語氣助詞「罷」出現於元代,是由連動結構「V(P)+罷」中表「完畢」義的動詞「罷」語法化而來,經過「V(P)+罷(動)」>「V(P)+罷(補)」>「V(P)+罷(助)」的演變過程。其中「罷」由結果補語語法化為語氣助詞,取決於句法位置改變與語境影響兩項因素,必須「V(P)+罷(補)」的句法位置出現在結句末,句法環境是未然、祈使句。本文將語氣助詞「罷」的用法分成14類,其發展過程是由祈使語氣到半祈使語氣、非祈使語氣。除了停頓用法是受句法結構影響外,酌定、命令、要求、請求、商量、催促、勸告、提醒、禁止、揣測、假設、追問、退讓等用法是在語境吸收中完成,而且受到原先的動詞語義制約,都蘊含「決定」的意思,此現象反映語法化規律中的「保持原則」。
The modal particle bà 罷 appeared in the Yuàn dynasty. It originated from the verb bà 罷, meaning ‘complete,’ within the serial verb construction of “ V(P) + bà 罷” and became a modal particle via the grammatical process of V(P) + bà (verb) > V(P) + bà (complement) > V(P) + bà (particle). Therein, the resultative complement bà was grammaticalized into the modal particle bà, which was determined by two factors: syntactic position change and the influence of context. Specifically, the “V(P) + bà (part.)” was required to appear at the completion of the ending sentence, and the context for use should be the perfect tense in the negative or the imperative. This article classifies the usages of the particle bà into fourteen types, and their pathway of development moved from those of the imperative mood to the semi-, and finally, to those of the non-imperative mood. Except for pause usage—which was affected by syntactic structure, all usages, such as being discret, commanding, requiring, requesting, consulting, urging, advising, reminding, prohibiting, conjecturing, assuming, inquiring, and conceding, were formed through context-absorption. Moreover, the formation processes were conditioned by the original meaning of the verb, which implies ‘to determine.’ This phenomenon reflects the “principle of persistence” within grammaticalization.