核心畫面

One way to picture it: the person has been taken out. Whatever is left still works — it answers, it processes, it stands there — but there is no particular human showing through it.

「把『人』抽掉之後剩下的東西」。person(人)加上表示否定的 im-:東西還在運作,該回的還是回了,該處理的還是更多收起「把『人』抽掉之後剩下的東西」。person(人)加上表示否定的 im-:東西還在運作,該回的還是回了,該處理的還是處理了,但那裡面沒有一個具體的人透出來。像客服信裡那句一字不改的公式回覆——文法沒錯、禮貌也在,就是感覺不到寫的人是誰、有沒有在想你。這個「沒有人在裡面」的畫面,往下可以指人的態度、指一個地方給人的感受,也可以指文法上句子的主語根本不指任何人。

From the word’s history

From Latin impersōnālis: im- (not) + persōnālis (personal, of a person) — literally 'not of a person'.

這個詞從法文 impersonnel 進來,源頭是拉丁文 impersōnālis:im-(不)+ persōnālis(屬於人的)。字面就是「不屬於某個人的」,所以三個現代用法其實都在同一條線上——差別只在被抽掉的「人」是誰:說話者的溫度、一個空間裡的人味,還是句子裡的主語。

Payload etymology (French impersonnel < Latin impersōnālis, im- + persōnālis), matching Wiktionary.

Two branches

感覺不到人味

把核心的「人被抽掉」用在人與空間上:對象還在,就是沒有一個在乎你的人透出來。

cold, distant (manner) · adjective · C1

Not showing feelings of kindness, care, or friendliness, so you seem cold or distant from other people.

冷淡

文法上的無人稱

文法家借的是同一個「沒有人」的意思:這種句子的主語不指向任何真實的人或物,只是語法上必須有東西站在那裡。

impersonal (grammar) · adjective · C1

Used in grammar for a sentence or verb whose subject is the word it or there, and that word does not point to a real person or thing, as in It rained all day.

非人稱

原始詞典資料4 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法,原文照列,我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的;有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

impersonaladj/ɪmˈpɝsənəl/

  • 1

    Not personal; not representing a person; not having personality.

    • The great tragedians of Greece reveal to us their people's exquisite sense of beauty, and their faith in an awful, an almighty, but an impersonal power, called Fate
  • 2

    Lacking warmth or emotion; cold.

    • She sounded impersonal as she gave her report of the Nazi death camps.
    • And now it appeared that there was a mysterious Queen clothed by rumour with dread and wonderful attributes, and commonly known by the impersonal, but, to my mind, rather awesome title of She.
  • 3

    grammarhuman-scienceslinguisticsNot having a subject, or having a third person pronoun without an antecedent.

    • The verb “rain” is impersonal in sentences like “It’s raining.”

impersonalnoun/ɪmˈpɝsənəl/

  • 1

    grammarhuman-scienceslinguisticsAn impersonal word or construct.

資料來源:英文維基詞典 English WiktionaryCC BY-SA 4.0)。 原文照列,未經改寫。