从梅·萨藤日记看衰老对语言使用的影响

The Effect of Aging on Language Use through an Analysis of May Sarton's Journals

本文利用LIWC词频统计软件,统计美国作家梅·萨藤在57-82岁期间撰写出版的8本日记中5个文本参数的词频数量及其变化趋势,通过定性分析与语料解读,考察作者的语言使用及日记风格如何受衰老的影响而变化、变化的程度及其原因。结果显示:衰老对句子长度和连词的使用影响不大,而对介词、冠词和大词等使用有明显影响,主要由于衰老所导致的身体阈限和无能为力影响了作者的生存空间、生活关注、对所讨论话题的疏离程度、类别化思维、抽象思维以及认知能力等。

Based on the statistical results of LIWC software, this thesis analyzes 5 dimensions of language use in the eight journals by May Sarton from age 57 to 82, exploring how or to what extent her language use and writing style may vary with age and the underlying reasons. The results suggest that aging has little effect on sentence length and Sarton＇s use of conjunctions, but has obvious effect on her use of prepositions, articles and words of more than 6 letters, mainly because aging has resulted in her change of survival space, life focus, the extent of detachment from her topics, her abstract and categorical thinking ability as well as cognitive ability.