汉语词汇的理据性新探

Newly-Exploration of the Motivations of Chinese Words

瑞士著名语言学家索绪尔曾经指出 ,汉语中无理据的词占绝对的优势。这种说法并不符合汉语的实际。首先汉语中尤其是现代汉语中存在着大量的合成词 ,合成词的理据是显而易见的。其次 ,汉语单纯词中有大量的派生词 ,派生词的音义来源于它的源词 ,因而也是有理据的。而作为派生词的源词的原生词则是我们的祖先通过用发音器官摹拟事物的声音、外部形状、动作行为等方式创造出来的 。

The famous Switzerland linguist Saussure pointed out that the unmotivated words occupy an absolutely dominant position in quantity in Chinese language. That does not tally with the actual situation of Chinese language. For, first, there are many compound words in Chinese, and the motivations of them are very obvious. Secondly, there are many derivatives in Chinese single-morpheme words, and both the sounds and the meanings of them derived from their cognations, so they are motivated words, too. Those original words, the cognations of the derivatives, are built by imitating the sounds, the shapes, the actions and the movement of things with the speech organs, so they are also motivated words.