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#3413. 「主語+助動詞」が「助動詞+主語」となる場合 (1)[syntax][auxiliary_verb][inversion][word_order][exclamation][optative][may]

2018-08-31

 現代英語の最も普通の語順は「主語+(助)動詞」である.ただし,いくつかのケースでは,統語的,意味的,語用的な動機づけにより,この語順が倒置 (inversion) されることがあり「(助)動詞+主語」となり得る.ここでは動詞を助動詞に限定した上で,どのようなケースがあるか,Huddleston and Pullum (94--96) の分類から要約してみよう.

 (1) 閉じた疑問文 (Closed interrogatives)
   - Can she speak French?
   - Does she speak French?

 (2) 開かれた疑問文 (Open interrogatives)
   - What did she tell you?
   - Where did you go after that?
   - What is she doing?

 (3) 感嘆文 (Exclamatives) (ただし,主語+助動詞の語順も可能)
   - What a fool have I been?
   - How hard did she try?

 (4) 否定要素が前置される場合 (Initial negative)
   - Not one of them did he find useful.
   - Nowhere does he mention my book.

 (5) only が前置される場合 (Initial only)
   - Only two of them did he find useful.
   - Only once had she complained.

 (6) so/such が前置される場合 (Initial so/such)
   - So little time did we have that we had to cut corners.
   - Such a fuss would he make that we'd all agree.
   - You got it wrong and so did I.

 (7) その他の要素が前置される場合 (Other fronted elements)
   - Thus had they parted the previous evening.
   - Many another poem could I speak of which sang itself into my heart.
   - The more wives he had, the more children could he beget.
   - Well did I remember the crisis of emotion into which he was plunged that night.

 (8) 条件節 (Conditional inversion)
   - Had he seen the incident he'd have reported it to the police.

 (9) 祈願の may (Optative may)
   - May you both enjoy the long and happy retirement that you so richly deserve.
   - May the best man win!
   - May you be forgiven!

 こう見てみると,現代英語でもデフォルトの「主語+助動詞」が倒置されて「助動詞+主語」となる機会は,諸々合わせれば,種類としても頻度として必ずしも少なくないように思えてくる.だが,多いというのは言い過ぎだろう.むしろ,通常と違っているという低頻度性や異質性を利用して,語用的に有用な何かを行なっているのだと考えておきたい.

 ・ Huddleston, Rodney and Geoffrey K. Pullum. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge: CUP, 2002.

Referrer (Inside): [2018-09-02-1] [2018-09-01-1]

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