从对外汉语教学看英汉语言的信息定位——以“他高”和“他个子高”为例

A Viewpoint on Information Identification in English and Chinese: Refl ected from “ta gao” and “ta gezi gao” in Chinese as a Second Language

本文试图解释以英语为L1(第一语言)的初学者在学习"他高""他个子高"这类语言现象时产生困惑的原因。由于"两次分类"的不同,不同语言的词汇具有不同的语义值,不同语言词法和句法上不存在一一对应的关系。在概念范围上,汉语的"高"大致相当于英语的tall、high,汉语在词法上采取综合方式,通过句法手段缩窄主话题(或大主语)范围实现信息定位。L2(第二语言)学习者由于已经熟练地掌握了L1,受制于已经建立的L1概念和词汇系统,L2与概念之间只能是弱连接的关系,因此,初学者在提取和学习L2概念时,往往需要通过L1寻找对等体,通过对等体的翻译来学习L2,这就会造成学习L2时产生偏误。要完成并成功学习到新的L2则依赖于新概念的提取和重构,但这又受到语言类型的制约。

This paper tries to explain the reasons why English speakers find 'ta gao'( 他高) and 'ta gezi gao'( 他个子高) and such-like linguistic phenomena confusing when they begin to learn Chinese. Because of the differences regarding the 'two classifications', lexicons in different languages have different semantic values, and the lexical items and syntactic structures demonstrate no one-to-one correspondence. In terms of its conceptual scope, 'gao'( 高) in Chinese has two equivalents in English, i.e. tall and high. As the lexical meanings of Chinese words are synthetic, syntactic means are employed to narrow down the main topic(or superordinate subject), which help with information identification. For L2 learners who have already established proficient L1 conceptual and lexical systems, the link between L2 items and their concepts is weak. Therefore, when extracting and learning L2 concepts, beginners usually need to find their equivalents in L1 and learn L2 through translation of the equivalents, which results in errors. Completion of and success in L2 learning will rely on the extracting and restructuring of new concepts, which however is confined by the language type.