关于语义学比较法的讨论

Discussion about the Semantical Comparatve Mechod

语义学比较法是邢公畹教授1994年提出的一种利用语言间的深层语义对应规律鉴定同源词,确定语言亲属关系的方法。该方法提出后得到很多学者的支持,也有一些学者提出了质疑、建议。本文从这些批评、建议中归纳出几个问题进行讨论:同音异义字是否可能一起借入另一个语言;关于偶合问题;朝鲜、日本、越南语中的汉语借词都可以和汉语中古音形成漂亮的深层对应吗?语义比较法和语音比较法的关系;关于语义学比较法的缺陷。

The semantical comparative method was initiated by Xing Gongwan in 1994 in order to judge cognate words and to illustrate the genetic relationship by deep semantic correspondence law among languages. The method has been supported by many scholars, but there are also some scholars who oppugn it or make suggestions to it . This paper discusses five problems induced from those critical comments, as follows: the possibility that homonymous words can be loaned by another language all together; coincidence problem; whether a perfect deep correspondence can come into being or not between Chinese loan words in Korean, Japanese , Vietnamese and Middle Chinese Phonology; the relations between the semantical comparative method and the phonological comparative method; the weakness of the semantical comparative method.