言语误解的潜在性:哲学思考

The Potentiality of Verbal Misunderstanding:A Philosophical Reflection

指示性和反身性是语言的固有属性,主体性和心理倾向性是人作为认知主体的认知属性,它们决定了言语误解的潜在性。语言离开语境,其意义就无从获取(指示性),语言使用所在的语境又是靠语言的意义来界定的(反身性),这使得语言的意义变得不确定。同时,社会、心理等因素使人的认知语境带上了主观色彩(主体性),使交际双方对语境有不同的界定。人在认知推理过程和归因过程中还有可能受到不同心理倾向(psychologi-cal bias)的干扰,从而作出非理性的错误判断。语言和人不可能摆脱这些固有属性,言语误解会随时出现。

Indexicality and reflexivity are intrinsic properties of language. Subjectivity and psychological biases are cognitive properties of human beings. Language and human being are two necessary componential elements of verbal communication, which are the media and performer of communication. The absence of either will make communica- tion impossible. Yet, it is the aforementioned properties of language and human beings that lead to the inevitability of verbal misunderstanding because those properties make language meaning indeterminate. To explain it more specif- ically, language meaning and context define each other, that is, without a definite context, the meaning of language is hard to be pinned down, and similarly, the ambivalent meaning of language also makes the context in which it is used variable. At the same time, individuals＇ experience adds subjective color to their cognitive contexts, and the in- terference of psychological biases may cause the betrayal of pragmatic inference from the rational track. All these plant seeds for the potentiality of verbal misunderstanding.