英语泛指词的特点以及理解难点

On English General Nouns in Cohesive Function

本文认为泛指词是常见的语篇衔接手段之一 ,由于它处于语言系统的外缘上 ,很难用词类或语法成分这些概念来解释清楚 ,常给外语学习者带来理解困难。文章将英语泛指词与直示词、形式替代词和上义词等指称词作比较 ,指出它除了“指称性”外 ,还具有“低可及性”、“高概括性”、“开放性”和“不对等性”等自身特点 ,故易造成理解困难 ;但它同时是基本语义类别的上座标词 ,其“语义类别”可以限定其所指的范围 ,成为克服理解困难的契机。

The English General Noun(GN) is a commonly used cohesive tie in a text, but it is a borderline case regarding the linguistic system. Like the system bound cohesive ties such as deictic words, structural substitutes, synonyms and hyponyms, GN is phoric, but GN is less accessible and more general than them. Besides, GN is a member of an open set and can be a different part of speech from its referent. So GN poses comprehesion difficulty to foreign language learners. However, GN is the superordinate member of a major lexical set, which can help to identify its referent, hence reducing the difficulty.