英语语言学语言决定论？文化强势说!

语言决定论？文化强势说！,2,1 Sapir-Whorf假说,1.1此假说的主要内容有两点：（1）语言决定论，即主张语言的结构决定思维的结构，语言支配思维，决定人的认识；（2）语言的关联性，即说不同语言的人有不同的思维结构，不同的语言有不同的决定认识的方式。,3,1.2 Sapir-Whorf假说的验证,1.2.1编码能力与再认 编码能力是指语言符号的效力（可用性）。有些颜色是很容易编码的，例如光亮的纯红。在英语中，这种颜色可以用一个单音节的词来编码，所以人们能很快地说出它的名字“red”；同时，许多人会一致地用同一个词“red”来命名这种颜色；还有，当人们在下次再看到这种颜色时，也会倾向于对它说出这个名称。但是，对于那种梨核内壁的“绿褐色”的颜色来说，情况就不同了，它是一种很不容易编码的颜色。因此，可以说，前一语言符号的可用性大，后一语言符号的可用性小。也就是它们的编码能力是不同的。 编码能力与思维的某种特定的尺度，即再认应该是有关的。人们对高度可编码的颜色如红色的再认，是十分精确的；而对低度编码的颜色如梨核内部的颜色的再认并不十分精确。简而言之，语言中差异与思维中的差异是有联系的。,4,1.2.2语言和分类 卡罗尔等研究那伐鹤族儿童对客体进行分类的方式。在实验中，他们总共给儿童10对客体，每次给一对，如带色的木块，木棍或一段绳子等。每一对客体有两种属性是彼此不同的，如黄色的绳子和蓝色的棍子，然后，再给儿童第三个客体，如蓝色的绳子，并要求这些儿童指出，上述那一对客体中，哪一个成员与新的第三个客体相一致。在那伐鹤语里，根据动词的客体是刚性的（如一根棍子）还是柔性的（如一根绳子），使用不同的动词词尾。所以，预计那伐鹤族儿童会把黄绳子同蓝绳子分在一起，因为研究者认为语言中重要的东西是会反映在思维中的。 说那伐鹤语的一组儿童，把蓝绳子和黄绳子分在一起，而说英语的儿童则把蓝绳子和蓝棍子分在一起。这就是说，前者是根据形状来分类的；后者是根据颜色来分类的。这一研究结果说明，语言确实影响着儿童的认知方式。,5,1.2.3形状名称对认知的影响,实验用的刺激是一些画有各种图片，被试分为甲乙两组。给两组被试呈现同一张图片，但分别给予两个不同的客体名称；然后，要求两组被试分别重画这些图形。比如说，给被试呈现的图片画的是，中间一条短直线连着的两个圆圈。给甲组被试呈现该刺激时，告诉他们说“眼镜”；给乙组被试呈现该刺激时，告诉他们说“哑铃”。稍后，要求被试重画这个图形。结果发现，甲组被试画出来的图中间的线是弯的，与原来的图相比更像一副眼镜了；乙组被试画出来的图中间的线是粗而直的，比原来的图更像一副哑铃了。,6,1.3 Whorf 假说的问题与不足 1.3.1 夸大语言的功能，颠倒语言和文化的关系 在心理学上，无数不争的事实已经证明，认知具有前语言阶段（例如儿童）。认知的哲学基础是与客观相结合的经验现实主义。其经验源于人与自然和人与人的相互作用。换句话说，认知是语言的基础，而作为认知两大底座之一的文化，也就成了语言不可缺少的基础之一。 语言 认知 人与社会 人与自然（社会的，文化的） （物理的，生物的）,7,1.3.2 解释力有限 Sapir-Whorf假说只在词汇和语义方面具有一定的解释力。该假说的提出是基于对霍皮语（Hopi）词汇的研究。在霍皮语中，“雷电” “波涛” “火焰”等都是动词，进而认为不同语言中有不同的范畴和概念，再推论出不同语言使用者对客观世界的不同分析。作者只分析到此。众所周知对语言的研究必须涉及语音、语义、语法、语用等诸多方面而任何片面的涉足都不足以成就一个具有很强解释力、说服力的学说。由于该学说没有验证在语用、语音方面的解释能力，因而它的理论基础的解释力也将受到很大限制。,8,1.3.3 无法解释语言变异现象,Sapir-whorf hypothesis忽略了语言的历时变化，无法解释英语语音的变化以及其它发音特征的出现。我们知道,任何语言(包括英语)都会在其发展过程中不断发展变化。根据Sapir-whorf hypothesis，这种变化会影响人们对宇宙的看法也就是说英语双元音lunarlju：na为lu：n3会影响人们对月亮的看法或者说人们认为今天的月亮已经不是几百年前英国上空的月亮吗?科学的解释应该是：该现象源于人们生活节奏对语音的影响，生活节奏的快慢与发音时舌部和口腔的张弛度，开口度以及发音时间的长短都密切相关。“一味追求物质利益的观点仍然主宰着西方社会，其不幸的后果是生活节奏的不断加快”。,9,1.3.4语言不同并不表明人们对宇宙的看法不同 科学的历史证明，人对宇宙的看法几经变化，但并不是语言引起的科学的传播也不受语言界限的束缚。 综上所述SapirWhof假说虽然得到了语言学界和社会学界的承认甚至有人高呼“它以时代精神重建了被描写语言学所异化的语言本体论”。不可否认该假说使人们更深刻地感觉到了语言与思维和文化的关系但是否说语言真的对人们的思维具有直接和决定性的影响呢? 人类在追寻语言与思维、文化的关系中哪一方更本原更具有原推动力的问题时形成了诸多观点。很多语言学家认为，尽管语言与文化的关系很复杂，主体上占优势的却是文化，并且它在很大程度上影响了语言的结构。2 文化影响语言语言差异源于文化差异 文化作为语言的底座在交际环境中是作为行为模式的深层结构，规范和制约交际语言的。不同的文化在一定程度上影响着语言的结构 语言结构不但与文化有关，语言的使用形式也跟文化密切相关因此文化相对于语言具有强势作用。,10,2.1 文化差异对思维模式的影响 古代汉民族思维的一个主要特点是它的整体性。这种有机整体思维模式在古代汉语中的体现就是语句结构的散点铺排运动。所以综合法是汉民族常用的思维方法。 西方民族的思维的一个重要特点是扩张性。他们注重自然时空，而且偏重于空间的真实性。 这两种孑然不同的思维模式导致了汉英句法结构上差别很大。具体表现为：汉语句子的心理视点不是焦点透视而是散点的平铺。这种独特的视角着眼于内容完整的组织方法，用一个个语言块(词组)的流动铺排局势来完成内容表达的要求。“形散而神聚”。并通过“神”来统“形”是对汉语句法结构的本质的概括。英语句子却以限定动词为中心名词间彼此明确相互关系。这种句子格局的心理视点是一种焦点透视即以动词为核心，焦点透视周边的词，与其它词互为支撑，相辅相成内部组织呈严格的空间几何型。,11,2.2 文化差异导致交际模式的不同 2.2.1 词汇 词汇是语言的基本构成要素是语言大系统赖以存在的支柱。也是交际模式的核心成员。因此文化差异在该层面上表现也最为突出，涉及面也最为广泛 。中国封建社会里男尊女卑占据首要位置 这也促使了汉语中的表亲关系泾渭分明，表兄表弟，表姐表妹，区别甚严，既要说出性别，还要分清长幼。而英文却笼而统之，都称为Cousin，因为在西方，男女平等，社会地位相当，也就没必要这样细分。 2.2.2 语用推理 语用推理主要体现在以下几个方面：参与言语时间的方式特定的言语行为以及其实现方式，话题的提出和展开以及话语的调节方式。中国文化强调人的社会性强调社会群体对个人的约束，不突出个人和个性在语言上常倾向于谦虚、含蓄。这与西方社会以自我为中心强调独立的个性，推崇个人的成就孑然不同。,12,2.3 文化差异导致对语言技能的评价差异 不同的文化对社会成员的语言的技能评价也不一样。有的文化奉行“沉默是金”的策略， 崇尚语言简洁、明了 ，而有的文化却以为语言技巧是一个人的智慧和能力的表现。受这种文化差异的影响，布隆迪人在学英语时,常常趋向于大量堆彻词汇，娓娓道来，完全忽略了西方“Silence is gold，speech is silver”的理念。中国人长期受儒家思想的熏陶，严格遵守各类封建礼节，三纲五常。形形色色的条条款款、框框架架禁锢着人们的思想使我们的古人几乎形成了单一的、纯粹的“忠孝思想”。汉语的言简意赅结构严谨，正是这种思想在语言上的凝固它的实质是中国文化的浓缩和再现。2.4 文化差异导致两种文化致思途径的差异 汉语表地点、时间、修饰中心词的词序是由大到小，由远及近，由广及窄。英语的顺序则完全相反。 中国北京海淀区学院路15号 一九八八年十二月二十六日上午九点半,13,3 结论 文化影响语言，语言反映文化这是人们普遍接受的道理。由于“文化”表征着传统和信仰，所以我们一出生就浸润其中我们的一切行为包括语言也因此受这种文化制约。文化潜移默化地影响着我们的思想，我们却生活在思想规范之中。而语言则是人们思想规范的体现。在某个场合说什么话，或想说什么话常常依从文化习俗。这是任何语言的特色。同时文化又无时无刻不在影响语言使语言为了适应文化发展的需要而变得更加精确和缜密。而不同的文化群体又趋向于产生不同的语言结构。也就是说，语言的差异源于文化的差异并通过文化得以表现。,14,15,16,“Language is a means of verbal communication.”It is instrumental in that communicating by speaking or writing is a purposeful act. It is social and conventional in that language is a social semiotic and communication can only take place effectively if all the users share a broad understanding of human interaction including such associated factors as nonverbal cues, motivation, and socio-cultural roles. - Our textbook (2006),17,3. Design Features of Language,Language distinguishes human beings from animals in that it is far more sophisticated than any animal communication system.,18,Human language is unique,Arbitrariness,Duality,Creativity,Displacement,19,3.1 Arbitrarines,Saussure: the forms of linguistic signs bear no natural relationship to their meaning Arbitrary relationship between the sound of a morpheme and its meaning, even with onomatopoeic words:The dog barks wow wow in English but “汪汪汪” in Chinese.,20,Arbitrariness at the syntactic level: language is not arbitrary at the syntactic level. He came in and sat down.He sat down and came in.He sat down after he came in.The link between a linguistic sign and its meaning is a matter of convention.,21,3.2 Duality,The property of having two levels of structures, such that units of the primary level are composed of elements of the secondary level and each of the two levels has its own principles of organization:Primary units words (meaningful) consist of secondary units sounds (meaningless).,22,Hierarchy of language: stratification as the infinite use of finite means.Sounds syllables morphemes words phrases clauses sentences/utterances texts/discourses,23,3.3 Creativity,Language is resourceful because of its duality and its recursiveness. We can use it to create new meanings. Words can be used in new ways to mean new things, and can be instantly understood by people who have never come across that usage before.,24,Birds, bees, crabs, spiders, and most other creatures communicate in some way, but the information imparted is severely limited and confined to a small set of messages. Because of duality the human speaker is able to combine the basic linguistic units to form an infinite set of sentences, most of which are never before produced or heard.,25,The recursive nature of language provides a potential to create an infinite number of sentences. For instance:He bought a book which was written by a teacher who taught in a school which was known for its graduates who .,26,3.4 Displacement,Human languages enable their users to symbolize objects, events and concepts which are not present (in time and space) at the moment of communication. Thus, we can refer to Confucius, or the North Pole, even though the first has been dead for over 2550 years and the second is situated far away from us.,27,Animal communication is normally under “immediate stimulus control”. For instance, a warning cry of a bird instantly announces danger. Human language is stimulus-free. What we are talking about need not be triggered by any external stimulus in the world or any internal state.,28,The honeybees dance exhibits displacement a little bit: he can refer to a source of food, which is remote in time and space when he reports on it. A dog cannot tell people that its master will be home in a few days. Our language enables us to communicate about things that do not exist or do not yet exist.,29,Displacement benefits human beings by giving us the power to handle generalizations and abstractions. Once we can talk about physically distant thing, we acquire the ability to understand concepts which denote “non-things”, such as truth and beauty.,30,4. Origin of language,The Divine origin:“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (Gospel, John 1: 1),31,“And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” (Genesis, 11: 6),32,4.1 The “bow-wow” theory,In primitive times people imitated the sounds of the animal calls in the wild environment they lived and speech developed from that. Onomatopoeic words seem to be a convenient evidence for this theory. But they are very different in the degree of resemblance they express with the natural sounds. This theory lacks supportive evidence.,33,4.2 The “pooh-pooh” theory,In the hard life of our primitive ancestors, they utter instinctive sounds of pain, anger and joy. As for evidence, we can only cite the universal use of sounds as interjections. What makes the theory problematic is that there is only a limited number of interjections in almost all languages. Besides, interjections such as Oh, Ah, Oops bear little relationship with the sound system of a language and therefore are not good evidence.,34,4.3 The “yo-he-ho” theory,As primitive people worked together, they produced some rhythmic grunts which gradually developed into chants and then into language. We do have prosodic use of rhythms in languages, but rhythmic grunts are far different from language in its present sense. The theory is again at most a speculation.,35,The by-now fruitless search for the origin of languages reflects peoples concern with the origin of humanity and may come up with enlightening findings in future. One thing we can say for certain is that language evolves within specific historical, social and cultural contexts.,36,5. Functions of language,Linguists talk about the functions of language in an abstract sense, that is, not in terms of using language to chat, to think, to buy and sell, to read and write, to greet, praise and condemn people, etc. They summarize these practical functions and attempt some broad classifications of the basic functions of language.,37,For Jakobson, language is above all for communication. While for many people, the purpose of communication is referential, for him (and the Prague school structuralists), reference is not the only, not even the primary goal of communication.,38,In his famous article, Linguistics and Poetics, he defined six primary factors of any speech event, namely:speaker, addressee, context, message, code, contact.In conjunction with these, Jakobson established a well-known framework of language functions based on the six key elements of communication, namely:,39,referential (to convey message and information),poetic (to indulge in language for its own sake),emotive (to express attitudes, feelings and emotions),conative (to persuade and influence others through commands and requests), phatic (to establish communion with others)metalingual (to clear up intentions and meanings).,40,They correspond to such communication elements as context, message, addresser, addressee, contact and code respectively. Jakobsons views of the functions of language are still of great importance.,41,42,Halliday proposes a theory of metafunctions of language, that is, language has ideational, interpersonal and textual functions.,Ideational function constructs a model of experience as well as logical relations, interpersonal function enacts social relationships and textual function creates relevance to context.,43,In his earlier works, Halliday proposed seven categories of language functions by observing child language development: InstrumentalRegulatoryRepresentationalInteractionalPersonalHeuristicImaginative,44,Still other classifications employ different categories and use different terms, but all share a lot in common about the basic functions of language. Below is a summary of the major functions of language.,45,5.1 Informative function,Language is the instrument of thought and people often feel need to speak their thoughts aloud. The use of language to record the facts is a prerequisite of social development. The informative function is indeed a crucial function of language. It is also called ideational function in the framework of functional grammar.,46,Halliday notes that “Language serves for the expression of content: that is, of the speakers experience of the real world, including the inner world of his own consciousness. . In serving this function, language also gives structure to experience, and helps to determine our way of looking at things, so that it requires some intellectual effort to see them in any other way than that which our language suggests to us”.,47,5.2 Interpersonal function,By far the most important sociological use of language, and by which people establish and maintain their status in a society.In the framework of functional grammar, the interpersonal function is concerned with interaction between the addresser and addressee in the discourse situation and the addressers attitude toward what he speaks or writes about.,48,For example, the ways in which people address others and refer to themselves (e.g. Dear Sir, Dear Professor, Johnny, yours, your obedient servant) indicate the various grades of interpersonal relations.,49,Attached to the interpersonal function is its function of expressing identity. For example, the chanting of a crowd at a football match, the shouting of names or slogans at public meetings, the stage-managed audience reactions to TV game shows They all signal who we are and where we belong.,50,Language marks our identity, physically in terms of age, sex, and voiceprints; psychologically in terms of language, personality and intelligence; geographically in terms of accents and dialects; ethnically and socially in terms of social stratification, class, status, role, solidarity and distance.,51,The interpersonal function is such a broad category that it is often discussed under various other terms as in the following performative, emotive, expressive and phatic functions of language. They seem to emphasize different aspects of the interpersonal function.,52,5.3 Performative function,This concept originates from the philosophical study of language represented by Austin and Searle, whose theory now forms the back-bone of pragmatics (Chapter 8). For example, I now declare the meeting open. I bet you two pounds it will rain tomorrow.,53,The performative function of language is primarily to change the social status of persons, as in marriage ceremonies, the sentencing of criminals, the blessing of children, the naming of a ship at a launching ceremony, and the cursing of enemies. The kind of language employed in performative verbal acts is usually quite formal and even ritualized.,54,For example, in Chinese when someone breaks a bowl or a plate the host or the people present are likely to say 岁岁平安 as a means of controlling the invisible forces which the believers feel might affect their lives adversely.,The performative function can extend to the control of reality as on some magical or religious occasions.,55,5.4 Emotive function,The emotive function of language is one of the most powerful uses of language because it is crucial in changing the emotional status of an audience for or against someone or something. It is a means of getting rid of our nervous energy when we are under stress, e.g. swear words, obscenities, involuntary verbal reactions to a piece of art or scenery; conventional words/phrases, e.g. God, My, Damn it, What a sight, Wow, Ugh, Oh.,56,It is also discussed under the term expressive function. The expressive function can often be entirely personal and totally without any implication of communication to others. For example, a man may say Ouch! after striking a fingernail with a hammer, or he may mutter Damn when realizing that he has forgotten an appointment.,57,Exclamations such as Man! Oh boy! and Hurrah! are usually uttered without any purpose of communicating to others, but as essentially a verbal response to a persons own feelings. Such expressive utterances can also be a communal response of a group of people who reinforce one anothers expressive use of language to show their solidarity.,58,5.5 Phatic communion,Phatic communion refers to the social interaction of language, originating from Malinowskis study of the functions of language performed by Trobriand Islanders. For example,Mrs. P sneezes violently. Mrs. Q: Bless you.Mrs. P: Thank you.,59,We all use such small, seemingly meaningless expressions to maintain a comfortable relationship between people without involving any factual content. Ritual exchanges about health or weather such as Good morning, God bless you, Nice day often state the obvious. Yet they indicate that a channel of communication is open if it should be needed.,60,Different cultures have different topics of phatic communion. According to David Crystal, the weather is not a universal conversation filler as the English might like to think. Rundi women (in Burundi, Central Africa), upon taking leave, routinely and politely say “I must go home now, or my husband will beat me.”,61,Broadly speaking, this function refers to expressions that help define and maintain interpersonal relations, such as slang, jokes, jargons, ritualistic exchanges, switches to social and regional dialects. We have to learn a large repertoire of such usages if we are to interact comfortably with different people.,62,5.6 Recreational function,The recreational function of a language is often overlooked because it seems so restrictive in purpose and supposedly so limited in usefulness. However, no one will deny the use of language for the sheer joy of using it, such as a babys babbling or a chanters chanting.,63,In the Latin and Islamic worlds as well as in some areas of China, there is widespread use of verbal dueling, in which one singer begins a song of usually few lines and challenges his opponent to continue the content or provide a rejoinder in a similar rhythm and rhyme scheme. Such verbal duels may last for a few hours and is performed for the sheer joy of playing on language.,64,To take one example, the well-known movie刘三姐features a scene of “对歌” (song dueling) mostly for the sheer joy of playing on language.,65,If you observe a childrens play, you will find the power of sound. Sometimes even nonsensical lyrics perform a recreational function in the game: the repetitive rhy