关于英语“否定”的若干理论问题的探讨

A STUDY OF SOME THEORETICAL PROBLEMS OF NEGATION IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

英语的否定形式和否定意义极为复杂。因此在两者之间,即在表层结构和深层结构之间会产生某些矛盾现象。当代语法学家关于'否定范围'和'否定中心'的理论对于揭示否定句的深层意义有着极大的指导作用和实用价值。英语'否定'往往受到言者或笔者心理的支配和修饰手段的影响,与逻辑相悖。英语否定词在句中通常尽早出现而且为句子的谓语动词所吸引,在某些特殊情况下还可转移到句子的其他部位,而否定中心可根据需要使用不同语调任意落到句子不同部位。

Negation in the English Language is complicated in form and meaning, thus causing certain contradictions between superstructure and deep structure. Theories of 'Scope of Negation' and 'Focus of Negation' are particularly valuable in guiding people to go deep into the inner meaning of certain patterns of negation. The negative form and negative sense often depend on how the speaker's or writer's mind works and on how he makes use of rhetoric and hence results in a conflict with logic. The negative word or element tends to appear in the sentence as early as possible, to be attracted to the verb of the sentence, and , in some particular cases, to be transferred to somewhere else in the sentence. And the focus of negation may fall on different parts of the sentence according to different intonations as required.