A topic-comment approach to the ba construction
从主题–评论的观点看 "把" 字句
Feng-fu Tsao 曹逢甫

Abstract 摘要
Even though the ba construction has been much discussed in the literature in the past, many problems noticed by previous researchers remain unanswered. This paper attempts to analyze the construction from a completely different perspective–that of topic–comment. It starts out by summarizing the properties that the Chinese topic is found to have and compares them first with those possessed by the initial NP in the ba construction and then with those owned by the ba NP. Such comparisons reveal that the initial NP is, as expected, a regular topic and the ba NP is a secondary topic of some special kind. It then goes on to examine the function and meaning of the construction. It is concluded that the function of ba is to mark the following NP as a special topic, and the meaning of the construction is to make clear the transitivity relation between the primary topic and the ba topic and to bring into focus the result, as expressed by the verb and its complement. It is also found that in its extended use the construction can serve to express causative relation. Finally, an interpretative rule is posited and a suggestion is made as to how the construction, considered as a clause type in a topic chain, is to be generated.

虽然以前讨论“把”字句的论文为数甚多，但前人所指出来的许多问题至今尤未能有合理的解释。本文拟用主题－评论这个全新的观点来讨论分析“把”字句，并希望用这种分析能解决以前无法解决的许多问题。是以本文首先概要地说明前人所报导中文主题所具备的特质，然后以这些特质分别和“把”字句的句首名词短语以及“把”名词短语的特质作一详尽的比较。比较的结果发现句首名词短语完全符合主题的特质，而“把”名词短语的特质也绝大部分与主题的特质符合。为示区别，本文特将“把“名词短语称为第二主题。本文并仔细检视“把”字句的意义和功能，所得的结论为：“把”字的功能在于标示其后的名词短语为特殊主题，而整句的意义是在强调第一主题跟把“把”主题之间的“主宾关系 ”并同时使动词和其后之补语成为新信息。本文并指出“把”字的延伸用法可以用来表示使动关系。最后本文提出了一条释意规则，并探讨“把 ”字句当作“主题连锁 ”的一种句形式，如何能衍生出来的问题。

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