新的认知话语分析方法——评《语言、空间与意识:用几何概念分析话语意义》

A New Cognitive Discourse Analysis Approach: Review of Language,Space and Mind: The Conceptual Geometry of Linguistic Meaning

《语言、空间与意识:用几何概念分析话语意义》一书是由英国兰卡斯特大学语言学研究中心名誉教授Paul Chilton撰写完成的。在这本书中,他发展了一种新的认知话语分析方法“话语空间理论”(Discourse Space Theory),即用简单的几何理论构成理论框架,研究话语意义。在作者看来,图像比语言更加清晰,书中所有的坐标系图表都是基于基础的几何概念构建的,其中,几何向量代表的指向、到达和注意等含义,共同构建抽象的三维立体空间,即作者所述的指代空间。该书在某些方面论述不够系统,也有些观点存在争议,不过这正是学术争鸣的体现。

The work Language,Space and Mind:The Conceptual Geometry of Linguistic Meaning is written by Dr.Paul Chilton,Emeritus Professor in linguistics at the University of Lancaster,UK.He explores a new cognitive discourse analysis theory-Discourse Space Theory,which proposes a theoretical framework based on simple geometric principles.The author thought the visual was clearer than the verbal and the diagrams in the book were based on elementary geometrical ideas.We can think of reaching,pointing and attention in terms of geometrical vectors that are meant to evoke the abstract three-dimensional space (deictic space).The work displays inconsistency in methods or ideas,which is a sign of thriving academics.