一副应对美国结构主义语言学缺陷的良药——浅议乔姆斯基语言学革命

A Tentative Analysis of Correcting Role of Chomsky's Revolutionary Linguistics for American Structural Linguistics

以往对乔姆斯基语言学的研究往往采取静止的、孤立的方法,困囿于其理论框架内,造成"一叶障目,不见森林"的后果。笔者认为,对乔姆斯基语言学的研究应采取动态的、历时的方法,只有将其置于特定的历史语境中,才能看出其贡献及不足。乔姆斯基语言学革命解决了结构主义描写语言学所面临的一系列无法解释的问题。描写语言学把实际话语作为分析的对象,而乔姆斯基区分了语言能力和语言行为两个概念;描写语言学不能揭示语言的本质,乔姆斯基语言学深入研究了语言能力。结构主义者用机械主义的观点来解释语言的产生,乔姆斯基却走向了一条对人类特有的语言能力作出解释的道路。乔姆斯基语言学是对美国描写语言学的一场革命,但却是不彻底的,如分析语言形式时忽视语义。总的来说,乔姆斯基开创的转换—生成语法具有深远的影响。

Chomsky＇ s revolutionary linguistics has solved a series of problems facing the American Structural Linguisties, for the latter analyzes actual linguistic data, while the former distinguishes between linguistic competence and linguistic performance. The latter fails to discover the essence of language whereas the former probes into human beings＇ linguistic competence. Structural Linguists explains language in light of mechanistic behaviorism, but Chomsky investigates linguistic competence in the eyes of mentalism. Chomsky＇s TG grammar is revolutionary, yet incomplete, because it overlooks meaning when analyzing linguistic form. However, Chomsky＇s linguistics is influential all over the world.