英汉语隐现构式中消失类动词的认知对比研究

A Contrastive Study Between Presentational Verbs Designating Disappearance of Entities in English and Chinese Presentational Construction from a Cognitive Perspective

本文基于认知语言学中的图形一背景理论,拟从认知的角度对英语隐现构式和汉语隐现构式中的消失类动词进行对比研究。研究发现,英语使用者注重通过隐现类构式中的消失类动词来表达某已存在的实体从存在到消失的过程,而汉语使用者则更加注重通过消失类动词来表示从某一时/空框架中移出,并已处于另外一未知时/空框架内的实体,即,实体移出的结果,而非移出的过程。正是英语和汉语使用者对这两类构式不同的认知过程导致了这两种构式中消失类动词在使用上的不同。

Based on Figure—Ground theory in cognitive linguistics,the author in this article tries to make a comparison from a cognitive perspective between presentational verbs designating disappearance of an entity in English TtFG construction and Chinese GtF construction. It is found that an English speaker pays much attention to the process of the disappearance of Figure from Ground, while when a Chinese speaker wants to express the disappearance of a Figure from the Ground, that is, he or she pays much more attention to the final result of the disappearance instead of the process of the disappearance of Figure. So these two different cognitive processes that lead Chinese speakers to use instantaneous verbs of disappearance in presentational GtF constructions, and English speakers to use durative verbs of disappearance in presentational TtFG constructions.