汉语中的概念转喻及其语法学后果

Conceptual metonymy in Chinese and its grammatical consequences

本文主要讨论概念转喻对于汉语语法及其研究的影响。首先梳理从修辞上的借代一直到概念转喻、认知转喻和语法转喻等概念,接着从语法分析的目的(揭示语言形式与语言意义之间的关系)的角度,举例说明引入认知转喻理论有助于解释语法形式与语法意义之间错综复杂的对应关系;还举例说明考虑到词语的转喻用法,可以让我们对词语的词类属性与有关句法表现之间的扭曲关系有更加深入和透彻的认识。然后,指出在解释"他(的佣人)是个日本女人"一类句子时,转喻学说比省略学说更加简单可靠;还从指称的"角色与值"理论的角度,解释诸多由转喻造成的句法结构与语义解释不对称现象。最后,举例说明从语法到修辞表达到处都有概念转喻,语言研究不能无视转喻这头在屋里走来走去的大象。

This paper probes into the conceptual metonymy in Chinese and its major influence over studies on Chinese grammar. First of all, a number of concepts are reviewed, including rhetoric metonymy, conceptual metonymy, and grammatical metonymy. Secondly, provided that grammatical analysis aims to reveal the relation between the form and the meaning of language, the introduction of a theory of cognitive metonymy is exemplified to be conducive to the explanation of the complex mappings between grammatical forms and grammatical meanings; in addition, examples are also used to show that, taking into consideration the metonymic use of words, we are enabled to obtain a deeper and thorough understanding of the distorted or skewed relations between the typical properties of lexical items and their relevant syntactic performance. Thirdly, it is also pointed out that, in explaining sentences like Ta （de yongren） shi Riben nuren （His [servants] is a Japanese woman）, a theory of metonymy is more applicable than a theory of ellipsis; furthermore, a number of metonymy-induced asymmetrical phenomena between syntactic structures and semantic interpretations are also explained in terms of reference from a theoretical perspective of the ＂role and value＂ of reference. Finally, it is exemplified that conceptual metonymy exists everywhere from grammar to rhetorics; therefore, language research cannot ignore the elephant in the room-metonymy.