汉语新创定中结构“舌尖上的X”的语义分析

On the Novel Chinese Modifier-Head Construction Shejian Shang de X:An Analysis of Meaning Construction

自从纪录片《舌尖上的中国》在2012年5月播映以来,类似“舌尖上的俄罗斯/世界/奥林匹克/安全”大量涌现,逐渐汇聚成一个新创的定中结构“舌尖上的X”,成为现代汉语演变的一个具体示例。本研究旨从认知语言学视角分析该结构的意义建构过程。调查与分析表明:(1)不论语义上还是句法上,“舌尖上的X”不同于汉语中的典型结构“PP de X”;(2)“舌尖上的X”作为一个定中结构在中心语X的选择上表现出范畴多样性(名词、动词或形容词),因而扩展了汉语名词化的辖域,同时触发了结构上的语义多样性;(3)该结构的非组构性特征主要源于定语成分“舌尖”和“上”,所以往往需要作出隐喻和转喻识解;(4)整体上看,该结构是由两个不同组织框架(作为身体部分的舌尖框架和作为动态变化中的抽象实体X框架)构成的一个双域网络。定语和中心语的表层语义失和唯有通过概念整合才能得以解决,从而衍生出整个结构的新创义,即与舌尖功能相关的X。

Since the documentary A Bite of China(i.e.Shejian shang de Zhongguo(《舌尖上的中国》),where shejian shang literally means“on the tip of the tongue”),was broadcast in May 2012,a great number of expressions like shejian shang de Russia/world/Olympics/safety have begun to gradually converge into a novel modifier-head construction shejian shang de X,illustrating a typical evolution of modern Chinese.This study aims to analyze the construction’s meaning from the perspective of cognitive linguistics.Our investigation and analysis indicate that(1)shejian shang de X differs from the classic Chinese construction PP de X in both semantics and syntax;(2)as a modifier-head construction,shejian shang de X shows its variations in the head X’s multiple category options(noun,verb and adjective),therefore extending the scope of nominalization in Chinese and simultaneously triggering the construction’s diversified meanings;(3)the construction’s noncompositionality results mainly from its modifier components shejian and shang and is in general construed metonymically and metaphorically;(4)as a whole,the construction is a double-scope network consisting of two different organizing frames:the frame of shejian(“tip of the tongue”),a body part term and the frame of X,a dynamically changing entity(physical or abstract).The surface semantic incompatibility between the modifier and the head can be solved only by virtue of conceptual blending,producing the novel meaning[X relevant to the function of the tip of the tongue]of the whole construction.