先秦漢語「其」之未來時與情態語義發展重探

A Reinvestigation into the Development of the Futureand Modal Meanings of Qi in Pre-Qin Chinese

本文以先秦漢語重要的未來時標記兼情態詞「其」為研究對象。「其」在先秦漢語出現的時間跨度相當大，從殷墟甲骨文、西周金文一直到春秋戰國以後的傳世及出土簡帛文獻，其使用均相當活躍。關於「其」在上述各類文獻中的語義、用法及發展，歷來學者的意見相當紛歧。本文首先檢討歷來學者所提出的意見，接著參照「其」與先秦另一個同樣可同時表未來時及情態語義的「將」的語義發展模式指出，先秦漢語的「其」原是一個未來時標記，同時可表達未來預期、當前推測、意圖、祈使（命令）、祈願（希望）等情態語義，其中未來預期義是由未來在概念上的不確定性衍申而來，這類語義可說是未來時必然伴隨的情態色彩，當前推測義則是未來義素消失後的進一步引申，意圖義是在未來時概念上由施事主語搭配自主行為動詞的語境引申而來，希望、祈願義是在預期義的基礎上由語用引申而來，祈使、命令義則是在希望、祈願義的基礎上由第二人稱主語的語境引申而來。

The present paper reinvestigates qi其, an important future marker and modal, in pre-Qin Chinese. Qi is rather common and dynamic in Shang oracle inscriptions, Western Zhou bronze inscriptions, and other documents which have been handed down for generations, and a wide divergence of opinions has thus persisted among scholars regarding the meanings, usages, and developments of qi in these materials. By way of comparing the usages of qi with those of jiang將, another future marker with modal implications in pre- Qin Chinese, this paper points out that qi was originally a future marker, from which various modal notions such as anticipation or expectation, speculation, intention, imperative, and desire or hope are derived. The implication of anticipation is an inevitable overtone arising from uncertainty over the future, and as the future fades and nears, speculation is the further extension of anticipation. In the context of an active agent collocated with an autonomous behavior verb, the implication of intention emerges. The meaning of desire or hope is a pragmatic derivation from anticipation or expectation, and the usage of imperative is derived from desire or hope in the context of when the agent is a second person.