汉语词义识解的乐观主义取向——一种平衡义程广泛性和义面突出性的策略

Optimistic orientation in construing Chinese lexical meanings:Striking a balance between the extensive semantic range and the prominent semantic facets

本文用普遍存在于人类社会的乐观心理原则,来说明"救火、养病、恢复疲劳、打扫卫生"一类看似逻辑乖谬的表达的结构形成和语义理解机制。文章以"救"为主要的讨论对象,首先调查"救"在现代汉语和古代汉语中的论元结构及其句法实现方式,刻画"救"的概念结构、语义范围(义程)和语义侧面(义面),说明"救"的受事论元和原因论元作宾语跟"救"的两个义面(援助、使免于)的对应关系;揭示乐观原则是"救"的广泛的义程与突出的义面之间的平衡机制,人们用它来消解"救"可以带受事宾语和原因宾语所造成的歧解。最后,把这种歧义消解机制推广到"养病、恢复疲劳、打扫卫生"一类组合上。

Although some Chinese VO structures such as jiùhuǒ( save the fire),yǎngbìng( recuperate illness),huīfù píláo( recover fatigue),dǎsǎo wèishēng( clean sanitation) seem to be illogical in their literal sense,Chinese native speakers have no problem interpreting them. In this paper, we argue that it is the universal principle of optimism that helps Chinese native speakers assign a logical interpretation to these seemingly illogical VO constructions.