如何解释语言的“功能”

How to explain the “function” of language

语言学研究中的形式主义学派与功能主义学派自上世纪末以来开始展开对话,但双方误解依旧。本文基于心智哲学视角,通过分析功能主义在解释语言等心智现象时面临的困境,论证了功能主义语言学的解释局限。论文进一步提出应区分语言功能解释的两个不同层面:常识与科学,这两者分别对应于语言研究中的功能主义与形式主义;两者在研究中彼此自主,却又互为补充,共同构成了对语言生物功能的解释。

Dialogues have appeared between formalists and functionalists in linguistic studies since the end of last century, yet misunderstandings still exist. From the perspective of philosophy of mind, this paper discusses the predicament in mind explanation and reveals the limitation of functionalist explanation in linguistics.It further posits that explanations of language generally fall into two layers: common sense explanation and scientific explanation, corresponding to functionalism and formalism in linguistic study respectively. Despite the fact that the two schools of research are autonomous to each other, the so-called functionalist-formalist dichotomy, is in fact a continuum, both contributing to an integrated account of natural language as a bio logical object.