漢語動詞及形容詞的質與量

Abstract

根據Bolinger(1972)對程度詞及Kennedy and McNally (2010)對顏色詞的的研究，本文主要探討漢語動詞及形容詞的「質」與「量」的語意。藉由兩個漢語的動詞「透」與「遍」，本文主張「透」可以表達漢語動詞及形容詞中「質」的語意，而「遍」可以表達漢語動詞中「量」的語意。在分析前人的研究後(Liu, 2011)，本文進一步指出漢語的形容詞也帶有「量」語意。本文的觀察為Bolinger (1972)的主張提供佐證；也就是說，程度性(gradability)－包念「質」與「量」－為動詞及形容詞皆具有的特性。

Following Bolinger’s (1972) study on degree words as well as Kennedy and McNally’s (2010) research on color quality and quantity, this study aims to investigate the quality and quantity interpretations of verbs and adjectives in Mandarin Chinese by examining two Chinese lexical verbs－tou, a verb meaning penetrate or through in English, and bian, a verb meaning distribute or all over in English. It is argued that tou induces the quality readings of verbs and adjectives in Mandarin Chinese, while bian quantizes the subsequent noun phrase (NP) and expresses the quantity reading of verbs. From a cross-linguistic point of view, this study further claims that quality and quantity are possibly primitive elements in our Universal Grammar (Chomsky, 1981).