ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯ ФРАЗОВЫХ ЧАСТИЦ КИТАЙСКОГО ЯЗЫКА В РАБОТАХ КИТАЙСКИХ ЛИНГВИСТОВ

Научная статья
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18454/RULB.8.19
Выпуск: № 4 (8), 2016
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Аннотация

Фразовые или модальные частицы в китайском языке передают, в первую очередь, отношение говорящего к ситуации или факта к действительности; относятся к служебным словам, но маркируют всё предложение и даже текст; не имеют собственного значения вне контекста в синхронии, однако каждая частица обладает функциональным рядом значений, обусловленных её этимологией в диахронии. Для более глубокого понимания сути данного явления важно не только знать, как изменялись функциональные значения фразовых частиц, отражающих, в том числе, и эволюцию экспрессивности и коннотативных значений предложения, но и развитие научных представлений о месте и роли фразовых частиц в языке. Начиная с I в.н.э. эти частицы становятся объектом описаний и исследований в работах китайских лингвистов, и за чуть более чем две тысячи лет развития научной мысли в китайской лингвистической традиции сформировался свой особый подход к изучению данного явления.

The research of sentence-final particles in the Chinese linguistic tradition can be divided into several periods.

The first descriptions of the sentence-final particles functions are found in the dictionary “The Origin of Chinese Characters: Shuowen jiezi” (“说文解字“, 许慎, I AD.)where they are called “finishing the sentence” and expressing an opinion (critic, attitude) of the speaker. Five particles were singled out: 矣(已),只,乎(余),哉, 兮 。This work reflects the ideas of the scientists of Han period (III BC-I AD), the particles were called  – 语已词 – “finishing words” or 语之余  – “remains”  (addition) of the phrase[1].

In Liu Xie’s work (刘勰) called “Carved Dragon of the Literary Thought” (“文心雕龙”,beginning of VI century) there are three types of function words: Initial particles, prepositions and conjunctions, finishing particles (or sentence-final particles in modern terminology.)

  1. Period of Tang (VII-IX centuries): The first classification and study of the functions based on the material of belles and religious works and translations

This period of the Chinese language is characterized by the transition from the Middle-Chinese (中古汉语) to the New Chinese (近代汉语).  Liu Zongyuan (柳宗元) is one of eight famous scientists of the Tang period, at the turn of VIII-IX centuries he introduced the term 助字 (function word, form word\particle) in his work “Response to Du Wenfu's Book” (”复杜温夫书“) and divided them into two classes: Expressing interrogative modality (疑辞:乎,欤, 耶,哉,夫) and assertive modality (决辞: 矣,耳(而已),焉,也). The same classification is used in “General Treatise of Mr. Ma” («马氏文通», 1898 г.) by Ma Jianzhong (马建忠) – he kept the division into particles, which render an assertion and a question (传信 и 传疑))[2,P.323].

I century AD – X century AD in the study of sentence-final particles is characterized as the “narrative” period. Having analyzed works on the grammar of the Chinese language, mainly represented by essays and prose, we can make the following general conclusion: sentence-final particles finish sentences, render interrogative or assertive tone (tone of speech, modal tone) and are not “meaningful” words.

The study of function words continues in a series of independent researches as, for example, the works of Lou Yiwei (卢以纬) “Function (Auxiliary) Words” (“助语辞”, Yuan dynasty (元), 14 century) and Yuan Renlin (袁仁林) “Treatise on Function Words” (“虚字说”), which made a considerable contribution into the study of phrasal particles. Lou Yiwei used different names to refer to what is now known as sentence-final particles (语已辞,语余声etc.). He drew a borderline between modal meanings of the particles and shades of their meanings (for example, he distinguished even 平, straight 直, rising扬 tone of speech, intonation in particles)[3]. He also emphasized that the same particle can perform different functions in the middle and at the end of the sentence. In his “Treatise on Function Words” (“虚字说” ,1710), Yuan Renlin gives the first definition to the phenomenon of modality (语气), correlating it with the manner of speech, tone and meaning of what is said (口气), this concept received the name神情声气 “tone of mood.” However, he applies this approach to all function words. He emphasizes that function words cannot be commented on, relying exclusively on their spelling; their meaning cannot be explained on the basis of the vocabulary definition. He paid attention to the difference between sentence-final particles used in writing and in oral speech, in the literary language and in dialects [4]. However, his ideas have not been further developed and elaborated over the following centuries.

In this period (XIV – XIX centuries) sentence-final particles have been treated as “function words,” but there was no single term to refer to this phenomenon (语已词,助词,送句词,歇语辞,语助,语辞  etc.); the main object of study and description is wenyan, and only a few works refer to oral speech or dialectal variants (袁仁林, 卢以纬); there are descriptions of separate sentence-final particles mainly, often with a synonymic row (Wang Yinzhi王引之), they are either classified or divided according to the classification which appeared in the Tang period (into interrogative and assertive modality).

  1. The beginning of the “European” approach in the study of sentence-final particles

The work of Ma Jianzhong (马建忠) “Grammar of Mr. Ma” “马氏文became an important milestone in the study of sentence-final particles and the grammar of the Chinese language in general 通”(1898). There modality and sentence-final particles (in the interpretation of Ma Jianzhong – function words) are considered to be grammatical categories. His work does not contain a distinctive scientific definition of modality and sentence-final particles, but the explanation he gave to “classical” sentence-final particles of that period (wenyan) is close to the modern understanding of these phenomena. As it has been noted above, he used the classification of Liu Zongyuan and divided particles into assertive (也,矣,已,耳,尔,焉,者) and interrogative (乎,哉,耶,欤,诸, 夫). The innovation of his works is connected with the comparison of the particles within the same group (however, Ma Jianzhong does not divide linguistic material into historical periods, so here you can find examples of early Qin (III century BC) to the Tang (IX century AD periods)). It contains the description of the connections between some of the initial words and sentence-final particles at the end of a sentence; he also described the features of the “fused” (joint) particles and singled out the order for their usage in a sentence. He also addressed the issue of the relation between syntax and particles.

Later works of Li Jinxi, Lu Shuxiang, Yuen Ren Chao, Wang Li, Gao Mingkai and others explore the topic of sentence-final particles of the modern Chinese language (baihua) for the authors.

In Li Jinxi’s grammar (黎锦熙), the first research grammar of baihua, a new syntactical approach has been offered to the understanding of such phenomenon as sentence-final particles. He separated sentence-final particles from the rest of the classes, counter posing them to the problem of intonation in oral speech. Li Jinxi calls this class the class of modal words (情态词 words of the mood), including sentence-final particles and exclamations. At that, he called them functional words (助词) and gave them the following definition: “Express mood, attitude during the conversation; they don't have a meaning of their own, they only perform the function of the symbol; they are used at the end of a sentence, render “modality” [5, P.23]. He identified five types of modality in a sentence and pointed out that each of these types is characterized by its own particles, which help to express the modality “in writing.” He also emphasized the necessity to research and study phrasal particle to be fully able to express feelings, sincere intonation and “give power to the words” [5, P.260].

The research of sentence-final particles from the beginning of the 40s of XX century is closely connected with the study of modality. This or that understanding of modality determined the approach to the study of sentence-final particles, including the term itself, which was used to name them. Sentence-final particles were assigned the role of the “spokesmen of modality (tone/mood) in writing” during that period of time.

The work of Lu Shuxiang had the greatest influence on the understanding of modality and the role of sentence-final particles. He defined the place of sentence-final particles as the means of expression of modality in the narrow sense, i.e., sentence-final particles help to distinguish sentences. These sentences are the same concerning the concepts contained in them, but differ in terms of unequal goals of each statement. Means of expressing modality are various: “The aspect of utterance is denoted by means of words-limiters, by the modality of a statement – primarily with the help of the intonation, modality itself is expressed mainly via intonation and modal particles” [6, P.230]:

Table 1

Modality in narrow sense

in relation to cognition

doubt

positive: guess

neutral: question

negative: rhetoric question

direct narration (narration, when emphasized it turns into an assertion)

in relation to action

incentive

positive: order

negative: prohibition

advice (assumption, approval)

in relation to feelings

exclamation, surprise etc.

 

His other works “On Function Words ”在“ and “著” “Notes of Jingde” (« «释“景德传灯录“中 ”在“ “著”二助词»)  marked the beginning of research on the origin of sentence-final particles.

The work of Yuen Ren Chao (赵元任) “Grammar of Spoken Chinese”  does not give a clear definition of sentence-final particles (naming them phrase particles and sentence particles, particles), pointing out a number of characteristics: They are uttered in a neutral tone, they refer to a phrase or to a sentence closely connected to it (in terms of intonation and grammar), they can unite meanings, they can be combined with function words (in this case they have only one meaning, it is difficult to define the limits of function words in this case (着呐)). Yuen Ren Chao was the first person who started conducting the research on function words (particles also fall into this category) comparing normative language, dialects and wenyan (“Research of Function Words in Dialects of Beijing, Suzhou and Hangzhou” «北京苏州常州助词的研究»)。

Gao Mingkai(高名凯)did refer sentence-final particles to a separate class. When describing them, he divided sentence-final particles into interrogative(吗、么), particles rendering doubt in an interrogative sentence (罢、吧), the ones rendering order (prescription) (罢、吧、呀、啊、哇、休), exclamation at the end of the sentence (啊,呵、呀、哩、呢、哪、吓、啦、咧), exclamation in the middle of the sentence (呀、呢、罢、啊、末(么、吗) [7]. He correlated the usage of this or that particle with the structure of a sentence, the type of the predicate, modality of a sentence. He called them 感叹词,命令词correspondingly etc.

Wang Li (王力) assumed that each sentence has its own “mood” (emotion, modality), which can be expressed with the help of the intonation” (Wang Li, “Modern Chinese Grammar” «中国现代语法»). However, the resources of intonation are limited, while modal particles (语气词) allow expressing the mood in a more explicit way. On the basis of the novel “Dream in the Red Palace” he singled out 12 types of modality, which correspond to certain sentence-final particles: Assertive (了), explanatory (的), exaggerating  (呢、罢了), interrogative (吗(么)、呢), rhetoric question (吗(么)、呢、不成), the ones that express condition (呢), assumption, guess (罢), incentive (罢), rush, urge (呀、哇), standing something, bearing something (也罢、罢了、去), dissatisfaction (吗(么) ), argument, attempts to convince (啊、呀、哪、咧(啦 -了+ 啊))[8,P.161-174].

Hu Mingyang (胡明扬) assumed that modality renders 1) feelings caused by a certain event or a thing said by an interlocutor – modality, which renders feelings (expressive) 2) attitude to what has been said (speaking about an opinion, a point of view) 3) expressing sense (meaning, thought).  He singled out narrative, imperative, interrogative and exclamatory modality of sentences. He also spoke about changes in sounds and their consistent patterns when new particles appear [9,P.97].

Works of Chinese linguists of the first half of the XX century formed the basis of the classical understanding of sentence-final particles in modern Chinese linguistic tradition. They changed the object of study: Researchers started using the works in baihua of different periods more and more often, instead of literature in wenyan. The differences in understanding of the modality in the following years led to the emergence of two basic approaches to the study of sentence-final particles: The first one – understanding phrasal modal particles as function words (语气助词:马建忠,赵元任,吕叔湘,胡明扬,刘月华,徐青,房玉清 etc.), i.e. as form words, grammatical approach;  the second viewpoint, which relies on classical sources as well, calls sentence-final particles modal verbs (语气词: 王力,马真,朱德熙,黄伯荣,张志公,胡裕树,齐沪扬,侯学超, 孙锡信, 郭锡良, 李小军 etc.), i.e. modal-semantic approach. In 80-90s of XX century the followers of the second approach became more numerous. A number of new directions in the research of sentence-final particles appeared after that.

F.R.Palmera's work “Mood and Modality” which appeared in 90s of XX century had a serious impact on further study of sentence-final particles: The problem of relations between modality, emotionality and manner of speech were discussed (语气,情态,口气). New understanding of modality, emotional evaluation and manner of speech (tone of speech, intention) contributed to a more in-depth study of modality in the Chinese language and led to numerous attempts to describe modal system of the Chinese language and the place of sentence-final particles in it. For example, Qi Huyang(齐沪扬) in his work “Sentence-final particles and the System of Modality” (语气词与语气系统) defined the place of sentence-final particles in the structure of modality as “The most important,” as they express the function of modality (功能语气)[10]. Several other scientists think that sentence-final particles express the manner of speech (the tone of speech) as in their opinion modality in the Chinese language can take the following forms: Narrative, interrogative, exclamatory, incentive. T the tone of speech includes different ways of expressing the attitude of a speaker (evaluative expressions): Indecision, tactfulness, and so on. In this connection, it was suggested renaming语气词 into 口气词 (Sun Ru 孙汝) 。. Further research in the area is associated with different approaches to the understanding of relations between modality and the attitude of the speaker – for example, the work of He Yang (贺阳) on the expression of subjective opinion through grammatical structures. All of these studies are dedicated to the solution of important problems: Do sentence-final particles have only one modal value (Guo Xiliang郭锡良) or several (Lü Shuxiang 吕叔湘)? It is still controversial nowadays. 

Another important direction during this period was dedicated to the following: The study of the origin and development of the functions of sentence-final particles in wenyan on the basis of works taken from different periods, starting from the study of possible particles of the Jiaguwen period (甲骨文, oracle inscriptions on the  bones and tortoise shells XIV — XI centuries BC) to the particles of the Qing period  (beginning of XX century) (For example, the works 张玉金关于卜辞是否语气词问题翟燕清代北方话语气词研究). Most of the works are focused on the description and analysis of the functions of sentence-final particles in certain works of a certain period. They contain statistical calculations of the frequency of their usage, depending on the type of a sentence.

Significantly fewer works are devoted to the analysis of diachronic change in the functions of sentence-final particles. The most famous works of the period contain the work by Sun Xixin “Sentence-final particles (Modal Particles) in the New Chinese Period” ( 孙锡信 «近代汉语语气词»), “Origin and Development of Sentence-final particles from Pre-Qin Period to the Period of T'ang and Five Dynasties” by Li Xiaojun (李小军 «先秦至唐五代语气词的衍生与演变») , “Sentence-final particles in Pre-Qin Sources” by Zhang Zhenlin (张振林 «先秦古文字材料中的语气词»), as well as the research on the basis of the translations of Buddhist texts, for example Long Guofu’s “Study of Function Words in the Translation of Yao Qin Sutras” (龙国富 «姚秦译经助词研究»). 

The research of sentence-final particles of the second half of the XX century and the first decade of the XXI century can be divided into several key movements: 1) one of the most developed ones – identification and description of the functions of sentence-final particles based on the material of literary and other written sources from the Jiaguwen period prior to the beginning of XX century 2) the description of the functions of the modern sentence-final particles, types of modality and shades of modality, the identification of connections between sentence-final particles and syntactic structure of the sentence based on the materials of contemporary works in baihua, examples from colloquial speech, more seldom – on the basis of journalistic materials 3) identifying the patterns in the change of sentence-final particles functions, comparative analysis of Putonghua, dialects and the study of the historical development of sentence-final particles.

Currently, sentence-final particles research is typically based on the materials of colloquial speech. This led to the emergence of new directions of research: The study of the connections between intonation and sentence-final particles (For example, work张彦北京话语气词韵律特作证研究), intonation of phrase particles in Putonghua, the study of mono and poly-modal particles based on the analysis of the acoustic data (For example, work熊子瑜 林茂灿的韵律特征及其话语交际功能), dialectal sentence-final particles are studied as well, especially dialects of the big cities (Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and so on), etc. Interest in sentence-final particles has dramatically increased during the last 12 years. For comparison, according to the data of the largest electronic archive of publications cnki.net in 2003 there were 76 scientific articles (including master thesis) related to the topic of sentence-final particles, while in 2015 the number of such works has risen to 251. The theme of the works has changed as well. In 2003 the main themes included: Description of sentence-final particles of different dialects, the description of particles in foreign languages (Russian, Japanese and so on), the descriptions of individual particles in wenyan of different periods. While in 2015 some traditional themes were preserved, some new topics had appeared as well, namely: Analysis of the origin of individual particles, functional features of the use of the particles in sentences of different types, comparative descriptions of particles of different dialects, the analysis of relations between the intonation of a sentence and sentence-final particles, the influence of sentence-final particles on a sentence (on other members of the sentence, on the topic and comments, etc.), the description of sentence-final particles used in Internet correspondence and colloquial speech, and a relatively new subject – the teaching of sentence-final particles. The development of new directions in the research of the sentence-final particles in the Chinese language has contributed to the full and in-depth study of this important and irreplaceable linguistic phenomenon.

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