基于语料库的英汉存现式施事宾语句对比研究

A Corpus-Based Contrastive Study of English and Chinese Existential Agentive Object Sentences

本研究采用定量和定性相结合的研究方法,通过统计分析语料库语料,对比研究英汉存现式施事宾语句的句法和语义,并从认知视角解释二者的异同。研究发现,英汉存现式施事宾语句语义和句法功能类同,其差异主要有两种:一是英语存现式施事宾语句里,动词后的名词短语遵循更严格的"定指限制"制约,以非定指性名词短语为主,而在汉语里,"定指限制"相对宽松,动词后非定指性和定指性名词短语所占比例无显著性差异;二是英语存现式施事宾语句句法结构更加多样化,方位短语的位置灵活,可位于句首、句中和句尾,但以句尾位置居多,而汉语存现式施事宾语句的结构单一,方位短语固定于句首。本研究认为,二者差异的根本缘由在于英汉民族在思维层面上的不同时空取向。

Based on statistical analysis of corpus data and with a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods,the present research tries to contrast the syntax and semantics of English and Chinese existential agentive object sentences,and to explain their similarities and differences from a cognitive perspective.It finds that the semantics and syntactic functions of these English and Chinese sentences are both similar and different.Their main differencs lie in two aspects:First,in English existential agentive object sentences,the post-verbal noun phrase follows the stricter'definiteness restriction',i.e.the majority of noun phrases are indefinite;while in Chinese,the restriction is relatively weak and there is a very narrow gap between the proportion of definite noun phrases and that of indefinite ones;Second,the syntactic structure of English existential agentive object sentences is more diversified,and the position of the locative phrase is flexible:it can show up at the beginning,in the middle,or at the end of the sentence,but most of them are at the end,whereas the structure of Chinese existential agentive object sentences is single,and the locative phrase is fixed at the beginning of the sentence.This research holds that the root cause of such differences lies in the English people’s preference for temporality and the Chinese people’s preference for spatiality in their different modes of thinking.