並不唯一的“唯一”：“唯一”的語義—句法介面考察

本文從語義—句法介面分析漢語名詞短語修飾成分“唯一”的用法特點，論證其語義功能及句法地位具有雙重性。“唯一”從本質上說是一個排他性成分(exclusive)，兼有屬性關注(property-concerned)和指稱關注(referent-concerned)兩種用法。作為屬性關注型排他性成分，“唯一”修飾所在名詞短語的內涵，限定相關NP集合成員數目具有獨一性，整個結構傳遞單個性(singleton-ness)解讀。作為指稱關注型排他性成分，“唯一”修飾所在名詞短語的外延，總括目前語境下符合相關NP特徵的全體成員(一個或多個均可)，同時排除當下語境中還存在其他同類成員的可能性，整個結構傳遞全括性(inclusiveness)解讀。“唯一”提供了一個有力例證，證明DP假設對無冠詞型語言的名詞短語同樣具有很強的解釋力。
This paper examines the characteristics of the prenominal modifier weiyi in Chinese from a semantics-syntax interface perspective, arguing for a dual role of its semantic function and syntactic status. It is proposed that weiyi is in essence an exclusive, which could be either property-concerned or referent-concerned. As a property-concerned exclusive, weiyi modifies the intension of the nominal phrase, restricting the number of the members included in the set denoted by the NP to be one; therefore, the whole expression exhibits a "singleton-ness" reading. As a referent-concerned exclusive, weiyi modifies the extension of the nominal phrase, exclusively including all the members that satisfy the property described by the NP, as well as excluding possible alternatives in the given context; as a result, the whole expression exhibits an "inclusiveness" reading. Based on this, this paper shows that the DP Hypothesis is explanatorily powerful in capturing the properties of nominal phrases in article-less languages. Copyright © 2021 北京語言學院(世界漢語教學學會會刊).