原型理论视角下的离散与模糊

A Prototypical Study of Discreteness and Fuzziness

离散与模糊是两个截然相反的范畴观,两者的争论由来已久,在语言研究中尤为如此。本文简要回顾相关哲学问题的争论,然后着重讨论范畴化的认知机制、形式主义与功能主义就该问题的对峙、语言范畴的渐进等问题。本文在原型理论基础上,提出用渐进模型来糅合离散和模糊这两个不同的范畴观。

Discreteness vs. fuzziness has been a continuing debate as two opposed ideas on categorization, which is especially so in all domains of linguistic analysis. This paper starts with a brief review of the history of philosophical debates as a backdrop to the issue, and proceeds to discuss the cognitive mechanisms of categorization, the opposition between formalism and functionalism, and gradience as linguistic continuity. A compromise between absolute discreteness and fuzziness is proposed with the help of a gradience model constructed on the basis of the prototype theory.