臺灣閩南話語氣助詞「呢」的來源和演變臺灣閩南話語氣助詞「呢」的來源和演變

On the Origin and Diachrony of the Taiwan Southern Min Utterance Particle Nih

為探討目前主要分布於臺灣南部的語氣詞「呢nih8」的身世，本文追溯明清閩南戲文的句尾詞「年」以及日治時期臺灣語學文獻《語苑》的句尾詞「呢」，並進而以臺南地區為樣本，從事實際的田野調查。在共時描寫方面，本文主張「呢」並不專表某一特定語氣，故能出現於任何句式，語帶誇張或強調。「呢」具有提醒聽者注意信息焦點的作用，可能與其語源是表「如此，這樣」義的指示詞「爾」有關。在歷時觀察的部分，本文對比古今三個不同時段的紀錄與調查結果，發現「呢」約莫在一個世紀前因為另一個語氣詞「咧」的興起，轉而多用於疑問句。及至今日，「咧」非但用於陳述句、祈使句，還跨足至特指問句；「呢nih8」的音讀則主要保留在是非問的句型裡，並且常用以反詰，語氣嗆辣，多為負面表述。

"In hopes of tracking down the origin of“nih8,”an utterance particle commonly employed in Southern Taiwan, this article scrutinizes the usage of clause-final“ni5”as attested in the Ming-Qing Southern Min playscripts, the usage of clause-final“nih8”as attested in the Yuyuan, a linguistic magazine published in Taiwan under Japanese rule, and the usage of clause-final“nih8”as reflected in the fieldwork data elicited from native Southern Min speakers in Tainan. Synchronically,“nih8”is nothing like a clause-type, but rather occurs in all types of clauses, creating an effect of exaggeration or emphasis; this focus marking function of“nih8”is arguably inherited from its demonstrative ancestor“er,”roughly translatable as“like this.”Diachronically, about a century ago, the rise of the utterance particle“leh4”left in its wake the gradual confinement of“nih8”to interrogative clauses; nowadays, in addition to marking indicatives and imperatives,“leh4”extends to marking whquestions, while“nih8”is primarily restricted to yes-no questions, especially to rhetorical questions intended to make negative assertions provocatively."