On the Importance of the Light Verb Constructions and the Morphological Prosody in Chinese Diachronic Syntax—Review of Shengli Feng's Hanyu Lishi Jufaxue Lungao

摘要:

冯胜利的《汉语历时句法学论稿》是一部真正意义上的、独树一帜的 理论研究作品。这部论著向我们展示了汉语句法的历史演变。该书的 主旨在于介绍如何借助形式句法学工具更好地理解和解释汉语的句法 演变机制。作者深入地考察了数个基本句法结构的历史发展(把字句、 致使结构和被动结构、双及物结构、述补结构等)，并讨论了汉语在不 同时期显示出的综合性vs. 分析性特征等问题。作者的研究显示，在汉 语的句法结构演变中，有两个现象扮演了举足轻重的角色，即轻动词 结构和韵律形态(后者与自汉代开始的双音化现象有关)。冯胜利提出 的这些开创性的分析将使该书成为所有关注汉语历史句法的语言学研 究者必不可少的研究工具。

This Hanyu lishi jufaxue lungao 汉语历时句法学论稿 (A Preliminary Theory of Diachronic Syntax in Chinese) by Shengli Feng 冯胜利 is an entirely original and theoretical study on the historical evolution of the Chinese language. Its main aim is to present how the tools of formal syntax could help us in better understanding and explaining the mechanisms of syntactic change in Chinese. Several basic syntactic structures are deeply investigated in their historical development: BA-sentences, the causative and passive constructions, the ditransitive, the complement structures, as well as the issue of the syntheticity vs. analyticity of different stages of the Chinese language, etc. Two important phenomena have played a crucial role in the structural changes of Chinese, throughout its history: the light verb constructions and the prosody (linked to the bisyllabization starting in the Han times). The innovative analyses provided by Shengli Feng makes this book an essential working tool for all the linguists interested in Chinese historical grammar.