Consistent inconsistencies among the interrogatives in Rulin Waishi
《儒林外史》中疑问句: 语法结构不规则的规则分布情况
Hsiao-jung Yu 遇笑容

Abstract 摘要
This study is an examination of the interrogatives used in Rulin waishi, a Chinese vernacular novel attributed to Wu Jingzi (1701-54) and one of the few novels in the body of traditional Chinese literature whose authorship has raised relatively little controversy among scholars and critics. Careful examination of the interrogatives used in the novel, however, reveals certain grammatical features that are common to the first thirty-two chapters of the novel but incongruent with corresponding features in the remaining twenty-three chapters, a phenomenon that suggests that the language of the earlier chapters preserves features of old Mandarin and Quanjiao dialect (Wu Jingzi's own dialect) and that the language of the remaining chapters includes linguistic features of dialects other than Quanjiao. These "consistent inconsistencies," especially in the distribution of the interrogative sentence patterns VP-bu-VP vs. ke-VP, argue strongly that Rulin waishi is very likely a work of dual (or multiple) authorship.

本文乃探讨《儒林外史》中疑问句的构成问题。研究《儒林外史》的专家学者素来以吴敬梓（1701-54）为此书之唯一作者。然而在仔细探讨、研究、与分析《儒林外史》中所有疑问词及疑问句的结构时，我们发现某些语法现象前三十二回与后二十三回是截然不同的。前三十二回不仅涵有早期官话的词汇、语法，并有吴敬梓老家安徽全椒话的方言特色。后二十三回则无此现象。这前后不同之语法现象在正反疑问句型VP-不-VP与可-VP的对立分布情形下尤为显著。类此种种不规则语法现象却呈现规则分布的情况，使我们怀疑《儒林外史》的作者或许不只一人。

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