第二章 链条句的起源及其句式特点

一、链条句的起源

链条句（或称拖沓句），是14世纪由卡克斯顿（Caxton）在引进大量法国文学作品时从法语中引入的一种句式。古尔德曾在他的《英语散文发展史》（The Movement of English Prose）中指出：“当人们的眼光逐渐从13世纪移到稍后的中世纪英语时，会发现英语散文中出现了一种新的影响，那就是法语链条句。”在翻译法语作品时，法语的“cest a dire”被译为英语的“that is to say”, “car”被译成“for”, “au regart de”变成了“as to”，而“dont”则成了“and therefore”, “lequel”的各种变形则分别成了“the which, to the which, for the which”。按照古尔德的观点，这种新型的法语链条句在原阿尔弗雷德句式的基础上，句子明显增长，且由于其句式结构松散而变得不够简练。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.

因其冗长而繁杂的结构，纯法语式链条句在被卡克斯顿、乔叟及牧师分别在其散文和布道中大量使用之后，很快便遭淘汰，取而代之的是经过简化的，也更为英语化的链条句。按瓦利斯的观点，这种链条句实为一种并列句，其结构松散，从句间常用“and”，也用“but, for, as to, therefore”等词连接，由于在这种句式中通常是前面的从句引出后面的从句，且句子意思倾向于依时间顺序而非按逻辑关系排列，作者可以无限制地在句子后加从句，其句子可达到相当的长度。因而，里奇和希尔特称，该句式就像“一列由无数节车厢组成的火车一直往前延伸”。

瓦利斯总结认为，常见的链条句句型主要有如下两种：

（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.

由于链条句主要使用于中世纪，加之，为了区别于本土的“相对紧凑的阿尔弗雷德句式”，瓦利斯因此又称之为“中世纪句式”。中世纪作家约翰·曼德维尔、托马斯·马娄、约翰·班扬等都大量使用过这种句式。瓦利斯认为钦定本《圣经》也使用了这种链条句式。18世纪的丹尼尔·笛福可算一位链条句大家——笛福的所有作品都由链条句写成，且其《鲁滨孙漂流记》就是使用这种句式成功地塑造了一位魅力永恒的孤岛英雄形象。