浅议主语It-外置结构的话语限制条件

【前言】浅议主语It-外置结构的话语限制条件由文秘帮小编整理而成，但愿对你的学习工作带来帮助。(1)Coming home from school that dark winter’s day so long ago.I was filled with anticipation.I had a new issue of my favorite sports magazine tucked under my arm,and the house to myself.Dad was at work,my sister was away,and Mother wouldn’t be ho...

摘 要: 在英语中,外置结构是一种很常见的语言现象。很显然,很多It-外置结构都有与之对应的非外置结构。作为两种不同的结构形式,其话语功能必然不同,而两种结构之间的转换不仅受到结构条件的限制,也要受到话语条件的限制。本文从语用的角度,通过对It-外置结构和相对的非外置结构的话语限制条件的分析和比较,表明把话语因素纳入句法结构考虑中也是相当必要的。

关键词: 主语it-外置结构 非外置结构 分析比较 话语限制

外置结构在英语中非常普遍。所谓外置结构,简单地说,就是其中的某个结构成分因被外置而出现在一个非常规(noncanonical)位置上。外置转换所产生的句子根据外置成分的不同可分为不同的类型,如It-外置、pp-外置和关系从句外置;根据外置成分所附于的位置不同又可分为主语外置外置和宾语外置。就其It-外置结构而言,该类外置结构中至少都有一个分句(限定性时态分句或非限定性不定式分句)充当主语或者直接宾语,但它们又都不出现在常规的(canonical)主语或宾语位置上,而通常是放在句子的句末位置上;常规的主语或宾语位置则由一个无实质语义内容的结构填充词(it)占据。无论是传统语法还是生成语法都曾对各种外置结构作过不少论述,特别是就其结构的移位操作和生成机制展开过重大而深远的探讨。本文从话语语境的角度出发,重点对主语It-外置结构的话语限制条件进行比较和分析。

一、话语限制

语句仅从语言自身是无法完全理解的,只有基于语言,在话语语境中才能较准确地理解其深刻意义。离开语境孤立的看句子,不顾及其上下文的话限制条件,就很难准确地理解其真正的含义。例如:

(1)Coming home from school that dark winter’s day so long ago.I was filled with anticipation.I had a new issue of my favorite sports magazine tucked under my arm,and the house to myself.Dad was at work,my sister was away,and Mother wouldn’t be home from her new job for and hour.

文中“I was filled with anticipation”字面意思是“心中充满了期待”,但读者不能理解,不禁问“期待什么?”要理解其真正内涵,就要依靠语境,从上下文可以看出,anticipation是指reading his favorite sports magazine without being disturbed。上句的意思为:“我满以为可以一个人安安静静地在家里阅读心爱的体育杂志。”文中“the house to myself”的理解也需要语境,从上下文中知道,爸爸上班去了,妹妹不在家,妈妈刚找到工作,还得一个小时才下班回家。由此可知“the house to myself”的含义是“家里就我一个人”。

在语言实际运用中,外置也不是任何时候都是强制性的。仅依靠生成语法的句子结构分析,我们常常无法确定是选用外置结构还是非外置结构,分句结构外置与否还受到各种复杂的语境因素的影响。话语条件存在于特定的语境中,因此,选用外置结构与非外置结构的时候要充分考虑到其上下文中的话语条件,必须结合具体的语境来分析。我们来看这个外置结构的句子:

(2)It was a pity that there was no gold left in the mine when they arrived there.

很显然,这个外置的That-从句结构较长较复杂,且含有新的或较重要的信息。通过That-从句的后置,使含有重要信息和新信息的That-从句位于句子末尾信息的位置,使之得到了强调。除了起到平衡句子结构的作用,避免头重脚轻外,同时也唤起了受话人求知的好奇心,从而达到了较好的交际效果。不难看出,外置结构与否不单单涉及句子内部成分的调整。由于句子都不是孤立存在的,而是相互关联、相互制约的。因些充分考虑句子上下文语境中的话语限制条件是至关重要的。

二、外置结构的话语限制

鲍林格(Bolinger)(1977)指出“当主题已经被提及”后可以选用外置结构(P68)。在对大量的语料进行比较分析的基础上,我们发现如果That-从句和不定式从句的内容来自于前面的话语语境或者与先前的话语内容直接相关,则从句可以保留在原来的主语位置,即无需外置。否则,外置就不可避免了。看以下例句:

(3)[...]But we must never forget,most of the appropriate heroes and their legends were created overnight,to answer immediate needs.

[...]Most of the legends that are created to fan the fires of patriotism are essentially propagandistic and are not folk legends at all.

[...]Naturally,such scholarly facts are of little concern to the man trying to make money or fan patriotism by means of folklore.That much of what he calls folklore is the result of beliefs carefully sown among the people with the conscious aim of producing a desired mass emotional reaction to a particular situation or set of situations is irrelevant.

(F.Brown 19 0490-0870.CF.Miller,2001)

在这个例句中,斜体部分的That-从句是一个相当复杂的句子主语,紧跟着一个非常简单的谓语成分。像这样非外置的句子结构放在句首肯定是不恰当的,而此句在这样的上下文语境中却相当的自然。因为句子主语的内容在上文中已经被引出,此主语从句只是对上文内容的一个总结,That-从句不进行外置可以和上文联系得更加紧密,使得语义能够更快、更准确地被读者理解。

(4)“He will be here before long now,”said Van Helsing,who had been consulting his pocketbook.Nota bene,in Madam’s telegram he went south from Carfax.That means he went to cross the river,and he could only do so at slack of tide,which should be something before one o’clock.That he went south has a meaning for us.He is as yet only suspicious,and he went from Carfax first to the place where he would suspect interference least.You must have been at Bermondsey only a short time before him.That he is not here already shows that he went to Mile End next.

(Stoker,Dracula.CF.Miller,2001)

这篇短文中有两个非外置的句子主语结构。不难看出,第一个That-从句是前文已经提及的话题,是一个直接的重复,无需用外置结构;第二个That-从句的内容也可以直接从前面的话语中推断出来,而且,因为存在宾语的句法原因,选用外置的句子主语结构也是不允许的。因此,从这些非外置的限定That-从句来看,非外置主语成分要么是旧的话语内容,要么可以从前面的语境中推断出主句的信息。

(5)European Central Bank Row Won’t Be Last

PARIS――It is astonishing that the real questions about Europe’s new single currency,the euro,and about the new European Central Bank were never addressed during the 12-hour row among European governments that ended in Sunday’s sad compromise on the new bank’s president.Those questions are:Can this bank truly be independent?And.If it tried to be truly independent,could it survive?The answer to both clearly is “no”.

(Herald Tribune,7/May/98,first lines of the article)

很明显,作为文章之首的句子,此斜体部分的That-从句如果放在句首不进行外置(如(5)*)就很不贴切。因而更加理由充分地确证了先前的结论:That-主语从句不外置要么是旧的话语内容,要么可以从前面的语境中推断出主句的信息。而此句中句子主语内容显然是全新的,则外置就不可避免了。在语篇中,发话人为了突出主要信息,把表示已知信息的成分提到句首,而把含有重要信息的语言单位放在句末,这样更符合人们从已知到未知的认知心理和语言交际习惯用语,从而也就增强了语句的交际效果。

(5)*That the real questions about Europe’s new single currency,the euro,and about the new European Central Bank were never addressed during the 12-hour row among European governments that ended in Sunday’s sad compromise on the new bank’s president is astonishing.

再来分析几个不定式结构的话语条件:

(6)To what extent and in what ways did Christanity affect the United States of America in the nineteenth century?How far and in what fashion did it modify the new nation which was emerging in the midst of the forces shaping the revolutionary age?To what extent did it mould the morals and the social,economic,and political life and institutions of the country?A complete picture is impossible――partly because of the limitations of space,partly because millions of individuals who professed allegiance to the Christian faith data are unobtainable.Even more of an obstacle is the difficulty of separating the influence of Christianity from other factors.Although a complete picture cannot be given,we can indicate some aspects of life into which the Christian faith entered as at least one creative factor.At times we can say that it was the major factor.What in some ways was the most important aspect was the impact individually on the millions who constituted the nation.As we have seen,a growing proportion,although in 1914 still a minority,were members of churches.[...].Upon most of these Christianity had left an impress and through them had had a share in making the individual what he was.Yet to determine precisely to what extent and exactly in what ways any individual showed the effects of Christianity would be impossible.At best only an approximation could be arrived at.To generalize for the entire nation would be absurd.For instance,we cannot know whether even for church members the degree of conformity to Christian standards of morality increased or declined as the proportion of church members in the population rose.

(Brown corpus,D140010-0360.CF.Miller,2001)

例(6)短文中两个非外置的不定式结构也很明显能从前面的话语中推断得出来。我们再来看以下这个例句(7):

(7)“Will he die”?“Everybody does”.Ludie could be hateful.To speak of Papa dying was a sin.

(Brown Corpus.K061000-1010.CF.Miller,2001)

例句(7)中he和不定式结构中的Papa是共指对象,也就是说这个非外置的不定式结构也是总结上文语境中提出过的信息。

三、结语

通过以上对It外置结构的话语语境的对比分析,我们认为外置与非外置结构的运用不能仅仅基于成分的句法考虑,还很大程度地取决于语境中的话语条件限制。根据大量的自然素材语料分析,话语条件制约着That-从句和不定式结构的外置与否。外置与否很大程度上是一个语用问题而不是一个语法问题,语境因素对它起了根本的制约作用。通常情况下,非外置结构要求主语成分的内容是话语旧信息或者可以直接从上文推断出来;如果主语内容是新信息,则外置结构就不可避免了。

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基金项目:中南林业科技大学人才引进科研101-0637项目