《哈克贝利费恩历险记》的语言艺术研究

摘要：马克·吐温的《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》作为美国文学中的一部经典著作，在语言艺术上具有其独特性，即口语化语言的运用。这种口语化语言的特征是：一、主人公叙述者的语言常常打破语法常规、与叙述者的儿童式思维契合、动词时态随意转换；二、其他人物语言多为土语方言,甚至俚语。《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》的口语化语言开创了美国小说语言的新风，对美国后世作家产生了深远的影响当代语言学家认为，语言是约定俗成的，大众的语言就是正确的语言，它并不一定要受传统语法规则的约束。与这种语言观一致，文学作品的语言，特别是小说语言的口语化便成了一个总的趋势。很多文学作品完全使用口语化的语言。马克 吐温的《哈克贝利 费恩历险记》（以下简称《哈克》）的语言便是如此。请看下列一段引文： You don‘t know about me, without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but that ain‘t no matter. That book was made by Mr Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied, one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly—Tom‘s Aunt Polly, she is — and Mary,

and the Widow Douglas, is all told about in that book—which is mostly a true book; with some stretchers, as I said before.[1]

《哈克》语言的特征在以上引文中体现得较为充分。首先从词汇看，在这一段的一百一十来个词中，除了adventures，Huckleberry，anybody，another 四个词外,其余一百余个词中绝大多数为单音节词，少数为双音节词；除了―ain‘t‖一词外，其余都是日常用词。从语法上看，不少语句不合语法常规，如―ain‘t no matter‖(用双重否定表否定)，―there was things‖，―Aunt Polly . . . and Mary, and the Widow Douglas, is all told about in that book‖（用动词的单数形式代替复数形式），―I never seen‖（现在完成时结构缺少助动词）。从句子结构上看，大部分是简单句和并列句，且以短句居多。有些句子明显采用口语化的语序，如―and he told the truth, mainly‖，―Tom‘s Aunt Polly,she is‖等。此外还存在结构上不完整的句子，如―with some stretchers, as I said before‖。

《哈克》无论是在主题思想上还是在语言艺术上都堪称马克 吐温的代表作。海明威曾说：―全部现代美国文学都来自一本书，即马克 吐温的《哈克贝利 费恩历险记》 这是我们所有书中最好的一本 无论是在它之前或之后都没有任何书可以超过它。‖[2] 海明威的话道出了《哈克》在美国文学中的重要地位，而该小说之所以在美国文学中获得如此高的评介，则不仅因为小说深刻的主题，还因为它在语言艺术上的独特性。本文拟从语言层面对《哈克》的艺术特色作一分析。为了更忠实地体现出《哈克》语言的特色，本文所引例句、例段均为英语原文。

一《哈克》语言的特色之一表现在故事主人公哈克贝利的叙述语言上。作为一个没有接受过多少教育的十三、四岁的流浪少年，哈克贝利的叙述语言常常与标准英语有较大的差别，是标准英语的一种年龄变体，具体体现在它对语法常规的打破上。归纳起来，主要有以下几种情况：

（一）用―名词＋人称代词‖作主语，其中名词与人称代词的所指相同。如：

1. Well, Judge Thatcher, he took it and put it out at interest, and it fetched us a dollar a day apiece, all the year round. (p. 49)

2. But Tom Sawyer, he hunted me up and said he was going to start a band of robbers. (p. 49)

3. The widow she cried over me, and called me a poor lost lamb, and she called me a lot of other names, too. (p. 49)

4. Miss Watson she kept pecking at me, and it got tiresome and lonesome. (p. 49)

（二）用双重否定表示否定。如：

1. She put me in them new clothes again, and I couldn‘t do nothing but sweat and sweat, and feel

all cramped up. (p. 49)

2. Then I set down in a chair by the window and tried to think of something cheerful, but it warn‘t no use. (p. 51)

3. Well, I couldn‘t see no advantage in going where she was going, so I made up my mind I wouldn‘t try for it. (p. 51)

4. He got so he wouldn‘t hardly notice the other niggers. (p. 54)

5. We hadn‘t robbed nobody, we hadn‘t killed any people. (p.

（三）形容词用作副词，修饰动词或形容词。如：

1. But it was rough living in the house all the time,

considering how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all her ways. (p. 49)

2. And the leaves rustled in the woods ever so mournful. (p. 51)

3. Whenever I got uncommon tired, I played hookey. (p. 65)

4. Pretty soon he was all flagged out, and fell down panting; then he rolled over and over, wonderful fast. (p. 80)

5. I could hear the owls and the wolves, away off in the woods, and it seemed terrible still. (p. 80)

6. But it was awful funny. (p. 214)

7. I was awful sorry, and so was Jim, and was awful glad when we see you coming. (p. 274)

8. So Tom he thanked them very hearty and handsome. (p. 298)

9. Then we got allycumpain and robbed on the places, and was near all right again, but couldn‘t set down convenient. (p. 338)

10. And at last he nudged us, and we slid out, and stooped down, not breathing, and not making the least noise, and slipped stealthy towards the fence. (p. 347)

11. They cussed him considerable. (p. 360)

12. But he was sleeping, and sleeping very peaceful, too. (p. 362)

13. And by and by he stirs a bit, and opened his eyes very natural. (p. 362)

（四）用动词―be‖的单数形式代替其复数形式。如：

1. They talked it over, and they was going to rule me out. (p. 56)

2. I judged I could see that there was two Providences. (p. 61)

3. There is ways to keep off some kinds of bad luck. (p. 65)

4. Niggers is always talking about witches in the dark by the kitchen fire. (p. 127)

5. All the streets and lanes was just mud. (p. 202)

6. The nearer it got to noon that day, the thicker and thicker was the wagons and horses in the streets. (p. 203)

7. And the three girls was standing in the door. (p. 227).

8. The windows and dooryards was full. (p. 227)

（五）句子缺少谓语动词，或谓语部分不全，或以副词充当谓语动词。如：

1.Well, likely it was minutes and minutes that there warn‘t a sound, and we all there so close together. (p. 53)

2. And then I out and looked around a bunch of willows. (p. 83)

3. I out with my knife and cut the rope, and away we went.(p. 127)

4. I‘ll up and tell the truth this time. (p. 253)

5. Then we crawled out through the hole, and so home to bed.(p. 321)

6. What you going to do about the servant-girl? (p. 341)

7. I been there before (p. 369).

（六）不规则动词的过去分词用来代替其过去式，或其过去式用来代替其过去分词。如：

1. Just then Jim begun to breathe heavy; next he begun to snore. (p. 54)

2. So Tom got out a sheet of paper that he had wrote the oath on, and read it. (p. 56)

3. There was an inch of new snow on the ground, and I seen somebody‘s tracks. (p. 66)

4. I got rid of the signs of my work, and dropped the blanket and hid my saw, and pretty soon pap come in. (p. 76)

5. As soon as they was out, I sung out to Buck and told him.(p. 174)

6. Then we hung up our signal lantern. (p. 176)

7. I done it and he done the same. (p. 216)

（七）在情态动词/助动词与过去分词之间、实义动词与现在分词之间常常插入不定冠词―a‖，前一种情况中的―a‖有时可以看成是由助动词―have‖省音而成。但绝大多数是不规范用法。如:

1. Tom poked about amongst the passages and pretty soon ducked under a wall where you wouldn‘t a noticed that there was a hole. (p. 55)

2. I stood a-looking at him. (p. 69)

3. The moon was so bright I could a counted the drift logs that went a slipping along. (p. 86)

4. When I made fast nobody could a seen the canoe from the outside. (p. 88)

5. We could a had pets enough if we‘d wanted them.（p. 103）

（八）直接在不规则动词后加-ed 构成其过去式。如：

1. Well, I catched my breath and most fainted. (p. 126)

2. And we knowed by that that the rascals had missed their boat. (p. 127)

3. I throwed the paddle down. (p. 138)

（九）在双音节形容词后加er 构成其比较级, 加-est 构成其最高级。如：

1. Well, I was getting to feel that way myself, though I‘ve always reckoned that looking at the new moon over your left shoulder is one of the carelessest and foolishest thing a body can do. (p. 107)

2. . . . and said it was the most thrillingest one that ever was.(p. 214)

3. He was the innocentest. (p. 297)

4. And he‘d been sleeping like that for ever so long, and looking better and peacefuller all the time. (p. 362)

(十) 副词修饰语置于句子最后,前面以逗号隔开。如：

1. That book was made by Mr Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. (p. 49)

2. Well, three or four months run along, and it was well into the winter, now. (p. 65)

3. It was very curious, somehow. (p. 66)

4. He said he reckoned a body could reform the ole man with a shot-gun, maybe. (p. 73)

5. I didn‘t want to go to school much, before. (p. 74)

6. And he always locked the door and put the key under his head, nights. (p. 74)

7. I just give up, then. (p. 138)

8. She had four long sweeps at each end, so we judged she carried as many as thirty men, likely. (p. 144)9. The old lady took care of the room herself, though there was plenty of niggers, and she sewed there a good deal and read her Bible there, mostly. (p. 163)

10. He didn‘t know what to make of my voice coming out of the tree, at first. (p. 174)

11. The new clothes Buck‘s folks made for me was too good to be comfortable, and besides I didn‘t go much on clothes, nohow. (p. 179)

12. He was the easiest nigger to laugh that ever was, anyway.(p. 189)

13. Her face would give them a hint, sure. (p. 240)

14. It jolted her up like everything, of course. (p. 253)

15. But she counted and counted, till she got that addled she‘d start to count-in the basket for a spoon, sometimes. (p. 328)

16. And he didn‘t know how to make letters, besides. (p. 333)

17. And we didn‘t seem to make no headway, hardly. (p. 333)

二

《哈克》语言的另一个显著特色体现在哈克贝利以外的其他人物的语言上。他们的语言主要是标准英语的一种区域变体，即土语方言。这种土语方言常给读者的阅读造成理解困难，甚至使读者的阅读变成对语言密码的破解。以小说中吉姆的一段话为例：

Yo‘ ole father doan‘ know, yit, what he‘s a-gwyne to do. Sometime she spec he‘ll go way, en den agin he spec he‘ll stay. De bes‘ way is to res‘ easy en let de ole man take his own way. Dey‘s two angels hovein‘ roun‘ ‘bout him. One uv‘ ‘em is white en shiny, en ‘tother one is black. De white one gits him to go right, a little while, den de black one sail in en bust it all up. A body can‘t tell, yit, which one gwyne to fetch him at de las‘. But you is all right. You gwyne to have considable trouble in yo‘ life, en considable joy. Sometimes you gwyne to git hirt, en sometimes you gwyne to git sick; but every time you‘s gwyne to git well agin. Dey‘s two gals flyin‘ ‘bout you in yo‘ life. One uv ‘em‘s light en ‘tother one is dark. One is rich en ‘tother is po‘. You‘s gwyne to marry de po‘ one fust en de rich one by – en – by. You wants to keep ‘way fum de water as much as you kin, en don‘t run no resk, ‘kase it‘s down in de bill dat you‘s gwyne to git hung. (p. 68)

吉姆的话无论是在单词拼写还是语法上都与常规英语有着很大的差别。在拼写上，绝大部分单词都含有字母的省略，如your, away, best, round, about, them, the other, considerable, flying, poor 分别写成 yo‘, way, bes‘, roun‘, bout, em, tother, considable, flyin‘, po‘，或与规范英语完全不同,如old, yet, going, speak, then, there, get, hurt, girls, first, from, because 分别写成ole, yit, gwyne, spec, den, dey, git, hirt, gals, fust, fum, ‘kase。在动词的人称与数上，动词的单、复数形式不分，如用don‘t 代替doesn‘t, 用is 代替are, 用sail 代替sails, 用wants 代替want。在语句结构上，常常省略动词be, 如用which one going to fetch him 代替which one is going to fetch him, 用you going to 代替you are going to。其他不规范之处如：将he 说成she,将短语at last 说成at the last。此外，吉姆的土话也有与哈克贝利的叙述语言相类似的不规范现象，如在动词的现在分词前加不定冠词a，如a-going,用双重否定表示否定，如don‘t run no risk。 这种土语方言在吉姆和小说中许多其他人物的语言中是比较普遍的。这种普遍的不规范现象正是他们语言的独特之处。他们的语言是地道的黑人土话，是活生生的地方方言，甚至是黑人俚语，完全符合人物的身份，有利于作品的人物刻画，也充分展示出了方言土语的独特魅力，给《哈克》带来了浓郁的乡土气息，大大增强了小说的韵味。

三

《哈克》语言的特色之三是与儿童的思维相吻合的语言的运用。同样表现在哈克贝利的叙述语言上。试看以下两段话：

Boggs throws up both of his hands, and says, ―O Lord, don‘t shoot!‖ Bang! goes the first shot, and he staggers back clawing at the air – bang! goes the second one, and he tumbles backwards onto the ground, heavy and solid, with his arms spread out. (p. 205)

Well, all day him and the king was hard at it, rigging up a stage, and a curtain, and a row of candles for footlights; and that night the house was jam full of men in no time. When the place couldn‘t hold no more, the duke he quit tending door and went around the back way and come onto the stage and stood up before the curtain, and made a little speech, and praised up his tragedy,

and said it was the most thrillingest one that ever was; and so he went on a-bragging about the tragedy and about Edmund Kean the Elder, which was to play the main principal part in it; and at last when he‘d got everybody‘s expectation up high enough, he rolled up the curtain, and the next minute the king come a-prancing out on all fours, naked; and he was painted all over, ring-streaked-and-striped, all sorts of colors, as splendid as a rainbow. And – but never mind the rest of his outfit, it was just wild, but it was awful funny. The people most killed themselves laughing; and when the king got done capering, and capered off behind the scenes, they roared and clapped and stormed and haw-hawed till he come back and done it over again; and after that, they made him do it another time. (p. 214)

以上两段语言的显著特色是使用口语表达法,与哈克贝利的思维完全相吻合。作为少年儿童的哈克贝利，思维模式简单而直接，因而他的语言也同样结构简单，多为短句，且以简单句和并列句居多。第一段中的―Bang! goes the first shot, and he staggers back clawing at the air – bang! goes the second one . . .‖

就完全是儿童的日常语言。第二段中，贝利则频繁地使用并列连词―and‖，不仅用来连接词、短语，而且用来连接分句，甚至用来连接意思完整的句子。作品中这样的语言俯拾皆是，构成了作品语言的一个明显特征。

四

《哈克》语言的又一显著特色是动词时态的随意转换。这也主要体现在哈克贝利的叙述语言上。这种时态转换主要发生在动词的过去时和一般现在时之间。试看下面两段话：

Then he turns and goes in. The crowd looked mighty sober; nobody stirred, and there warn‘t no more laughing. Boggs rode off blackguarding Sherburn as loud as he could yell, all down the street; and pretty soon back he comes and stops before the store, still keeping it up. Some men crowded around him and tried to get him to shut up, but he wouldn‘t; they told him it would be one o‘clock in about fifteen minutes, and so he must go home – he must go right away. (p. 204)

第一段话是贝利对过去出现的场景的事后描写，按语法常规应该使用动词的一般过去时，而他却常常在应该使用动词过去时时突然转用动词的一般现在时，频繁地转换动词时态。第二段是贝利对小说中冒充国王和公爵的两个骗子行骗场面的描述，按语法常规同样应该使用动词的过去时，但在这段话中，他却通篇使用动词的一般现在时，从全篇范围看这同样属于动词时态的转换。这种现象在《哈克》中非常普遍，同样体现了《哈克》语言的特异之处。 以上语言特色在《哈克》中是非常明显的，体现这些特色的例子比比皆是，限于篇幅，本文在探讨每一个特色时仅引用众多例子中几个例子予以说明。作为美国文学甚至世界文学中的一部经典小说，《哈克》无论在主题思想还是语言艺术上都具有其独特性，而语言上的独特性便是口语化语言的运用，特别是方言土语的运用。在马克 吐温创作《哈克》以前，美国散文大家在其作品中使用的语言本上是上层社会的规范语言。在《哈克》中，马克 吐温第一次成功地通篇使用人民活生生的口头语言，包括方言和黑人的土话，且充分显示了这种语言在塑造人物、描写场景等方面的巨大表现力，也充分证明了地道的口语、方言不仅完全可以进入文学作品，而且较之规范语言更优美、更鲜活、更具有现实感、更富于诗意、更能传神。《哈克》之所以成为批评界公认的马克 吐温所有作品中的顶峰之作，成为美国文学中的杰作和世界文学中的经典，具有经久不衰的艺术魅力，是与其独特的语言风格分不开的。同时，这种语言的运用使马克 吐温开美国小说使用口语、方言之先河，第一次将口语、方言变成了文学语言，使美国散文真正独树一帜，无论在内容上还是形式上都更具有美国特色，散发出新大陆的清新气息，为美国文学开创了新的文风。这无疑是马克 吐温对美国文学的极大贡献也正因为这样，后世许多美国名家对《哈克》的语言和文风推崇备至。美国现实主义文学的奠基人豪威尔斯称他―可以尝出[马克 吐温作品中的]泥土道‖[3]。T. S. 艾略特认为

马克 吐温―发现了一种不但适用于自己，而且适用于他人的新的写作方式。在任何一国文学中，这样的作家都是不多见的。在这方面我应该把他同德莱顿和斯威夫特相提并论，他们是罕见的把语言当代化，从而 纯洁部族方言‘的作家。‖[4]美国作家沃克则称马克 吐温―一举创立了风靡美国文学并波及世界文学的口语风格‖[4]。这一切都无可争辩地证明了《哈克》语言的巨大艺术魅力。

参考文献：

[1]Mark Twain. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn [M]. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1994. 49.

[2]乔治 迈克尔主编.简明美国文学选集[Z].伦敦:麦克米伦出版社，1985，1097.转引自金莉、秦亚青.美国文学[M].北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1999. 76－77.

[3]艾弗雷斯 卡特.豪威尔斯与现实主义时代 [A].常耀信.美国文学研究评论选(上册)[Z].天津：南开大学出版社.337.

[4]转引自马克 吐温. 成时译. 哈克贝利 费恩历险记[M].北京:人民文学出版社，1989.