Thanks to语法化过程中的语义演变

Semantic Shifts in the Grammaticalization of "Thanks To"

传统英语教学中关于将短语thanks to对译为汉语"幸亏、多亏",这种简单的对译流弊之一即导致了学习者夸大其积极语义倾向。根据构式语法理论,短语thanks to已经语法化为一个功能构式。在这个语法化过程中,thanks to经历了句法再析,由"[V thanks][toNP]"的临时句法组合逐渐演变为"[thanks to]NP"的常规构式;并且在这个演变过程中,thanks to原先受thank的词汇语义影响而体现的褒义语用渐渐与整个构式脱离,构式语义逐渐中性化,呈现一个由致谢义向受益义最终向究因义渐变的语义级阶。

In traditional English language teaching,the English phrase 'thanks to' is often translated into Chinese as '幸亏'.The equation of these two phrases accounts for the tendency among English learners in China to apply 'thanks to' to contexts of appreciation only.Such a tendency has an underlying cognitive motivation.An investigation into the semantic shifts of the 'thanks to' construction throughout its process of grammaticalization shows that it has undergone a syntactic reanalysis,evolving from an occasional syntactic composition '[V thanks][to NP]' to a conventional construction '[thanks to] NP'.In the grammaticalization process,the construction as a whole gradually lost the commendatory overtones derived originally from the lexical meaning of 'thank.' A neutralization of the construction's semantic meaning eventually results at the end of a semantic cline that goes from 'expressing gratitude,' through 'recognizing indebtedness,' to 'discerning causes.'