动词的目的义及其在词典释义中的处理

Action and Purpose:The Interpretation of Action Verbs in Chinese Dictionaries

本文讨论动词的目的义。动词的目的义可分为制作义、去除义、附着义、使移动、使发声、使变化、使锋利、使美观、自杀义、"表示"义和其他类十一种语义类型。有的动词含有两个或两个以上语义类型的目的义,因此存在着动词目的义的兼类。就动词的动作义和目的义而言,含有目的义的及物动词,有的只能带同一类名词做宾语,这是因为动作义和目的义所带的宾语相同;有的可以带两类不同的名词做宾语,这是因为动作义和目的义所带的宾语不同。认识到这一点对确定宾语的语义类型有一定的帮助。含有目的义的动词,其动作义的释义有五种处理方式:说明描写的释义方式、"用××的动作/方式/办法"的释义方式、"用+工具+同义动词"的释义方式、"用+工具"的释义方式、只释出目的义不释出动作义的释义方式。动词目的义的性质有四种:语境目的义、蕴含目的义、词汇目的义、规约目的义,其中词汇目的义、规约目的义在词典释义中往往是可以也需要解释出来的。文章最后列举了对"通、褪、涂"三个词的动作义的增补和对"休息、坐、拖、腌、撬"五个词的目的义的增补,说明《现代汉语词典》的释义在不断修订中更趋完善。

This paper claims that an adequate account of the meaning of action verbs in Chinese often relies on a clear indication of the purpose of the action expressed by the verb in dictionary interpretation.However,it should also be pointed out that action verbs themselves might not contain any element conveying the meaning of purpose,though the meaning of purpose is often associated with the action denoted by the verb.This explains why the purpose meaning of the verb can be negated if the purpose is not fulfilled in the actual situation.Although an action verb is often associated with a purpose,the meaning of purpose may not always be stated in the interpretation of the meaning of the verb.Purpose meanings associated with action verbs may be classified into four types.In the first type,the purpose meaning of the action is not determined by the verb,but by the context.In this case,the purpose meaning need not be stated in the interpretation of the meaning of the verb in the dictionary.In the second type,the purpose meaning of the action is implied by the semantics of the verb.Under this situation,one can choose either not to state the purpose of the action expressed by the verb or to illustrate the meaning of the verb with a description of the purpose associated with the action denoted by the verb in dictionary interpretation.In the third type,the purpose meaning should be considered as part of the lexical semantics of the verb,and it is often the case that there is a fixed causal relationship between the action denoted by the verb and the purpose of the action.In this case,it may become impossible to account for the meaning of the verb without stating the purpose of the action described by the verb.In the fourth type,the purpose meaning associated with the action of the verb is derived from some social conventions.As different cultures may have different conventions,it is thus necessary to state the conventional meaning in the interpretation of the meaning of the verb.In the end,this paper uses concrete examples from The Contemporary Chinese Dictionary to illustrate how to interpret the meaning of action verbs by making reference to the purpose of the action.