（外国语言学及应用语言学专业论文）从美学角度看评价交际类型.pdf

中南民族大学硕士学位论文 iii 摘 要 摘 要 语言是一个多维世界，语言研究也应该是多元的。语言学的分支学科层 出不穷，似乎也证明了这一点。从多种角度去观察，就会得到有关语言的多种认 识。虽然美学理论与语言学在翻译，文学，文化等方面的结合取得了许多成果， 但是美学理论结合交际理论，特别是评价交际理论带的研究成果却寥若晨星。不 过，国内语言学家钱冠连先生在其著作美学语言学：语言美和言语美中，论 及美学理论在解释交际理论中的巨大潜力。在钱冠连先生的启发下，本文首先概 述了国内外对于结合语言学及美学的相关课题的研究， 指出美学理论为语言学研 究提供了一个全新的视角，以及其对解释各种语言现象有着巨大的潜力。然后， 本文将研究范围进一步缩小到言语交际中的评价交际类型， 在美学和语言学理论 的指导下将评价交际类型的思维过程与语言层面相结合， 研究评价交际中的审美 属性和美学思维。基于对评价交际过程中美感的体现以及审美选择的具体分析， 本文也提出了追求言语活动的审美目的的一些策略。 本文不仅明确提出了评价交际过程中应把握的基本美学元素， 而且研究分析 了人们在言语活动中的自觉或不自觉的审美意识， 以及为追求美的言语活动可以 采取的策略， 希望本文能为今后从美学角度分析交际理论或言语活动起到抛砖引 玉的作用。 关键词: 美学语言学 评价交际类型 审美属性 形式美 审美选择 aesthetic approach to evaluative communication type iv abstract language is a multi-dimensional world, studies on language are typically characterized as being highly interdisciplinary. the famous chinese linguist qian guanlian, in his book aesthetic linguistics: the beautiful: language and speech, has revealed the great potential the aesthetic theories possess in explaining various linguistic phenomena. although there have been fruitful studies on the combination of aesthetic theories and linguistic theories in the aspects of translation, literature, and culture, few studies have focused on how aesthetic theories can apply in the study of communication theory, let alone in the study of evaluative communication type. inspired by qian guanlian, the present thesis firstly makes a brief introduction of researches abroad or at home involving both aesthetic-related theories and linguistic-related theories, and points out that aesthetic theory offers a complete new angle for linguistic research. secondly, this thesis, with the aesthetic objects (linguistic phenomena) confined to evaluative communication type, will focus on the aesthetic attributes involved in evaluation communication type, in which the aesthetic thought reflected in the light of both aesthetic and linguistic studies. based on the survey of aesthetic behaviors and choices at evaluative communication, the paper will finally explore the strategies to pursue beauty of speech acts at the side of speakers. this paper has not only clarified the fundamental aesthetic constituents in the evaluative communication, but also provided some effective and workable methods and strategies to pursue beauty of speech. hopefully, this thesis will serve as the brick to introduce the jade to come out in terms of more research of communication theories, or speech acts from the aesthetic approach. key words: aesthetic linguistics, evaluative communication type, aesthetic attributes, form beauty, aesthetic choice aesthetic approach to evaluative communication type ii acknowledgements the thesis grew from all those supporting hands accompanying the whole procedure. i am deeply indebted to professor zhang liyu, my supervisor, for her illuminating direction and inspirational advice throughout the process of narrowing down the scope of research and study, collecting the material and the cases in point and structuring the argumentation. in a direct sense, this paper owes its existence to her generous help and patient encouragement. my heartfelt appreciation also goes to other professors of school of foreign language of scun, whose informative lectures, meticulous scholarship and constructive suggestions inspire me with not only sparkles in thinking but also enthusiasm for academic pursuits during my three years study for master degree as well as my preparation for the thesis. in addition, my special gratitude goes to my dear classmates, with whom i have benefited appreciably from exchanges. last but not least, i am grateful to my family members for they are always behind me with their emotional support and encouragement. 中南民族大学硕士学位论文 1 1. introduction of all the issues in the general theory of language usage, speech act theory has probably aroused the widest interest. speech act refers to types of utterances which are used to “do” things with language: for example, promising, apologizing, threatening and complimenting are all types of speech acts. as a very typical speech act, evaluation is a verbal or non-verbal action which reflects speakers or writers attitude and emotion. the current study of evaluation communication, however, mainly focuses on static description, namely, study at the levels of vocabulary, syntax or semantics, instead of dynamic and comprehensive research. viewing from all the classifications of speech act, evaluation has always been put in an awkward position. since the classification of speech acts was set up by austin (1962), many different kinds of classification of speech acts come into being, among which seale (1976) and leech (1983a)s classification tend to most notable. austin (1962) was the first to make an attempt at classification of speech acts, and presumably provided a model. he claims that there are more than one thousand of verbs in english like beg, command, direct, order, request, require, and suggest, which mark speech acts. he tentatively divided them into five general classes according to their illocutionary forces as listed below (pp. 151-162): (1) verdictives: the type of giving a verdict, consisting in the delivering of a finding, upon evidence or reasons (e.g. “convict”, “interpret as”, “understand”); (2) exercitives: the type of exercising of powers, rights, or influences (e.g. “appoint”, “degrade”, “dismiss”); (3) commisives: the type of promising or otherwise undertaking, to commit the speaker to a certain course of action (e.g. “promise”, “contract”, “give my word”); (4) behabitives: the type of performing an action with attitudes and social behavior (e.g. “apologize”, “thank”, “greet”); (5) expositives: the type of acts of exposition involving the expounding of views, the conducting of arguments, and the clarifying of usages and of references aesthetic approach to evaluative communication 2 (e.g. “affirm”, “deny”, “emphasize”). unhappy about the fact that austin apparently dose not pay attention to the difference between speech acts and speech act verbs, searle (1976) proposes that there are just five basic kinds of action that one can perform in speaking by means of the following five types of utterance: (1) assertives: the class of acts to commit the speaker to something being the case to the truth of the expressed propostion (stating, believing, swearing, hypothesizing); (2) directives: the class of acts attempted by the speaker to get the hearer to do something (inviting, suggesting, requesting, advising, warning, threatening, ordering); (3) commisives: the class of acts to commit the speaker to some future course of action (promising, undertaking, vowing); (4) expressives: the class of acts to express the psychological state (thanking, apologizing, welcoming, congratulating); (5) declarations: a very special category of speech acts, with the defining characteristic that successful performance of one of its members brings about the correspondence between the prepositional content and reality. leech argues that the classification by austin and searle has tended to reflect the assumption that the existence of an illocutionary performative verb justifies the existence of an illocutionary category (1983a, p. 175), still he devotes much space to discussing the classification of speech acts. he specifically classifies illocutionary functions into the following four types, according to how they relate to the social goal of establishing and maintaining comity (p. 104): (1) competitive: the illocutionary goal competes with the social goal (e.g. ordering, asking, demanding, begging, etc.); (2) convivial: the illocutionary goal coincides with the social goal (e.g. offering, inviting, greeting, thanking, congratulating); (3) collaborative: the illocutionary goal is indifferent to social goal (e.g.asserting, reporting, announcing, instructing); (4) conflictive: the illocutionary goal conflicts with the social goal (threatening, 中南民族大学硕士学位论文 3 accusing, cursing, reprimanding). after the review of the classification of speech acts by austin, searle and leech, an conclusion can be drawn that the classification of speech acts is the classification of illocutionary acts. an illocutionary act is the act of expressing the speakers intention, to be specific, it could be the making of a statement, offer, promise, etc (austin, 1962). in rhetoric, the term communication focuses on how to express oneself correctly and effectively in relation to the topic of writing or speech, the audience and the purpose of communication (schramm, 1948, p. 24), which shares amazing similarity with the notion of illocutionary act. the author may conclude that the classification of illocutionary acts can be regarded as the classification of communication types. obviously, austin, searle, and leech have all excluded evaluation act as an independent speech act or communication type, and the appraisal or evaluative language hasnt been systematically classified. contradictorily, no one will deny that evaluative communication type (ect) is a widely and commonly existing, occurring speech activity. used either to state the speakers viewpoint, attitude, or emotional tendency, it possesses performative attributes. under specific circumstances, such as: business negotiation and international affairs negotiation, the performing of evaluation may directly affect the results in establishing and maintaining interpersonal relationship, the issue of saving face, etc. in daily communication activities, how to evaluate people or things is always the necessary condition for successful communication. therefore, evaluative communication type or evaluative speech act is worthy of more comprehensive and dynamic researches. not until the 2000s, when the concept of aesthetic linguistics was firstly put forward by the outstanding chinese applied linguist qian guanlian, did scholars get to realize the significance of aesthetics on linguistic researches may go further beyond the category of literary translation, discourse analysis, etc. the superiority of aesthetic linguistics is demonstrated in its tremendous potential for explaining various linguistic phenomena. compared with the former studies on ect, which tended to be scattered, unsystematic, adhering to other categorized interpretations, aesthetic approach to evaluative communication 4 aesthetics-dependent ect research bears the possibility of an overall analysis, covering nearly all the linguistic levels (phonetic level, lexical level, syntactic level, semantic level). it is not exaggerating to say that traditional studies of communication theories, let alone studies of evaluation act, have never ceased to seek theoretical reference from classical or modern aesthetics. this thesis applies applied linguistics to the analysis of ect in order to make it explicit how human beings construct language system and how individuals construct their respective evaluation in correspondence with aesthetic disciplines. the method underlying the whole thesis is making hypotheses, and giving verification with supporting instances, evidences, and arguments. the whole paper consists of seven parts. after a brief introduction of ect, the research significance, and research methodology of this essay as well as its main contents in part one, part two makes a brief review of the study of aesthetic linguistics abroad and at home. in part three, it lays the theoretical foundation for this paper, including basic concepts of linguistics, the definition of aesthetic linguistics, and the relationship between aesthetics and linguistics. the central parts of the thesis lie in part four, part five, part six. based on aesthetic attributes of ect at different levels of linguistics discussed in part four and aesthetic behaviors and choices at ect analyzed in part five, part six is devoted to provide some strategies to pursue beauty of language. and the last part, part seven, is the summarization of the whole thesis. 中南民族大学硕士学位论文 5 2. literature review analyzing linguistic and aesthetic theories, integratedly or comparatively, has not only been taken into consideration, but into actions. in modern times, linguistic researches, semantics and translation theories in particular, have the prominent preference for getting combined with aesthetic theories. so far, there are a large amount of researches concerning the joint of aesthetic and linguistic theories at home and abroad. western scholars, such as, italian psychologist and historian croce (1922), american linguist sapire (1921), and gestalt aesthetes, they have draw on the insights and methodologies of such extensive fields as communication theory, cultural studies and psychology under the light of aesthetic thoughts. like that in the west, chinas linguistic exploration drew close ties with aesthetics. 2.1 studies of aesthetic linguistics abroad in modern aesthetic research in the west, the great concern has been shifted from traditional projects to the interrelation between aesthetics and linguistics, starting from the establishment and development of literary and artistic semiotics (barthes, 1975). western academics emphasized that art is emotional sign. italian psychologist, historian and aesthete, b. croze (1922), argued that aesthetics is bound to coincide with linguistics. he claimed that as science, aesthetics and general linguistics are not different things. he put forward the theory that art is intuition-expression, holding that language is also an intuitive activity of human beings inner spirit, and it has the same function of aesthetic expression as other artistic forms. his equalization of linguistics to aesthetics provided a different perspective to understand language and a wholly new trend of the latest development of aesthetics. the eminent linguist sapire (1921) holds that language can assist in solving human beings psychological and cognitive problems, and undoubtedly bear the illuminating value of aesthetic judgment in aesthetic approach to evaluative communication 6 language. the advocator of western deconstruction, derrida, holds that psychology and aesthetics should be explored from the angles of form, rhetoric, and simile (as cited in yang, 2001, p. 442). the heterogeneous isomorphism theory the identity of the emotion motive force and the power of universe is the foundation of generating sense of beauty, which is innovatively advanced by the gestalt aesthetics. this theory, starting from the mutual relationships between heart and matter, individuals and the world, tries to interpret the generation of beauty and aesthetics with the connotation that the organism of human beings heart is harmoniously integrated with the matter in physical world. the rhythmic movement of the matter sharing similarity with human beings physical organism, constantly exerts the influence on human beings, and ultimately assists human beings in establishing a healthy conditional response to the rhythmic movement itself. the heterogeneous isomorphism theory endows great explanatory competence for how aesthetic consciousness or expectation exerts the influence on language performance at phonetic level. 2.2 studies of aesthetic linguistics at home in ancient china, language analysis involving aesthetic consciousness got flourished in terms of “content vs. form”. the long history of the debate on “content vs. form” began with xun zi, the first aesthetic thinker who stressed the significance of form without neglecting the content. xun zi asserted that paying sole attention to the content and neglecting the form would inevitably result in “philistine speech”. his conclusion, therefore, was that “to get across the message of the content, embellished language is indispensable.” his stress on “form” to assure the expression of the content was at variance with the views of confucians who contended that the beauty of content is always first and foremost. it must be noted that as far as the binary of “content vs. form” is concerned the main trend in classical chinese aesthetics was the confusion doctrine of concord. 中南民族大学硕士学位论文 7 confucius interpretation of “concord” was “彬彬” in “文质彬彬”， which means a perfect integration of form/embellishment (文) and content/substantialness (质) (liu, 1991).wang chong, philosopher in han dynasty, advocated, in his book balanced discussions, that speech is required to be brief, writing smooth and refined, which obviously reveal language may generate beauty gratification. in liu xies masterpiece, the dragon carved in the heart of literature, he figured out the repetition of the identical sound forms rhyme, and the coordination of different sounds forms harmony. this statement is actually the embryo of form beauty of language (li, 2003). some other contemporary linguists, writers and aesthetes, such as xu shenghuan (1988), liu miqing (1991), yao xiaoping (1995), and li zehou (2003) have made their respective contribution to the verification of the relationship between aesthetics and linguistics. in the following sections, the details of their viewpoints will be discussed. based on these theoretical achievements, qian guanlian (2004) established the theory of aesthetic linguistics. its he who firstly put forward the concept of aesthetic linguistics. as far as he was concerned, aesthetic linguistics explores aesthetic attributes of language, properties of language, and properties and laws of communicative activities, which can also be regarded as aesthetic objects, i.e. daily speech events and speech acts. aesthetic approach to evaluative communication 8 3. theoretical basis of the research 3.1 basic disciplines and concept