英汉因果标记的不对称性及其认知机理

Cognitive Mechanism and Motivation for the Asymmetry of Cause-effect Markers

原因和结果既是逻辑概念,也是语法范畴,每种语言都有各式的语法手段来标记它们。然而原因和结果的标记形式之间存在着不对称,各种语言或者同一语言的不同历史时期都是以原因作为标记的焦点,而结果则成了标记的背景,这反映在因果标记语法化的词汇来源、因果标记的语用频率、标记结果连词的代词回指等方面。这种不对称来自人类认知因果关系的特点,即在"由果溯因"的意识活动中,人们总是以结果为起点,以探寻其发生的原因为意向,原因是因果认知过程中的焦点。本文以心智哲学和识解理论为视角,通过英汉例证来说明认知对语言标记系统的影响,以期探求语言运用中因果标记不对称性的深层认知机理。

Cause and effect belong to both logic concepts and grammatical categories.Thus,every language provides various means to mark them.However,the markers are asymmetric:cause rather than effect is the spot of the marking in every language,synchronically and diachronically,with result as the background,which are reflected in such aspects as the grammaticalized lexical origins,the pragmatic frequency of"cause-effect"conjunctions and the anaphoric pronouns in the compound conjunctions.This asymmetry results from the conscious course of human beings:people always firstly identify some results and then,with the intentionality,discover their causes,as the cause is the focus in the process of cognition.The present analysis,from the perspective of philosophy of mind and construal,based on the evidence from both Chinese and English,shows the effect of cognition on the markers of language and probes into the mechanism and motivation accounting for the asymmetry.