汉语网语的焦点/背景解析

An Analysis of Chinese Internet Language from the Perspective of Figure-Ground Theory

语言注意是目前认知语言学研究的热点问题之一。焦点/背景理论是研究语言注意有效的切入点1。从焦点/背景理论的视角,对网语中含谐音词和英汉混合词的语句进行了详细的认知解析,发现网语在句法上的凸显,与传统语言规律相同;而在词法上,网语词汇的焦点/背景凸显更加复杂,即在词典词义的显性的、正向的一次凸显的基础上,往往需要(由词典义向网络义)隐性的、逆向的二次凸显。焦点的凸显具有主观性。当说话人(或作者)的凸显瞬间被听话人(或读者)接收,凸显成功;否则当听话人(或读者)对说话人(或作者)言语中所含的(网络义)不了解时,凸显失败。焦点凸显的正向或逆向、成功与失败往往与人的认知能力相关。

The research of language attention is often one of the hot topics in current cognitive linguistics. Figure-Ground theory can be viewed as a tool for the effective study in the area. In the following study, the samples containing homophonic words and mixed words from Internet Chinese are analyzed from the perspective of Figure-Ground theory. The study indicates that syntactically, the usage in Internet Chinese is almost the same as its usage in traditional Chinese. However the difference lies in that lexically, F/G re- flected in Internet Chinese is more complex. The cognitive process of perceiving non-standard words from the Internet Chinese, besides, the basic prominence （from the dictionary meaning of a word to the dictiona- ry meaning of another word） which constitutes the first explicit process of understanding, requires an ex- tra prominence, which leads to the second, but implicit process of understanding, from the basic dictionary meaning of a word from a dictionary to its additional meaning of online Internet Chinese. The prominence is therefore subjective. When the prominence in the speaker＇s （or the writer＇s） mind is received by the lis- tener （or the reader）, the communication occurs. However, when it is vice versa, the communication fails. This especially happens when the listener （or the reader） does not have the required knowledge to decode the prominence in the utterance. Whether the prominence from the speaker to the listener is explicit or implicit, or successful or not, depends on the speaker＇s （or the listener＇s） cognitive ability.