关系代名词是一类标明关系子句的代名词,其指称的对象和主句中由关系子句修饰的事物(通常是名词或名词词组)相同。

概述

关系代名词

(Relative Pronoun)是一类标明关系子句的代名词,其指称的对象和主句中由关系子句修饰的事物(通常是名词或名词词组)相同。汉语没有关系代名词。

一个英语关系代名词的例子是who,像英语的“Grigori Perelman is the Russian mathematician who refused his Fields Medal”(意即“格里戈里·佩雷尔曼是拒绝领取他的菲尔兹奖的俄罗斯数学家”)这句即为其一个例子,在此例中,“who refused his Fields Medal”是一个修饰名词词组“the Russian mathematician”(俄罗斯数学家)的关系子句,而who则是标明关系子句且在关系子句中代指所修饰的主句中的名词的关系代名词,它可被认为是将“a Russian mathematician refused his Fields Medal”和“Grigori Perelman is the Russian mathematician”这两句给连接起来的代词,而两句中所指的“俄罗斯数学家”是同一人。

在提供从句与主句间连结的这方面,关系代名词和从句性连接词(subordinating conjunction)是相似的。然而和连接词不同的是,关系代名词不仅标明从句(在关系代名词的状况下指的是关系子句),也在从具中扮演名词的角色,像例如在上面的“who refused his Fields Medal”这句中,who亦作为动词词组refused的主词;而像在英语的“Grigori Perelman refused his Fields Medal after he had proven the Poincaré conjecture”(意即“在证明了庞加莱猜想后格里戈里·佩雷尔曼拒绝领取他的菲尔兹奖”)这句中,after是从句“after he had proven the Poincaré conjecture”的标明,但after在从句中不扮演任何名词的角色。

范例

英语

• The man, who killed the father and the grandfather of Nurhaci, was called Nikan Wailan.(意即“杀掉努尔哈赤父亲和祖父的人叫尼堪外兰”)

• The text "Nadan Koro", which Nurhaci wrote, accused of the sins of the Daiming Empire.(意即“努尔哈赤写的文献七大恨控诉了明朝的罪行”)

• The salt, with which the cook preserved the body of the emperor of Liao, was not cheap.(意即“厨子用以保存辽国皇帝尸体的盐不便宜”)

• The emperor of Liao, whose body has been preserved with salt, had an adopted son Shi, Jing-Tang.(意即“尸体被以盐保存的辽国皇帝有个养子石敬瑭”)

德语

• Der Mann, der den Vater und den Großvater von Nurhaci getötet hat, hieß Nikan Wailan.(意即“杀掉努尔哈赤父亲和祖父的人叫尼堪外兰”)

• Der Text "Nadan Koro", den Nurhaci geschriben hat, hat das Daiming Reich der Sünde beschuldigt.(意即“努尔哈赤写的文献七大恨控诉了明朝的罪行”)

• Das Salz, mit dem der Koch die Leiche vom Kaiser von Liao aufbewahrt hat, war nicht billig.(意即“厨子用以保存辽国皇帝尸体的盐不便宜”)

• Der Kaiser von Liao, dessen Leiche mit Salz aufbewahrt wurde, hatte einen adoptierte Sohn Shi, Jing-Tang.(意即“尸体被以盐保存的辽国皇帝有个养子石敬瑭”)

头词

• 关系代名词所代指的主句的成份,为该关系代名词的头词(或先行词,antecedent)。在多数的状况下,头词为一名词词组,然而关系代词亦有可能代指整个句子,像英语的“The son of Shih, JingTang didn't want to be a vassal of Liao, which made The emperor of Liao mad.”(意即“石敬瑭的儿子不愿做辽国的附庸,这让辽皇很生气。”)这句即为一个例子,在“The train was late, which made Jimmy Wales sad.”这句中,关系代名词which所修饰的对象为“The train was late”。

• 在自由关系子句(free relative clause)中,关系代名词是没有头词的,关系子句本身在主句中亦扮演着关系子句所代指的事物。像在英语的“Nurhaci disliked what The Ming Empire had done for him.”(意即“努尔哈赤不喜欢明朝为他所做的。”)一句中,what是一个关系代名词,但它没有头词,而“what The Ming Empire had done for him.”一句本身在主句中则同时扮演著名词的角色,即disliked这动词的受词。由于其头词看起来像是和关系代名词“融合”之故(在此处提供的范例中的what可当作是that which的“融合”版),因此以此种方法使用的关系代词,有时又称为所谓的“融合关系代词”(fused relative pronoun)。

关系代名词的省略

• 像英语等一些语言亦可在不用关系代名词的状况下构造关系子句,像例如在“The proof Kronecker criticized yesterday was given by Cantor.”(意即“克罗内克昨天批评的那个证明是康托给出的”)这句就没有关系代词的使用,而其中的“Kronecker criticized yesterday”(意即“克罗内克昨天批评”)则是其关系子句。可说此例句中在其关系子句的动词criticized的受词的位置,有所谓的“空缺”(gap),或所谓的“零形式”(zero)。

关系子句的角色

• 可由关系代名词“关系化”(relativize)的论元如下(以下皆以英语为例):

• 主词:Gerhard Frey is the mathematician who found a connection between the Taniyama–Shimura conjecture and The last theorem of Fermat.(意即“格尔哈德‧弗雷是发现了谷山─志村猜想和费马最后定理间关联的数学家。”)

• 直接受词:The man who Nurhaci abhorred was called Nikan Wailan(意即“努尔哈赤所痛恨的那人名尼堪外兰。”)

• 间接受词:The Emperor Taizong of Liao was the emperor, to whom Shi, JingTang gave the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun/The Emperor Taizong of Liao was the emperor, who Shi, JingTang gave the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun to(意即“辽太宗是石敬瑭给予燕云十六州的那个皇帝。”)

• 介词词组:Daiming was the country from which the Yehe tribe got help.(意即“明朝是叶赫部从中取得协助的国家。”)

• 领属拥有者(Possessor):Cantor is the mathematician whose work was criticized by Kronecker.(意即“康托是个数学家,他的研究被克罗内克给批评。”)