虚词和近现代汉语史的分期问题-《南京师大学报》（社会科学版）

文章信息/Info

Title:: Function Words and Determination of the Historical Stage of（Early）Modern Chinese Language

Keywords:: determination of the historical stage of（Early）Modern Chinese Language; function words; new vernacular; Lu Xun

摘要:: 近现代汉语史的分期通常以“五四”为界，然而“五四”前后汉语的口语面貌并无明显改变，所以“五四”分期遵循的并非古近汉语分期的口语状况之标准。现代汉语更大的变革来源于正式书写语言由文言文改为新体白话文，而新体白话的书面实践又为现代口语共同语提供了规范模式。由于汉语以语序和虚词为主要语法手段，而语序变化幅度有限，因此虚词的面貌就成为新体白话和旧文言最显著的差别。以鲁迅为代表的现代作家在创作中对虚词反复斟酌，最终将近代汉语的口语虚词纳入书写系统，创造性地缩短了古今的距离，开创了白话文的新气象。

Abstract:: The May Fourth Movement is generally taken as the landmark indicating the end of the historical stage of the（Early）Modern Chinese Language. However, there was no significant change in the oral form of the Chinese language before and after this period. Therefore, regarding the May Fourth Movement as the watershed dividing the Modern Chinese language from its predecessor does not follow the principle of taking the difference in the oral language as the criterion for distinguishing the ancient Chinese from the modern Chinese. The greater change of the modern Chinese came from the shift in the formal written Chinese from its classical form to the new vernacular. The application of the new vernacular in the formal writings also provided a model for modern oral forms. Because Chinese takes word order and function words as the main grammatical devices and the change in word order is limited, the appearance of function words has brought about the most significant differences between the new vernacular and the ancient Chinese. Modern writers, represented by Lu Xun, made deliberate and informed use of function words in their writings, and finally incorporated the function words of modern spoken Chinese into the written linguistic system, creatively reducing the distance between the ancient and the modern times, and creating a new style of writing in the vernacular Chinese language.