语言层次观——从索绪尔到韩礼德

Theories of Linguistic Stratification——From Saussure to Halliday

语言符号的层次性是现代语言学的核心理论之一。虽然现代语言学的创始人索绪尔没有直接提出层次性的概念,但他关于能指与所指的二元对立、形式与实体的二元对立、语言符号的任意性,以及能指的线性原则等思想为叶姆斯列夫、兰姆和韩礼德等人的层次理论提供了共同的理论背景。在对这三位学者有关层次的分类、层次的内容以及层次间和层次内部关系的描述进行梳理的基础上,探索并评介语言层次理论在他们之间的传承模式和发展概况,有助于更好地理解语言符号的本质。

The stratificational nature of language as sign is a core concern of modern linguistics. Although Saussure himself did not study the stratificational nature of linguistic sign, his philosophical understanding of the two binary opposites--signifier vs. signified, form vs. substance, arbitrariness of the sign and linear character of the signal, provides a common theoretical background for Hjelmslev, Lamb and Halliday to develop their strati^icational theories. Based on a careful comparison and contrast of how the strata are classified, what each stratum consists of and what the relationships among and within the strata are, this paper describes and comments on the background and development of the three linguists＇ stratificational theories in order to have a better understanding of the properties of linguistic sign.