英语味觉词词义演变的规律、动因及其对英语词汇习得的启示

The Rules and Motivations of the Meaning Extensions of English Taste Words and the Implications for English Vocabulary Acquisition

随着词义的不断演变和拓展,英语味觉词成为了典型的多义词,其词义演变的规律为:由味觉感知义向听觉、视觉、嗅觉、心理等其他感知义拓展;由味觉感知义向非感知义拓展。英语味觉词词义演变的动因既包括外部动因,又包括认知动因。其中,外部动因主要包括社会文化的不断发展、弥补语言表达空缺的需求、对特殊语用效果的追求;认知动因主要包括通感隐喻的认知规律、以身喻心的认知方式、以身体经验来理解和认识外界事物的认知规律。这些研究对英语词汇习得具有重要的启示作用。在英语词汇学习中,教师可积极引导学生深入探究词汇意义演变的规律及动因,全面掌握词汇意义发展的过程及理据,从而使学生对所学词汇的意义不仅能知其然,还能知其所以然,有效提高词汇学习的效率。

With the gradual meaning extensions,English taste words have become typical polysemous words.The meaning extension rules of English taste words mainly include:the meaning extensions from senses of gustatory perception to other perceptual senses of auditory perception,visual perception,olfactory perception and mental perception respectively;and the meaning extensions from senses of gustatory perception to the non-perceptual senses.The motivations of the meaning extensions of English taste words include both external motivations and cognitive motivations.The external motivations mainly include the motivation of social development,the motivation of filling the expressive vacuum,and the motivation of achieving special expressive effects.The cognitive motivations mainly include human beings’cognitive pattern of synaesthesia metaphor,human beings’cognitive pattern of Mind-as-Body metaphor,and human beings’cognitive pattern of understanding the external things with physical experiences.These findings have important implications for English vocabulary acquisition.The teacher can actively guide students to explore the rules and motivations of the meaning extensions of English words,which are helpful for the students to understand the processes and reasons of the meaning development of English words,so that the students are able to know what the meanings are as well as the reasons why these meanings come into being,and the efficiency of vocabulary acquisition can be greatly increased.