【作者】 王春荣；

【导师】 何刚；

【作者基本信息】 华东师范大学 ， 外国语言学及应用语言学， 2017， 博士

【摘要】 指示语是语言形式关联语境最直接的表现,故向来是语义学与语用学的重要研究课题。在指示语研究范畴中,动词是相对涉足较浅的领域。对指示动词(deictic verbs)的研究大多集中在运动动词如come和go上,而Fillmore、Lyons、Talmy、Clark等人对指示运动动词(deictic motion verbs)come和go的研究可谓是该领域的经典之作。除此之外,学界很少有人系统全面地研究其它指示动词,尤其是结合真实话语语料做出解释的。指示动词的这一研究现状促就了本文的研究对象:指示行动动词(deictic action verbs),即讨论话语理解中的行动动词是如何关联或指示话语语境的。对话语中指示行动动词的考察扩展了指示动词的研究范围,因为以往研究很少关注除运动动词之外的其他动词。如何界定该术语成为了本文首要解决的焦点问题。与语义学中对行动动词的传统界定不同,本文把行动动词界定为描述话语中行动或动作的语言单位,包括单个行动动词(single-word action verbs)、行动短语动词(action phrasal verbs)及行动动词短语(action verb phrases)。单个行动动词指那些由话语参与者发出的行动或动作的单个动词;行动短语动词由行动动词加上小品词(介词、副词)构成,是英语习语中的一种固定词组;而行动动词短语是由行动动词与其宾语、补语、状语等一起构成的短语,是一种自由词组。如此宽泛的界定并非不无道理,因为本文考察的对象是话语中所描述的行动或动作与话语语境的关联性、依赖性、敏感性,而描述此类行动的语言单位除了单个动词外,有时还涉及短语动词和动词短语,故这样宽泛的界定比较符合本文的研究目的。对话语中行动动词指示性的研究自然离不开话语语境,因为语境是研究任何指示语的核心。话语层面上的语境信息是包罗万象的,如话语参与者、时空、上下文、话语双方共享背景知识、说话者的意图等等。然而,哪些语境特征是与行动动词最密切相关的呢?通过观察收集的自然话语语料,本文第三章探讨了话语语境在行动层面上的体现,即与行动动词最密切相关的5个语境特征:行动的空间方向、行动的时间导向、行动的工具、行动的结果、行动施为者的心理状态。根据Levinson(1983,1997)对指示语定义的经典描述,指示行动动词被界定为那些编码了语义不确定,需依赖上述语境特征的动词。因此,我们结合从COCA语料库中收集的真实话语,分析并解释了英语中有哪些行动动词对这些语境特征具有敏感性,从而体现了语境依赖性。此外,本文还把行动动词发生的话语语境延伸至社会语境与文化语境之中。就社会语境而言,我们结合语料主要观察了话语中的行动动词是如何编码(语境化)了社会制度、权势关系、社会身份及社会角色这4个社会语境特征。就文化语境而言,根据“文化冰山”及“文化洋葱”模型,文化信息在行动层面上的体现主要有生活方式行动、规范性行动及核心文化设定性行为这3个文化语境特征。结合语料,我们观察了哪些英语行动动词能直接或间接地“指向”这些文化语境特征。在探讨了话语中行动动词对即刻语境、社会语境、文化语境参数的指示现象的基础上,本文第四、五章分别详细地探讨了行动动词是如何指示社交礼貌策略及美国核心文化设定的。首先,之所以选择礼貌策略作为研究社会语境中的行动动词,主要考虑到在社会指示语(social deixis)研究领域中,礼貌策略是研究社会指示性最典型的体现,如Tu/Vous的区别以及各种称谓语等。因此,本文在Brown和Levinson(1987)提出的礼貌策略的基础上,并鉴于行动动词对社会语境参数特有的关联性,提出了一套与行动动词最密切相关的礼貌策略,即尊敬、谦卑、好客、友好、行动自由及诚实。这些策略是社交礼貌的具体表现。通过与日语、韩语、中文中敬语动词(honorific verbs)的比较,我们发现英语动词体系指示社交礼貌策略有其独特的表现形式,体现在某些行动短语动词及动词短语的使用上。因此,社会指示行动动词(socially deictic action verbs)被界定为在社交话语中对社会语境敏感并编码了(语境化)特定礼貌策略的英语行动动词(包括短语动词及动词短语)。其次,第五章探讨了行动动词在文化语境中的指示现象。由于所收集的语料均为美国英语话语,故构建一套适合于分析行动动词的美国文化语境模型显得尤为必要。包罗万象的美国文化是“大熔炉”、“色拉碗”,在此本文只讨论最典型、最具代表性、最普遍公认的美国文化信息,即美国主流文化(American mainstream culture)中的核心信念与价值。那么以主流文化为参照系的美国文化语境中,哪些语境特征又是与行动动词最密切相关的呢?对此,我们参考了部分权威描写美国文化的著作,把美国文化语境定义为一套由基本信念、核心价值观及主流态度构成的文化信息集合,是解释话语中对文化语境敏感的行动动词的参照系。因此,文化指示行动动词(culturally deictic action verbs)被界定为那些直接“指向”或间接关联文化语境信息的行动动词(包括短语动词和动词短语)。为了更好地描写、解释此类指示行动动词,我们还探讨了文化指示(cultural indexicality)与文化指示方式(deictic mode)这两个核心概念。文化指示是自然语言中指示现象在文化语境中的延伸,而文化指示方式是指说话者为实现特定的交际意图,通过话语中的语言单位(如行动动词),把听话者注意力导向特定的文化语境特征的语用推理过程。最后,在基于美国主流新闻报纸(《今日美国》、《纽约日报》、《ABC新闻》)报道中的真实话语,我们具体解读美国人在日常话语中所使用的某些行动动词(组)是如何在不同程度上“指向”文化语境中各类特征(基本信念、核心价值观和主流态度)的。总之,本文在指示动词的研究现状基础上,扩展了对自然话语中动词指示语境的考察,即关注了行动动词对语境关联的特征。由于话语语境存在多个层面(即刻语境、社会语境、文化语境),本文结合真实语料分别描述、解释了英语行动动词(组)对三类语境层面特征信息的指示现象。研究结果是对指示语及指示动词研究的有益补充,对我们进一步理解自然语言中的指示现象具有一定的指导意义。更多还原

【Abstract】 Deixis is the most obvious way in which linguistic forms are associated with context,and it has long been studied in semantics and pragmatics.In the studies of deixis,verbs are a rather underexplored category.Studies on deictic verbs have mainly focused on motion verbs such as come and go,and works of Fillmore,Lyons,Talmy,Clark,etc.are seen as classics in this research field.In addition to this,there exist few systematic studies on other deictic verbs,especially in naturally occurring utterances.This research status quo of deictic verbs has invited us to think about the research object of this dissertation,namely deictic action verbs.In other words,this dissertation aims to study how certain action verbs in utterances can make reference to or ‘point to’ the context of utterance.The investigation of deictic action verbs broadens the research scope of deictic verbs,because previous studies pay little attention to verbs other than motion verbs.How to delimitate this term has become the first thing we need to deal with.Unlike traditional delimitation of action verbs in semantics,action verbs are understood as those linguistic units that are used to describe actions or acts in utterances,including single-word action verbs,action phrasal verbs and action verb phrases.A single-word verb describes the action or act performed by the agent.A phrasal verb is an idiomatic phrase consisting of a main verb and a particle(preposition and adverb).A verb phrase is rather a free combination consisting of a main verb and its object,complement,and adverbial modifier.Such a wide delimitation is not without a reason,because what we are concerned about in this dissertation is how the action described in an utterance is associated with or sensitive to the context of the utterance,and the action in question is sometimes not just confined to single-word action verbs.Study on the indexicality of action verbs cannot be done without reference to the context of utterance,as the latter is the core to the study on any deixis.The context of utterance is a broad notion,including speech participants,spatial and temporal setting,co-text,shared knowledge,speaker’s intention,etc.However,what are the contextual features that are most related to action verbs? Based on a close observation on the collected data,Chapter 3 explores the context at the actional level by proposing 5 contextual features most related to actions described in utterances,namely spatial direction,temporal orientation,instrumentality,degree of effect and agent’s mental state.In light of the classic definition of deixis by Levinson(1983,1997),deictic action verbs are understood as those which encode these contextual features and whose semantic indeterminacy needs to depend on particular contextual features.With the collected data from COCA,we will describe and explain which action verbs in English are sensitive to these features of context.In addition,the context of utterance has been extended to social and cultural dimensions.As for the social context,we have mainly investigated how action verbs in utterances can lexicalize or contextualize 4 features of social context,namely social institution,power relation,social identity and social role.As for the cultural context,we have constructed the cultural space in which action verbs occur as a set of cultural information consisting of acts of ways of living,normative acts and acts of core assumptions.We will explore which action verbs can directly or indirectly ‘point to’ the cultural information.After having explored the indexical phenomenon of action verbs in the immediate,social and cultural contexts,we will investigate in details how action verbs can ‘point to’ the politeness strategies and American mainstream cultural assumptions in Chapter 4 and 5 respectively.Firstly,the reason why we target at politeness strategies is due to the consideration that politeness is the typical representation of social indexicality in the study of social deixis,say,the Tu/Vous distinction and other forms of address.Thus on the basis of Brown and Levinson’s Politeness Strategies(1987)and in light of the idiosyncratic features of action verbs in social interaction,we have proposed a set of politeness strategies most related to action verbs in utterances,namely respect/deference,humbleness,hospitality,friendliness,freedom of action and honesty.These strategies are the concrete representation of social politeness.Besides compared with the honorific verbs in Japanese,Korean and Chinese,we have come to understand the idiosyncrasies of English action verbs ‘pointing to’ politeness strategies in social interaction,which is realized through the use of certain action phrasal verbs and verb phrases.Therefore socially deictic action verbs are understood as those that are sensitive to features of social context and that lexicalize particular politeness strategies in social interaction.Secondly,Chapter 5 is mainly an investigation of the cultural indexicality of action verbs.Since the collected data are speeches or utterances in American English,it is of great necessity to construct a model of American cultural context suitable for analyzing action verbs that occur in America people’s mundane communication.To achieve this,we will focus on what is most typical,representative and commonly shared,namely the American mainstream culture consisting of basic beliefs and dominant values.Referring to several authoritative works on American culture,we have constructed a model of American culture consisting of a set of information about basic beliefs,dominant values and mainstream attitudes,a referential framework for the interpretation of context-sensitive action verbs in utterance understanding.Thus culturally deictic action verbs are understood as those that can directly or indirectly ‘point to’ the above-mentioned cultural contextual features.In order to better describe and interpret deictic action verbs in cultural context,we will also explore two core notions,namely cultural indexicality and deictic mode.Cultural indexicality is the extension of deixis into cultural dimension in natural languages.Cultural deictic mode is a pragmatic inferential process in which the speaker chooses particular linguistic units(e.g.action verbs)to direct the hearer’s attention to specific features of cultural context of utterance so as to achieve his communicative intention.Finally,based on the naturally occurring utterances collected from online major American newspapers(USA Today,NY Daily News,ABC News),we will conduct an empirical investigation of how certain action verbs used by Americans can ‘point to’,to a varying extent,the features of cultural context(i.e.basic beliefs,dominant values and mainstream attitudes)in their daily communication.All in all,this dissertation extends the investigation of deictic verbs in naturally occurring utterances and pays special attention to the deictic relation between action verbs and context of utterance.Since there exist several levels of contextual features(the immediate,social and cultural ones),our interpretation will focus on the indexicality of action verbs at these levels of context.The major findings have important implications and significance for a better understanding of the phenomenon of deixis in natural language.更多还原