词汇研究新方法——比较词汇论研究评介

A Review of the Comparative Studies of Vocabulary

所谓比较词汇论的研究即把词的汇合作为研究对象,它与传统的词汇研究即对于各个词的词志或词构成论及词源研究等词汇元素论不同,是对词汇的总体研究。它与词汇元素论的汇合构筑了词汇研究的两翼,可以通过语言揭示文化根底,开拓异文化理解、比较的新途径。比较词汇论不同以往的论点,不仅清除了长期以来导致词汇研究裹足不前的最大障碍———词汇茫然博大无从着手,更由于在方法上引入了计算机统计,使得基础作业得出的大量资料得以进行科学的分析和论证。日本名古屋大学田岛毓堂教授提出比较词汇论至今虽仅十余年时间,但已粗具雏形,并对多个语种进行了尝试,在理论完善、方法确立、基础作业的基准设定等各方面进行了众多实践,积累了大量的宝贵资料,取得了一系列成果。

The comparative study of vocabulary is originally suggested by Ikudo Tajima. Compared with this former study of vocabulary, it is a brand-new academic field with fresh ideas. It takes a vocabulary group as an object of study. Its basic goal is to reveal cultural bases with language and to develop a new way of inter-cultural understanding and comparison. It has been known for a long time that the study of vocabulary falls behind the study of phoneme and grammar in priority. Also, the development of the study of vocabulary itself does not hold balance regarding the study of its composition unit, the single word. The study of vocabulary has already made advances and is in the lead. Furthermore, it has also yielded certain results. Regarding vocabulary, or the vocabulary group study, taking the whole parts of vocabulary of one language as an object of study is always unknown and is not taken into consideration. Comparative study of vocabulary ushers in this kind of group of vocabulary as an object of study. The vocabulary study of the meaning of vocabulary group is different from the other fields of linguistics that purely focus on the internal questions of a language. Simply solving the formal questions of a language may bring the study to completion. The reason is that to grasp the whole of the vocabulary itself is not an easy thing, much less are many questions that internal facts of a language only cannot solve. This is also the unique nature of vocabulary. Vocabulary and the facts outside the language have a close connection. It is impossible for the study of vocabulary to separate the culture that conceives the language. The phoneme and the grammar form the framework of a language and complete the expressions by the vocabulary. Therefore, the study of languages cannot be limited to phonemes and grammar. Only by the confluence of the study of vocabulary can a language unfold the whole picture. Language study cannot be limited to the internal study of language. If you do not see the relations that take its cultures, manners and customs into consideration, you cannot get to its essence. The basic nature of vocabulary lies in its quantity and meaning. The analysis of vocabulary must show these two kinds of properties. Neither quantity nor meaning only can completely show the fundamental structure of the vocabulary. When we show the quantitative property of vocabulary, we must grasp its ＂meaning＂. The question is that ＂meaning＂ is the existence that is most incompatible with the quantitative property. However, processing ＂ meaning＂ with mathematical quantification and making comparative studies on the basis of demonstration, showing the overall system of vocabulary in a broad way, are the method suggested by comparative study of vocabulary or the ＂Analytic Method of Structure of Meaning＂. The comparative study of vocabulary began only about 10 years ago, but the attempts have been made in many languages. Large amounts of practices have been made in developing the theory, the methods, the setting of standards and so on. Massive data have been accumulated and a series of results have been acquired. Since 1998, ten international symposiums have been held separately in Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, and China. The comparative study of vocabulary that takes inter-cultural comparison and understanding as a basic goal has opened up a brand-new world. Its ideas that are different from the former have not only eliminated the biggest barrier which has prevented the study of vocabulary from advancing for a long time： the vocabulary is so large that you do not know where to begin. The use of computers has made the acquisition, analysis and demonstration of the massive data more convenient. When the question of the possibility of the study of vocabulary is solved, the conclusion obtained is also the prescriptive standards that are standardized and demonstrated.