概念语义学“延展句”分析中存在的问题

Conceptual Semantics Analysis of Extension and Its Problems

语言中普遍存在类似"Route 87 goes from New York to Hartford"这样的表达。句中使用了运动动词,却未表达明显的空间位置变化。与认知语义学不同,Jackendoff创立的概念语义学称此类表达为"延展句",认为所使用的动词已失去运动义。它运用一套语义原子对这类表达的概念结构进行了形式化分析。在梳理这些分析的基础上,本文指出,该分析未能满足描写的充分性原则,它的动词语义结构和路径属性分析也缺乏足够的认知依据。

Sentences such as ＂Route 87 goes from New York to Hartford＂ are ubiquitous in language, which include a motion verb but express no explicit motion. Unlike cognitive semantics, Conceptual Semantics founded by Ray Jackendoff calls such expressions ＂extension＂ and argues that the verbs used have lost their basic sense of motion. It proposes a formal analysis comprising a set of semantic primitives for the conceptual structures of the concerned expressions. Based on a brief description of the analysis of Conceptual Semantics, this paper points out that the analysis fails to satisfy the principle of descriptive adequacy and that its views regarding the semantic structures of the related verbs and the nature of path expressions lack sufficient cognitive evidence.