动用颜色词行为全貌的动态历时演变——以“红”“白”“黑”为例

Towards a Dynamic Behavioral Profile of the Chinese Verbalized Color Words:A Case Study of“Hong/Red”“Bai/White”and“Hei/Black”

基于语料库语言学中的行为全貌(BP)研究范式,本研究纳入MDS(多维尺度测量)分析法,对汉语中最为典型的“红”“白”“黑”三个颜色词动用形式的历时演变进行对比分析,探究三个词不同时期的全貌特征、典型义演变路径及其内在的认知机制和理据。研究表明,颜色词动用后表示“事物颜色变化的动态过程”(物理义)以及“人物某情感变化的心理过程”(情感义),且主要表达情感的消极义。根据语料统计,发展至今,动用“红”更倾向于与人及人体部位相连,表人物情感的动态变化;而动用“黑”“白”倾向于与具体事物相连,表事物颜色变化的动态过程;这与中华民族的文化认知有很大关系。颜色词动用的认知机制主要为转喻,其语义的“产生—拓展—固化”及再循环过程也是“范畴化与非范畴化”理论的有力阐释。

This study made a comparative analysis of the diachronic evolution of the most typical color words—“hong/red”“bai/white”and“hei/black”in Chinese by means of a corpus-based dynamic behavioral profile(BP)analysis.It aimed to explore these verbalized color words’features of behavioral profile,typical meanings’evolution paths and their internal cognitive mechanisms and motivations in different historical periods.The results showed that the verbalized color words are mainly used to express“the dynamic process of color change of things”(physical meaning)and“the psychological process of emotional change of people”(emotional meaning),which are mainly negative emotions.According to the corpus statistics,up to now,the verbalized“hong/red”is more likely to be connected with people or human parts to express the dynamic changes of people’s emotions;while the verbalized“hei/black”and“bai/white”tend to be connected with specific things,showing the dynamic process of things’color change,which is closely related to the Chinese cultural cognition.The cognitive mechanism of verbalized color words is mainly metonymy,and the process of“new meanings’generation,expansion,solidification and recycling”is also a powerful explanation of“categorization and decategorization”theory.