词义引申的本质:词音借用

Borrowing of Word Sound: The Nature of Meaning Extension

正如文字中有符号的借用,语言中也有符号的借用,词义引申的过程实际上就是语言符号借用的过程。甲词由义项A引申出义项B,实质是借用甲词的词音创造出词义为B的乙词。词音借用的同时会伴随有相应的字形借用,即会将记录甲词的字形也一道借用过来记录新产生的乙词。正如文字中字形借用后可能会发生字形分化,语言中词音借用后也可能发生词音分化;由于词音借用伴随有字形借用,因而随后还可能发生相应的字形分化。

Just as borrowing of character in writing system, borrowing of sound also exists in language system, which is the nature of the lexical sematic evolution. When we say a new meaning is extended from an old one of a word, the truth is that, the sound of the word is borrowed to create a new word, with the character recording the old word also borrowed to record the new word. Just as differentiation may happen after character borrowing in writing system, it would also happen after sound borrowing in language system. Since character borrowing is always accompanied with sound borrowing, character differentiation may happen after sound borrowing.