論《石頭記》脂評本南北方音並存的現象

The study of the northern and the southern dialects coexistence in The Story of the Stone

Abstract

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.

本文從《石頭記》書中選取十八個與兒童生活有關的詞語，就其所屬方言類别、在書中使用的情況及其同義詞使用的規律，加以分析，歸結出這些詞語分屬北京話、江淮方言、吳方言和西南官話，而且其中有曹雪芹一直使用而屬於江淮方言和西南官話的。明清以來，滇南的語言風俗與南京相近，而曹氏用過的若干詞語還保留在今日的昆明話裏，故此推論曹氏用南京地區的語言寫作，在敘事和處理人物對話時都兼用多種方言詞語。

曹氏怕觸犯文禁，只認是《石頭記》的編纂者，小説不確指故事發生的時地，既突破歷代小説的陳規，也為自己作了掩護。他行文瑣碎細膩，撰此一部巨構，所涉社會面廣，自然要用大量詞語，而他用詞又特別注重新奇別致的效果，講究避複、錯综、音調協諧、四言成句，又重視語言與人物身份、地位、個性的一致。政治因素和藝術追求，解釋了書中南北方言詞語同時並存的緣故。

Eighteen words with their synonyms relating to children's daily life were chosen from The Story of the Stone. They can be grouped into Beijing dialect (Northern Mandarin), Mandarin of the Yang-tze region, Southwestern Mandarin and Wu dialect according to their nature. Some words of Mandarin of the Yang-tze region and of Southwestern Mandarin were solely used by the author. As the language and custom of the Hans in the southern part of Yunnan are similar to that of Nanking since the Ming Dynasty, and a number of words used by Cao xueqin have been preserved in the current language of the Hans in Kunming, we think that Cao Xueqin instead of using Beijing dialect or mainly Beijing dialect as scholars assumed that he did, composed his masterpiece with the dialect of Nanking region, and in narrating his story and handling his characters' dialogues he applied words and expressions of different dialects.

To protect himself from political oppression he admitted that he was the editor of the novel, not its author. The story was not situated in a certain dynasty and in a certain city. Trivial details reflecting the life of people of all ranks and classes, the purchase of a unique effect, the application of rhetorical devices such as to avoid repeating the same word, the harmony of the words applied, the habit of forming four-character expressions, the ideal that characters should speak the language appropriate to their position and personality, all resulted in the employment of a large amount of words or terms. Political reason and artistic perfection, therefore, explain clearly why the northern and the southern dialects coexisted in the first eighty chapters of the novel.