句法结构创新的社会与认知心理动因——语言基因变异遗传的一般机制

Social and Cognitive Psychological Motivation for Syntactical Innovation:General Mechanisms of Structural Mutation in Languemetics

语言演变如同生物学上的物种进化过程一样,是受各种因素影响而发生的变异遗传过程。句法创新过程是语言使用者对语言结构基因的变异复制导致新奇结构形式的过程。这个过程的动因一是社会交际的需要,二是人类认知心理规律的支配。社会交际的需要为语言结构基因变异遗传提供了环境,这是社会动因;变异形式受认知心理规律支配和制约被语言使用者选择,导致新的句法结构规约,这是认知心理动因。社会机制和认知心理机制构成语言结构基因变异遗传的一般机制。语言遗传学需要刻画语言基因变异遗传过程的一般机制和具体的模型才能成为一门语言科学。

Language change is a process of languemetic mutation similar to that which happens in organic evaluation in biogenetics.The process of syntactic innovation is a process in which novel structures are created through altered replication of structural languemes by language users.This process is motivated both by the needs of social communication and by cognitive psychological principles.Social communication provides environments and conditions for altered replication of structural languemes so as to motivate languemetic mutation.Language users' selection of novel structures are controlled and constrained by general principles of cognitive psychology so as to develop new grammatical conventions.These social and cognitive psychological mechanisms constitute general mechanisms of structural mutation in languemetics.Languemetics,as a branch of linguistic science,must represent general mechanisms and portray concrete models of languemetic mutation.