第二章 鏈條句的起源及其句式特點

一、鏈條句的起源

鏈條句（或稱拖沓句），是14世紀由卡克斯頓（Caxton）在引進大量法國文學作品時從法語中引入的一種句式。古爾德曾在他的《英語散文發展史》（The Movement of English Prose）中指出：“當人們的眼光逐漸從13世紀移到稍后的中世紀英語時，會發現英語散文中出現了一種新的影響，那就是法語鏈條句?！?img alt="IAN. A. Gordon: The Movement of English Prose, London:William Clowes & Sons Ltd., 1972, p.50." class="qqreader-footnote" src="https://epubservercos.yuewen.com/042765/16896543604688606/epubprivate/OEBPS/Images/note.png?sign=1754538867-9EGBvdhrRCeXUXwK2WC1bE3QYnxua4PQ-0-889c7f31475972c41d361c77328d34d2">在翻譯法語作品時，法語的“cest a dire”被譯為英語的“that is to say”, “car”被譯成“for”, “au regart de”變成了“as to”，而“dont”則成了“and therefore”, “lequel”的各種變形則分別成了“the which, to the which, for the which”。按照古爾德的觀點，這種新型的法語鏈條句在原阿爾弗雷德句式的基礎上，句子明顯增長，且由于其句式結構松散而變得不夠簡練。例如：

But through protection of God's grace, he passed out of that pain as man unhurt, wherefore the same tyrant made him to be exiled into Patmos, where in a certain Sunday was shewed unto him by divine revelations the state of Holy Church and certain persecutions, the which should afterward befall in the world and of the damnation of the evil and glorification unto the good.

因其冗長而繁雜的結構，純法語式鏈條句在被卡克斯頓、喬叟及牧師分別在其散文和布道中大量使用之后，很快便遭淘汰，取而代之的是經過簡化的，也更為英語化的鏈條句。按瓦利斯的觀點，這種鏈條句實為一種并列句，其結構松散，從句間常用“and”，也用“but, for, as to, therefore”等詞連接，由于在這種句式中通常是前面的從句引出后面的從句，且句子意思傾向于依時間順序而非按邏輯關系排列，作者可以無限制地在句子后加從句，其句子可達到相當的長度。因而，里奇和希爾特稱，該句式就像“一列由無數節車廂組成的火車一直往前延伸”。

瓦利斯總結認為，常見的鏈條句句型主要有如下兩種：

（1）..., and ..., and ..., and ..., and ..., and...

（2）..., and ..., so ..., then ..., but ..., for ...

句1:Then they took their spears, and a came together as much as their horses might drive, and the Irish knight smote Balin on the shield, that all went shivers of his spear, and Balin hit him through the shield, and the hauberk perished, and so pieced through his body and the horse croup, and anon turned his horse fiercely and drew out his sword, and wist not that he had slain him, and then he saw him lie as a dead corpse.

句2:I little wend to have met with you at the sudden adventure, (and) I Am right glad of your deliverance out of your delorous prisonment, for a man told me in the castle of Four stones that ye were delivered, and that man had seen you in that court of King Arthur, and therefore I came hither into this country, for there I supposed to find you.

由于鏈條句主要使用于中世紀，加之，為了區別于本土的“相對緊湊的阿爾弗雷德句式”，瓦利斯因此又稱之為“中世紀句式”。中世紀作家約翰·曼德維爾、托馬斯·馬婁、約翰·班揚等都大量使用過這種句式。瓦利斯認為欽定本《圣經》也使用了這種鏈條句式。18世紀的丹尼爾·笛?？伤阋晃绘湕l句大家——笛福的所有作品都由鏈條句寫成，且其《魯濱孫漂流記》就是使用這種句式成功地塑造了一位魅力永恒的孤島英雄形象。