對的問題便是爲何德語裡主題化的過程不能違背“No Headless Fronting Constraint”的限制，而漢語卻允許「NP-了」句式中「了」的移位過程可以違反前述限制(Hsieh & Sybesma, 2004; Takano, 2000; Wurmbrand, 2004)？再者，如果「了」的實現爲允准「無動式副詞子句」的必要條件，爲何漢語裡表示經驗的時態「過」也可存在於該句式？我們因而提出「NP-了」句式中「了」的出現並非因爲時式實現之公要性來允准「無動式副詞子句」，反之我們依據Shen (2004)和Lin(2006)的理論視句末「了」爲表示「狀態變化」(change of state)的完成體(perfect aspect)，此「無動式副詞子句」事實上是由「狀態變化」的語意來允准，這也解釋了爲何同屬於完成體的「過」也可存在於此種「無動式別詞子句」。

關鍵字

NP-了句式 ； 無動式副詞子句 ； 語尾助詞

並列摘要

In this paper, the so-called ”verbless adverbial clauses” or ”NP-le” construction in Chinese are revisited mainly based on Tang's (2003) discussion. We agree that verbless clauses are not really without verbs, but with a phonetically null verb similar to the copula ”shi” ”be”, while we question the syntactic status of the sentence final particle le as T and its obligatory realization within the verbless clauses. The syntactic consequence based on the assumptions has to face the following questions: first, why can Chinese void the ”No Headless Fronting Constraint” (Hsieh & Sybesma, 2004: Takano, 2000: Wurmbrand, 2004) while German topicalization cannot? Second, why can the experiential aspect guo enter the verbless clauses as well? In this study, we argue that the obligatoriness of le is not due to the necessary realization of T within the verbless clauses and the parametric variation. We, adopting Shen's (2004) and Lin's (2006) frameworks, postulate that le in verbless clauses is actually more like an aspect, denoting ”change of slate”, and we argue that it is the ”perfect” meaning implying ”change of stale” that licenses the Chinese verbless constructions.

並列關鍵字

NP-le construction ； verbless adverbial clause ； sentence final particle