早期閩南語戲文中「句」的語意詮釋：語意延伸和語用推論

Interpretation of 句 in Early Southern Min Texts: Semantic Extension and Pragmatic Inference

本文探討十六世紀以來早期閩南語源自多功能詞「故」的演變。明清《荔鏡記》、《荔枝記》戲文（萬曆本除外）中，「故」以借音字「句」書寫。本文考察早期閩南語文本中「句」的分佈，並捕捉出上下文所引發的語意，以「依舊」意為源頭探討「句」的原意和擴展的語意如何有理據的貫穿起來：「仍舊」的持續不變意如何衍生出「再次」意，「再次」意又如何延伸為連結兩個事態或兩個語料，從連結兩項事態或語段，進而因上下文的語用推論而產生轉折意，或不連續的對等平行標記。連續不斷的不變性如何發展出程度的加強語。另外，本文也討論了這個語詞的同義並列的複合化現象，複合化的現象使語意更為明確。約言之，「句」常兼有仍然意和轉折意，但轉折意是依上下文的信息推論而得，尚未固定為詞彙意。

This paper explores the polyfunctionality of the word 句 koh4, originating from 故 koo3, in Ming and Qing Southern Min playscripts. The paper examines the distribution of 句 in these early texts with respect to the original sense as well as the context-sensitive meanings. I take the original sense STILL of 句 as a source to motivate the extension of senses: persistence of STILL led to the sense of AGAIN, which developed the function of linking two events or two discourse fragments. The linking function yielded the concessive meaning prompted by pragmatic inferencing, and the uninterrupted invariance brought about the function of gradable intensifiers. The paper also deals with compounds featuring the juxtaposition of 句 with another synonym. The occurrence of compounding helps disambiguate the polyfunctional 句 and enhances clarity. In sum, based on textual evidence, I argue for the coexistence of an early sense of STILL and a new sense of concession in 句. However, this concessive sense induced by pragmatic inferencing based on information from the context has yet to be conventionalized as part of the lexical meaning.