為何可以在「監獄上吊」而不能在「廚房上吊」? —— en Ø Nlieu所要求的一致性

Why can we “hang oneself in prison” in French, but not “hang oneself in kitchen”? — homogeneity required by en Ø Nlieu

法文地方介系詞en的用法，吸引了某些語言學家的關注，並將之與另一個法文地方介系詞dans做對比分析。依據J.-C. Anscombre (2011) 的研究，en prison, en cuisine這類地方片語的特色在於，它們要求句子中的其他元素必須與這些地方片語的語意之間，達到某種的「一致性 (homogénéité)」，而dans的句子則不受這「一致性」的限制。至於，在en的句子中，是哪些元素受到「一致性」的限制? 是主詞、還是動詞? J.-C. Anscombre沒有詳細的說明。本篇論文主旨在於，釐清地方介系詞en的使用規則，並將之與dans做一對比。本文之分析，可解決法文介系詞教學時，所面臨的問題。

 

The spatial preposition en drew study interests of some linguists and they often compared the usage of en with another preposition, dans in French. According to Anscombre (2011), phrases such as en prison, en cuisine, etc. require certain “homogeneity” between the meanings of the preposition and other elements of the sentences in question while sentences with dans are not constrained by this homogeneity. As to what these other elements are (e.g., subjects or verbs), Anscombre did not elaborate. This paper aims to clarify the constrained use of en in comparison with dans. The analysis of this paper could assist French teachers in answering some of grammar questions in French courses.