语义韵

TowardsanUnderstandingofSemanticProsodyYoushallknowawordbythecompanyitkeeps.—J.R.FirthSignificance•Theoretically:SPisafundamentalaspectoftheidiomorphraseologicalprincipleoflanguageproductionandinterpretation,inparticularprovidingconvincingevidenceofhowelementsofmeaning“huntinpacks”(i.e.theco-selectionprinciple).•Practically:anawarenessofSPcanbeinvaluableforthetranslatorandlanguagelearnerindistinguishingamongitemsconsideredtobesynonymsortranslationequivalents.E.g.“Yourkindhelpcausedmysuccessintheexam.”“Iwouldliketothankmysupervisorforhispersistenthelpandadvice.”•(Morley&Partington2009)Variousdefinitions•Semanticprosodyisthe“consistentauraofmeaningwithwhichaformisimbuedbyitscollocates”(Louw,1993:157)关键词项的典型搭配词在其语境中营造起的语义氛围•Asemanticprosodyisattitudinal,andonthepragmaticsideofthesemantics/pragmaticscontinuum.…Itexpressessomethingclosetothe“function”oftheitem–itshowshowtherestoftheitemistobeinterpretedfunctionally.Withoutit,thestringofwordsjust“means”–itisnotputtouseinaviablecommunication.(Sinclair,1996:87-88)•Semanticprosodyis“thespreadingofconnotationalcolouringbeyondsinglewordboundaries”.(Partington,1998:68)•Asemanticprosodyreferstoaformofmeaningwhichisestablishedthroughtheproximityofaconsistentseriesofcollocates,oftencharacterisableaspositiveornegative,andwhoseprimaryfunctionistheexpressionoftheattitudeofitsspeakerorwritertowardssomepragmaticsituation.(Louw,2000:56)•SemanticprosodyreferstoPOS/NEGconnotationaswellasmorecomplexattitudinalconnotations,affectingbothsinglewordsandlargerunitsofmeaningsuchasphrases,i.e.concernsboth‘traditional’connotation(saidtorelatetosinglewords)and‘prosodic’connotation(connotationthatis“distributedprosodicallyacrossatextualsequence”)(Bednarek,2008)Origin•Theterm“semanticprosody”wasfirstusedinprintandintroducedtothepublicbyLouw(1993)whocreditedSinclairwithitscoinage(“personalcommunication1988”).•Theterm“prosody”wasborrowedfromFirthwhousedit,asin“prosodicphonology”,torefertophonologicalcoloringwhichwascapableoftranscendingsegmentalboundaries.E.g.Amen:thevowelsareimbuedwithanasalqualitybecauseoftheirproximitytothenasalsmandn.(Louw,1993)•TheconceptofSPwasdevelopedbypost-Firthiancorpuslinguists--Sinclair,Louw,Stubbs,PartingtonandHunston.Clarification•Q1:IsSPthesameasconnotation?–Semanticprosodiesarenotmerelyconnotational.Whereasknowledgeofconnotationsisoftenaformofschematicknowledgeofrepeatableevents,semanticprosodiesaremorestrictlyfunctionalorattitudinal.(Louw,2000)–Connotationisafeatureofasingleword/item,whileSPresidesinthecollocationalpatternsofitemsinatext.Connotationismoreevidentandlesshidden/sutblethanSP.(Morley&Partington,2009)–E.g.wedding,funeralv.s.happen/buildup•Q2:What’stherelationshipbetweensemanticprosodyandsemanticpreference?–Sinclair’smodelofELU(extendedlexicalunits):Theunitsofmeaningaresomewherebetweenwordsandsentences.“Sostrongaretheco-occurrencetendenciesofwords,wordclasses,meaningsandattitudesthatwemustwidenourhorizonsandexpecttheunitsofmeaningstobemuchmoreextensiveandvariedthanisseeninasingleword.”(Sinclair,1996)Acompoundlexicalitem/ELUwithfourparameters--fromconcretetoabstract:collocation,colligation,semanticpreferenceandsemanticprosodyE.g.“thenakedeye”Collocation:N-1:with,to;N-2:see,visible,invisible;N-3:evident,undetectableColligation:preposition+thenakedeyeSemanticpreference:visibilitySemanticprosody:difficulty(throughalargercontext)Compoundlexicalitem/ELU:visibility+preposition+thenakedeye–Semanticpreferenceismoreconcreteandcollocationallydetectablethansemanticprosody.Semanticpreferencerelatesthenodeitemtoanotheritemfromaparticularsemanticset,whilesemanticprosodyisanabstractionfromwiderstretchesoftext.–Theyinteractwitheachother:Spreference,contributespowerfullytobuildingSprosody;Sprosodydictatesthegeneralenvironmentwhichconstrainsthepreferentialchoicesofthenodeitem.(Partington,2004)E.g.undergo•Semanticpreference:medicine(treatment,hysterectomy,brainsurgeryetc.),tests(examinations,training)andchange(dramaticchanges,ahistorictransformationamongothers);involuntariness(must,forcedtoandrequiredto)•Semanticprosody:NEG•Q3:IsSPsimplyatwo-termsystemaseitherPOSorNEG?–Stubbs:NEG;POS;neutral/mixedprosody(Stubbs,1996)–Aftersomeinitialconfusion,corpuslinguistshavereachedageneralagreementinappreciatingthePOS-NEGdistinctionattheheartofthenotionofSP.ThePOS-NEGdistinctionistheessentialsimplicityattheheartofacomplexsystem.(Partington,2004)e.g.place—informalinvitation(Sinclair,1996)–Caution:NEGcollocatesdon’tnecessarilyresultinNEGSP.e.g.alleviate,heal,relieve•Q4:IsSPalexicalfeatureoradiscoursefunction?–TwowaysofviewingSP:thelexicalprimingperspectivevs.thediscoursalperspective1.SPisassociatedwiththelexicalitemandexpressesitselfinpatternsofco-occurrence.Lexicalitemscarrywiththemasetofsuggestionsonhowtousethem,onhowtheynormallyinteractwithotheritems—theyhave“primings”(Hoey).AmongtheseistheSP.2.Fromanotherperspective,SPisdefinableastheevaluativeintentofthespeaker,i.e.theattitudes/hehastothetopicinanyindividualtextfragment.TheoverallSPchoicedictatesthelowerchoicesofphraseologyandlex