叙事语篇的多层次语义结构

Multi-level Semantic Structure in Narrative

在话语分析领域中已经有几种有影响的语篇结构理论 ,如Labov的叙事结构理论 ,Halliday和Hasan的语类结构潜势理论。这些理论勾勒的语篇结构只含若干成分或阶段 ,仅对语篇作线形描述。但是叙事语篇不仅讲述故事 ,而且作为社会实践具有社会意义以及体现语篇意图的主题。这说明叙事语篇具有三个层次的语义结构。本文试图从功能理论出发 ,通过对三则叙事语篇的分析 ,验证叙事语篇的这三个语义层次 ,说明这三个意义层次如何体现整体语境中不同层次 ,如何与语境配置中的三个因素相对应 ,又如何为词汇语法特征所体现。

There have been several models setting out the structure of a genre, which consists of a series of linearly sequenced elements or stages, for instance, narrative structure (Labov 1972), and generic structure potentials (Hallidy & Hasan 1985). However, a narrative does not merely tell a story. As social practice, it has its social significance and, with its intentionality, offers an explanation or gives a moral. This suggests that a narrative has three levels of meaning. This paper is an attempt to bring out the multi level semantic structure in the light of functional theory by analyzing a short text, a short story and a novel. The findings in the analyses show how the first two levels of meaning are determined by the physical context, and how the deep meaning is constrained by the cognitive context. The paper also shows how the three levels of meaning center round the three contextual factors, and how they are realized by different features in lexico-grammar.