英汉语中N+N复合名词的图式解读

The Schematic View of N+N Compounds in English and Chinese

图式是从旧事物中抽象出的经验结构。Langacker认为两个名词的融合就是一个名词为了容纳另一个名词而做的图式修改。Ryder在此基础上提出从已有的复合名词中总结出语义图式,作为加工和理解新的复合名词的语言模板,再用世界知识中的经验图式加以验证。Ryder把经验图式分为实体图式、事件图式和特征图式。本文进一步指出这三种图式可分别解释复合名词的指物、指事和指义的三种语用功能。图式只是为理解复合名词提供可参考的背景信息,而不是规定字面意义。

A schema is an abstract structue drawn from experiences. Langacker thinks the integration of two nouns is to accomodate the schema of one noun to that of the other. Ryder makes the assumption of linguistic template, suggesting that the semantic schemas drawn from the established compounds can be used to process and interpret new compounds, but they have to be confirmed by the schemas of the experiences in the real world. Ryder divides the schemas into three types, entity schema, event schema and feature schema, which supports our assumption that the three types of schemas explain respectively the pragmatical functions of their reference to entities, events and features of the compounds. A schema is to provide the background information for understanding compounds, rather than determine the exact meaning of the compounds.