英语名词可数性的认知解读

A Cognitive Approach to Count/Mass Distinction of English Nouns

Langacker的认知语法依据有界性、同质性、分割性与叠加性区分可数名词和不可数名词,本文进一步在Langacker认知语法框架内解读名词可数性,讨论认知域、辖域、抽象度与名词可数性的辩证关系,诠释视角的转换引起的名词可数性的不同识解。可数性其实只局限于名词在例示域的有界性;辖域的转换可以在可数名词的边界内刻划不可数名词;同质性的认定取决于识解的抽象度;抽象度也用来解释可数名词复数与不可数名词在分割性与叠加性上的相似性。

In Langacker＇ s Cognitive Grammar, the distinction between count and mass nouns is made according to Boundedness, Homogeneity, Contractibility and Replicability. This paper is a further discussion of the countability of English nouns in relation to such cognitive notions as Domain, Scope and Schematicity in the framework of Langacker＇ s Cognitive Grammar, and strives to interpret the construal of countability within alternative perspectives. Countability is defined only by boundedness in the domain of instantiation; the alternation of immediate scope can help to construe an uncountable noun within the boundary of the region designated by a countable noun. The identification of homogeneity is dependent on schematicity of construing ; schematicity accounts for the similarity of uncountable nouns and plurals of countable nouns in terms of contractability and replicability.