从句法变项的确立标准谈狭义与广义的语言变异——兼与蔡冰先生商榷

On the Definition of a Syntactic Variable and Narrow-sense versus Broad-sense Language Variations:to Discuss with Cai Bing

语言变异分狭义的和广义的两种。前者是同宗的变异,后者是非同宗的。所谓同宗,是指各不同变式之间存在一个共同的底层结构。同宗与非同宗的关系也反映到句法变异中。Labov的"结构—语义"标准的精髓就是"同宗"。值得社会语言学学者研究的主要是同宗的语言变异。"同宗"的概念在句法变异的研究中尤为重要。蔡冰先生所提议的用于确立句法变项的三个标准都不合适。笔者提议重新启用Labov的"结构—语义"标准。

Language variations are divided into two categories： Narrow-sense ones and broad-sense ones. The former are consanguineous, whereas the latter are non-consanguineous. Consanguinity denotes variants sharing a common underlying structure, and is the essence of Labov＇s Structure - Meaning criterion for variable identification. The differentiation of the two categories is reflected in syntactic variation, where consanguinity is especially of importance. Consanguineous variations are the type of variations that variationists should focus their attention on. The three criteria proposed by Mr. Cai Bing for identifying a syntactic variable are inappropriate. The writer proposes the Structure - Meaning criterion of Labov for this use.