论语义阻碍在英语词位构成三个层面的表现

On the Manifestations of Semantic Blocking at Three Levels of the Composition of English Lexeme

英语的词位构成可以从宏观、中观和微观三个视角来观察。将英语中的语义阻碍现象纳入词位构成系统来研究,可以方便地看到语义阻碍现象的各种表现形式及结果。宏观层面的语义阻碍是对受阻词位的彻底抑制,中观层面的语义阻碍往往是对某一词位理论上应具有的某一义项的抑制,而微观层面的语义阻碍则是词位屈折变化中不规则变化对规则变化的阻碍。语义阻碍不同于语义限制,前者发生在一个事实上存在的词和另一潜在的词之间,而后者则发生在单词内部,指的是词内的各构成语素之间存在语义上矛盾,从而使得该词位不能成立。语义阻碍还可能渗透到句法之中。深入观察语义阻碍看似失效的种种情况有助于提高中国英语学习者对英语词汇及词义的深刻理解和精准运用。

The composition of an English lexeme can be observed from macro, meso and micro perspectives. The study of English semantic blocking within the system of lexeme composition facilitates the observation of its various manifestations and consequences. From the macroscopic perspective,semantic blocking results in the total non-existence of the blocked lexeme, from the mesoscopic perspective, semantic blocking gives rise to the non-existence of usually one putative sense of the lexeme in question, and from the microscopic perspective, semantic blocking leads to the blocking of a lexeme's regular inflectional changes by its irregular inflectional changes. Different from semantic restriction, which prevents the existence of a putative lexeme on account of the internal contradiction between the morphemes within the given lexeme, semantic blocking normally happens between actual and potential words. Semantic blocking may also spread to the level of syntax. A deep observation of the various seeming exceptions in the study of semantic blocking contributes to the Chinese English learners' deep understanding and accurate use of English words and their meanings.