On demonstrative interjections in Chinese dialects

Abstract

不少汉语方言中都能找到一两个既有叹词的特征又有指示功能的词，本文称之为“指示叹词”，如粤方言的“呢”和“嗱”、吴方言的“喏”、长沙话的“喋”等。跟其他叹词一样，它们能在句首出现，可以独立成句，但同时又有明显的指示作用。本文考察了各地方言的指示叹词，发现它们都有两种主要的用法：手势用法(或现场用法)和象征用法(或非现场用法)。前者应是本来的用法，经虚化而成后者。语言类型学研究发现，世界各地语言表指示的手段一般都以名词性、副词性或动词性语词为主，专职指示用的叹词比较少见。汉语的这一发现，对普通语言学应有启示作用。

Many Chinese dialects have one or two words which are like interjections but are used with clear deictic functions. This paper proposes to call them demonstrative interjections. Examples include “ne” and “na” in Yue, “no” in Wu and “die” in Xiang, among others. A survey of demonstrative interjections in a number of Chinese dialects reveals that they have two main kinds of use: gestural and symbolic. The former is likely to be the original function, while the latter the result of grammaticalization in discou...