隐喻表达与经济性原则

Metaphorical Expressions and the Principle of Economy

人们为什么频繁地使用隐喻,这是认知科学关注的一个重要问题。人类行为的内在逻辑总是遵循“省力原则”,这一原则在具体的语言实践中就表现为表达的经济性。隐喻表达可分为隐喻式命名和隐喻式陈述:隐喻式命名虽然花费了命名者更多的精力,但由于其形象、生动、易记的特点而减少了使用者的投入,从而实现了命名活动的经济性;隐喻式陈述借助预设、衍推等表达形式,可以使特定话语的信息量激增。隐喻式命名和隐喻式陈述均体现了思维和表达的经济性原则。

The existence of metaphors in human languages and thoughts is universal. The reason why metaphors are so widely and frequently used is one of the major concerns of modern cognitive science. Although researchers, at home and abroad, respond from various perspectives, little attention has been paid to the principle of economy in metaphorical expressions. The language exerts its operation different internal logic in human behavior follows＂the principle of economy＂, which is embodied in practice as the economy of linguistic expressions. It is discovered that the principle influence on different aspects of and utterance presentation. The ways： to achieve given effect wit human language, such as phonetic evolution, syntactic principle of economy in language is incarnated in two h reduced effort; or to enhance effect with given effort. Metaphorical expressions are of two forms, that is, statement. The former reflects the first way of economy of users with the image, the vividness, and the cognitive metaphorical naming and principle, in that it reduces metaphorical labor of lots convenience for memorizing, although it may take more effort of people to name. By this means, the economy in naming is achieved. The metaphorical statement, on the other hand, reflects the second way： aided by such forms of expressions as presupposition, entailment, etc., the dispersively in linguistic economy in from people＇ in communication, and one unit of utteran given utte ce thereby rance disseminat achieves several e information amplifications effect. Both metaphorical naming and metaphorical statement reflect the principle of thinking and expressing, and the universality of metaphorical expressions results s following the principle of economy in the process of thinking and communication.