语用原则、语用推理和语义演变

Pragmatic principles, pragmatic inference, semantic change,

当今历史语义学的主流是探讨语义演变的动因和机制,这种探讨的一个重要方面是借鉴和采纳语用学的研究成果,初步的结论是,交谈双方遵循一定的语用原则(特别是“适量准则”)是语义演变的重要动因,语用推理和推导义的“固化”是语义演变的主要机制。本文是对近年来这方面研究情况的介绍。

The mainstream of present historical semantics is the study of the motivation and mechanism of semantic change, and this study is largely based on the achievements of pragmatics. Many historical semanticists hold that semantic change is motivated by Gricean pragmatic principles, the Principle of Quantity in particular, which speakers and hearers adhere to in on-line conversation, and that the mechanism of semantic change involves pragmatic inference and the grammaticaJization of inferred meanings.