语义韵研究的理论增长点——构式语法视角

Combining Semantic Prosody Research with Construction Grammar:A New Theoretical Growth Point

语义韵研究采用基于语料库的社会—文化量化研究路径。研究以词汇语法描写为主旨,对语义韵现象未能做出整体一致的解释,且于语言学理论构建贡献有限。本文从构式语法视角重新阐释语义韵及意义单位和语义偏好等相关概念,以拓宽其研究领域,提升理论价值。本文认为:1)语义韵的本质即构式义;2)作为意义单位的"节点词+搭配词"型式即构式;3)语义韵非语义偏好的抽象,语义偏好为(构素)词汇义,语义韵为构式义;4)语义韵依附构式,对语境和文本类型敏感。研究将证明构式语法解释能避免传统解释中的诸多流弊,形成一个合理自洽的理论模型,并为语义韵研究提供新的理论增长点。

Given its corpus-based quantitative sociocultural underpinnings, the typical semantic prosody （SP） research aims at lexicogrammatical profile. It has neither given a consistent account of its observations nor made a substantive contribution to linguistic theorizing and model-building. In this paper we re-examine semantic prosody and the attendant concepts, i.e. ＂unit of meaning＂ and ＂semantic preference＂, from a constructionist perspective, in an attempt to extend this line of research and improve its theoretical value. Our account consists of four claims ： 1 ） SP is an aspect of constructional meaning; 2） Units of meaning in the form of ＂node ＋ collocates＂ are essentially constructions in nature; 3 ） SP differs from semantic preference inso- far as the former is constructional whereas the latter （intra-constructionally） lexical; 4） SP is tied to specific constructions and is therefore as context-sensitive as is the constructional meaning, This paper demonstrates that a constructionist reinterpretation presents a coherent account and avoids vagaries and problems produced by the traditional approach. It also shows that adopting the Construction Grammar perspective affords a new theoretical arowth voint for SP reseamh.