现代汉语兼类与词频的相关性研究——兼评“简略原则”的效度

A Study of the Correlation Between Heterosemy and Frequency in Modern Chinese: A Note on the Validity of the Principle of Parsimony

在现代汉语语法和现代汉语词典词类标注研究中,概括词的兼类问题最具争议,其中兼类与词频是否相关是一个涉及语言本质观差异的大问题。文章以复杂适应系统语言观为理论基础,基于国家语委现代汉语语料库和《现代汉语词典》(第5版)词类标注数据库,对现代汉语兼类与词频的相关性进行实证研究。两项调查都发现,现代汉语概括词的兼类现象与词频呈正相关,但两项调查之间却存在统计学意义上的显著性差异。研究表明,在现代汉语和现代英语等分析语中,兼类与词频的相关性是言语交际的经济性和象似性动因共同作用的结果;《现汉》(第5版)在词类标注中倾向于遵循与一阶逻辑一脉相承的"简约原则",人为减少兼类词数量,形成现代汉语兼类现象远少于现代英语的假象。

Heterosemy or multiple class membership of lexemes is the most controversial in modern Chinese grammar and in the word class labeling of Modern Chinese dictionaries,and whether there is correlation between heterosemy and frequency is concerned with different views on the nature of language. From the perspective of language as a complex adaptive system,this paper makes an empirical study of the correlation between heterosemy and frequency on the basis of the Modern Chinese Corpus of the National Language Commission of China and the DIY Word Class Labeling Database of Contemporary Chinese Dictionary（ 5thed.）（ CCD5 for short）. The findings of both studies have verified the positive correlation between heterosemy and frequency,but there is a significant difference between them. It is found that the correlation between heterosemy and frequency in analytic languages like Modern Chinese and Modern English results from the competing motivations of economy and iconicity in communication,and that CCD5 minimized the number of multi-category lexemes by following the principle of parsimony,creating a false impression that the percentage of heterosemy in Modern Chinese is far lower than that in Modern English.