语言学Chapter7-2.ppt

Lesson Two,More about the Spair-Whorf Hypothesis Case Study To which extent do we need culture in Our linguistic study ? Culture in language teaching classroom,关于语言和思维的两种基本观点,语言普遍论（Language Universal ） 尽管语言存在差别,思维却是普遍的和同 一的,换句话说,语言的差异并不影响思维的一致性 语言相对论（Language relativity） 语言的差别导致思维的差异,因为思维受语言的影响,在萨丕尔和沃尔夫之前比较系统和明确提出语言相对论的当推德国著名语言学家和哲学家威廉冯洪堡特。事实上,萨丕尔沃尔夫假设是直接从洪堡特语言相对论思想基础上发展起来. 洪堡特认为,语言是思维的组织器官。智力活动完全是大脑内部无影无踪的活动,思想通过人们说话的声音得到外显,使人感知。因此,尽管我们可以人为地把思想和语言分开,它们是一个整体。当我们了解其中之一的特质时,我们也就了解了其中之二的特质.,萨丕尔沃尔夫假设的基本内容,人类不仅生活在客观世界里,也生活在主观世界里,这是语言相对论假设的理论前提; (2)人类的主观世界是由“语言的习惯”,或“模式规律”所构建的; (3) 不同的语言有不同“语言习惯”,或“模式规律”; (4) 客观世界是由主观世界的活动而得以感知 (5) 使用不同的语言的人对自然世界有不同的感知.,沃尔夫假设三段论(The Whorfian Syllogism),(1)语言A 的结构不同于语言B 的结构; (2) 文化A 与文化B 的行为结构差异同语言A 与语言B 的结构差异有关联; (3) 语言A 的结构决定文化A 的行为结构 假设又叫“语言结构差异论”、“语言文化相关论”和“语言决定论”。,概念辨析,对于什么是“沃尔夫假说”,以及“假说”、“相对论”和“决定论”三者之间关系的说法也不相同。 高一虹(2000) 和胡壮麟(2002 :179) 认为“假说”有两种表述,即“决定论”和“相对论”。其中,高一虹认为“假说”的“学名”就叫“相对论”和“决定论”,胡壮麟则把“假说”概括为不同的语言塑造了不同的思维模式和世界观,并决定了人们认识世界的不同方式,而“相对论”和“决定论”是从这一观点衍生出来的两方面认识;,姚小平(2002) 和徐大明(1997 :10) 却主张“假说”又称“相对论”。其中,姚小平认为我们绝不应该把“相对论”等同于“决定论”,否则就背离了沃尔夫的初衷,而徐大明在介绍中未提及“语言决定论”这一概念。朱春丽等(1999) 提出“假说”就是“语言决定思想”。兰萍(2001) 则认为“假说”集中表 述为“语言相对论”, 也称“语言决定论”。,高航认为，沃尔夫假说有两种形式,一种是极端的“语言决定论”,一种是温和的“语言相对论”。语言决定论认为,语言形式决定思维,对于现实的感知不能独立于语言。语言相对论则认为,语言创造某些认知上的偏向,引导我们注意现实的某些方面,语言差别反映思维差别,等等。,“假说”的“强式说”和“弱式说”,典型的说法是:强式即语言决定思维;弱式即语言影响思维。不同的专家和学者有不同的说法。 高一虹(2000) 和姚小平(2002) 认为“假说”分为强式和弱式; 胡壮麟(2002 :179) 则认为“假说”的初始形 式是强式说。,1.3 The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (萨丕尔沃尔夫假说) Edward Sapir (1884 - 1939) and Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897-1941) Our language helps mould our way of thinking and, consequently, different languages may probably express speakers unique ways of understanding the world. Linguistic determinism: L may determine our thinking patterns. Linguistic relativity: different languages offer people different ways of expressing the world around.,Linguistic relativity,The principle of linguistic relativity holds that the structure of a language affects the ways in which its speakers are able to conceptualize their world, i.e. their world view. Popularly known as the SapirWhorf hypothesis, or Whorfianism, the principle is often defined as having two versions: (i) the strong version that language determines thought and that linguistic categories limit and determine cognitive categories and (ii) the weak version that linguistic categories and usage influence thought and certain kinds of non-linguistic behavior.,Linguistic determinism,Linguistic determinism is the idea that language and its structures limit and determine human knowledge or thought. Determinism itself refers to the viewpoint that all events are caused by previous events, and linguistic determinism can be used broadly to refer to a number of specific views.,Linguistic determinism(语言决定论):语言决定思维 Linguistic relativity (语言相对论)：思维相对于语言而存在，思维模式随着语言的不同而不同。 18 世纪初,意大利哲学家维科提出了“文化相对论（cultural relativity）维科认为,不同文化的成员对同样的人和事物看法是不同的, 这就是当今语言相对论假设的雏形,Sapir： 真实世界在很大程度上是建筑在社会集团的语言习惯之上，并且是无意识的，不同社会生活的世界是不同的世界，甚至相对比较简单的感知事实也在很大程度上受到不同社会模式的支配。 Whorf：实际上，思维神秘莫测，而迄今为止我们对此所具有的最大理解是通过研究语言获得的。研究表明，人的思维是受到模式无情的法则控制的，这些模式就是人自己语言种种复杂的系统化，并且是人未感知到的。 人的世界观是由语言控制的。一种语言有一种语言独特的系统，因而思维也是独特的。,1.4 More about the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis The strong version(强式说): Emphasizes the decisive role of language as the shaper of our thinking patterns The weak version (弱式说): Suggest that there is a correlation between language, culture, and thought, the cross-cultural differences produced in our ways of thinking are relative, rather than categorical.,A lively controversy about the hypothesis: Two examples to show the complexity and controversy of the theory: One is quoted from Hopi, an American native language spoken in Arizona; the other is taken from a language spoken in the central highlands of Irian Jaya (伊里安岛，太平洋). The first example serves to show how languages may differ from each other. The second example serves to challenge the hypothesis.,In Hopi, there is something very special about its grammar. One of the features that separate it from other languages is that it does not use the same means to express time, and hence is called as a “timeless language”(没有时间的语言). Do not recognize time as a linear dimension. Hopi verbs do not have tenses of time and no concept of speed.,印欧语言：严式语言-严式思维轨迹-构造分析-逻辑演绎-智性精神 汉语：宽式语言-宽式思维轨迹-整体领悟-类比联想-悟性精神,Two American scholars conducted a large cross-linguistic investigation of basic color vocabulary. The finding is that color word systems in different languages are not like what has been assumed by the Sapir and Whorf hypothesis, being culturally determined and hence absolutely different from one another.,Different languages might well undergo a universal evolutionary process of development which made the basic color system in one language different from that in another only in terms of the stages of their evolution. See the basic evolutionary stages of basic color words on Page 152. According to this evolutionary theory, English has all the eleven basic color words so it reaches the last stage of evolution. This theory correctly captures a kind of generalization in color words cross-culturally.,This evolutionary theory finds a good example in the second example of the Irian language, a language which has become well known for its very restricted system of basic color words. There are only two basic color words in this language: modla for light, bright, hence, white, and mili for dark, dull, hence, black. What will native Irian language speaker do if he/she wants to designate colors other than black and white? Or do white and black always mean white and black cross-linguistically?,The investigation revealed that native speakers of this culture use this White versus Black contrast to convey more messages about their color perception. They use modla as a general color term to include all warm colors such as red and yellow and use mili as another umbrella color word to cover all the cold colors. Therefore, the contrast between modla and mili in fact is a contrast between “whitewarmness” versus “blackcoldness”.,The color word system in the Irian language is still in its first stage of evolution and by means of using this whitewarmness and blackcoldness contrast and other types of color words derived from object names, animals, plants and so on, the speakers from this culture can successfully express any colors labelled by distinct color words in another culture.,语言具有普遍性的理论。认知科学强调人类认知的共性，这跟语言相对论恰好针锋相对。强调人类认知的基础是人的遗传天赋。常举的一个例子是颜色词的研究。从表面上看各种语言的颜色词各不相同，但Berlin和Kay的研究（1969）发现它们有共性。任何语言至少都有两个颜色词（白和黑），新几内亚高地语只有“白”和“黑”两个颜色词。英语有11个颜色词。有右边的颜色词，就必有其左边的颜色词。这就是语言的共性，并且认知语言学家认为这种共性是有生理基础的，那就是白色跟黑色具有最强的聚焦性，因为眼睛对这两种光频最敏感。 杨永林，色彩语码研究-进化论与相对论之争，外语教学与研究2000年第3期，第190-195页。,1.5 Case studies(个案研究) The interplay of language and culture may range from textual structure to phonological variation. Kaplan(1966): The structural organization of a text tends to be culturally specific. Nida(1998): Words are sometimes “idiomatically-governed” and “culturally-specific”.,杨永林(1993) made several case studies through his personal exposure to the American culture. 1) When you get your hands dirty, it does not necessarily mean in the American culture that youve done some manual work and need to wash your hand. (practice something, be engaged in doing something),2) When you have enough dumbbells(哑铃), it does not necessarily mean that you keep pairs of this instrument for regular physical practices. (have lots of stupid guys) 英汉习俗差异是多方面的，最典型的莫过于在对狗这种动物的态度上。狗在汉语中是一种卑微的动物。汉语中与狗有关的习语大都含有贬意：“狐朋狗党”、“狗急跳墙”、“狼心狗肺”、“狗腿子”等，尽管近些年来养庞物狗的人数大大增加，狗的“地位”似乎有所改变，但狗的贬义形象却深深地留在汉语言文化中。而在西方英语国家，狗被认为是人类最忠诚的朋友。英语中有关狗的习语除了一部分因受其他语言的影响而含有贬义外，大部分都没有贬义。在英语习语中，常以狗的形象来比喻人的行为。如You are a lucky dog（你是一个幸运儿），Every dog has his day（凡人皆有得意日），Old dog will mot learn mew tricks（老人学不了新东西）等等。形容人“病得厉害”用sick as a dog，“累极了”是dog-tired。与此相反，中国人十分喜爱猫，用“馋猫”比喻人贪嘴，常有亲呢的成份，而在西方文化中，“猫”被用来比喻“包藏祸心的女人”。,龙在中国人民的心目中占有崇高的位置，有关龙的成语非常多，且含有褒义。如“龙跃凤鸣”、“龙骧虎步”等。在外国语言中，赞扬龙的词语非常之少，且含有贬义。如“dragon”指凶暴的人，严厉的人，凶恶严格的监护人，凶恶的老妇人（尤指很少给在其看管下姑娘自由的老妇人）等。以dragon组成的词组也多含贬义。如dragons teeth ：相互争斗的根源；排列或多层的楔形反坦克混克混凝土障碍物。the old Dragon：魔鬼。,Culture-loaded words,烫手的山芋vs. hot potato