上古漢語未來時標記「將」重探

A Re-investigation of the Future Marker Jiang in Old Chinese

本文以上古漢語重要的未來時標記「將」為研究對象。「將」在上古除用作未來時標記外，還可兼表各類情態語義。歷來學者對於「將」的未來時詞彙來源以及「將」所表達的未來時與情態語義間的關係及發展，意見相當紛歧。本文透過深入辨析上古傳世及出土文獻中動詞「將」的各類語義及用法，以檢討歷來學者所提出的意見。本文的結論是，就目前可見的文獻語料來看，「將」的未來時標記用法乃由與「且」同源且表「往」義之趨向動詞發展而來的可能性是較大的。根據 Fleischman (1982) 等學者的研究，由空間概念發展而來的未來時標記，其演變過程可不需要經過情態階段而直接發展為單純的未來時標記。由於「將」的未來時標記也是由空間概念發展而來，因此可表達單純的未來時間定位。至於「將」的各類情態語義則是在未來時的基礎上由語境或語用引申出來，文中同時詳細分析這些情態語義的引申過程。

This paper takes the major future marker jiang (將) in Old Chinese as the object of study. In addition to serving as a deictic to locate a situation posterior to the time reference, jiang can also express various modal notions such as prediction, intention, probability, or necessity. There is wide divergence of opinion among the scholars as to the questions of whether jiang is essentially a marker of future time with modal connotations or a modal auxiliary verb with future implication, and from what lexical source jiang derives its future-marking function. This paper reviews these opinions by way of thoroughly examining and analyzing the meanings and usages of jiang in Old Chinese texts. The conclusion is that the probable lexical source of jiang is a directional verb meaning GO, from which jiang evolves directly into a future marker, bypassing the modal stage. The modal meanings implied by jiang are overtones of the idea of futurity and induced by context and pragmatic strategy. The question of how these modal meanings are induced is also discussed in this paper.