（英语语言文学专业论文）论言语交际中的语言经济性.pdf

硕士学位论文 i 摘 要 本文旨在分析言语交际中的语言经济性。人类语言系统本身具有经济性这 一特点早为众多语言学家所认识，他们立足于语言系统本身，从语音、音系、 词汇、句法、语法等角度对语言的经济性做了不少静态层面的研究。本文认为， 语言的经济性还可以体现在语言的交际运用之中，仅仅从语言的静态层面（即 语言系统本身）来研究语言的经济性是不够的、不全面的，还应从语言的动态 层面（即语言的交际运用）来研究语言的经济性。因此，本文试图从言语交际 的角度对语言的经济性做一个动态层面的研究。 首先， 此项研究以 zipf 1949 年提出的省力原则 （the principle of least effort） 为思想主线，在 grice 的合作原则（the cooperative principle） 、horn 的数量和 关系原则（q- and r-principles） 、levinson 的数量、信息和方式原则（q-, i- and m-principles） 、moser 的语言经济性三分法（即语言系统的经济性、信息传递的 经济性和标准语影响范围的扩大带来的经济性）以及 sperber 和 wilson 的关联 理论（relevance theory）中找到了言语交际中的语言经济性的理论依据与支持， 从而也证明了本研究的可行性。coulmas（1992：245）指出，在言语交际的过 程中存在着一个永恒的矛盾，那便是：一方面，交际者要充分实现其交际目的； 另一方面，交际者又期望为此付出的努力最小。基于言语交际中的这一永恒矛 盾及上述理论和原则，本文对言语交际中的语言经济性作出了明确的定义，并 指出经济性不仅是一个类别性概念（classificatory concept） ，还是一个相对性概 念（comparative concept） 。 然后，本文对言语交际中的语言经济性进行了例证与分析说明，并将其划 分为显性经济（explicit economy）和隐性经济（implicit economy） ，将隐性经济 与羡余（redundancy）区分开来，将羡余与信息过量（overinformativeness）区 分开来。这也是本文的一个创新之处。此外，本文还指出了显性经济和隐性经 济的一般表现形式。 最后，本文分析并尝试着归纳出了言语交际中的语言经济现象产生的原因、 言语交际中语言经济性的制约因素以及理解语言经济现象的推理过程，将对语 言的经济性的研究向前推进了一步。 论言语交际中的语言经济性 ii 本研究证明可以从语言的动态层面研究语言的经济性，即语言的经济性还 存在于语言的动态层面。其意义在于：1. 加深我们对语言以及言语交际的理解； 2. 进一步推进了对语言的经济性的研究；3. 指导人类言语交际活动，提高人们 的言语生活质量；4. 对语言教学（尤其是口语教学）具有一定的启示意义。 关键词：言语交际；语言的经济性；经济性原则；显性与隐性经济；省力原则 硕士学位论文 iii abstract this thesis aims at a dynamic study of the economy of language from the perspective of verbal communication. the economy intrinsic to human language has long been recognized and led to a crop of studies on it. however, most, if not all, of the studies were made on the static level of language. sparked off by zipfs principle of least effort and previous contributions by some pragmaticians to the study of language use in real situations, the present study asserts that the economy of language can also be studied on the dynamic level, i.e. in the dynamic process of using language. it first detects and finds theoretical evidence and support for the economy of language in verbal communication in zipfs principle of least effort, sperber and wilsons relevance theory, grices cooperative principle, horns q- and r- principles, levinsons q-, i- and m-principles, and so forth. then, based on these theories and the permanent conflict in verbal communication between communication participants communicative needs and their tendency to reduce to a minimum their linguistic effort expenditure, the economy of language in verbal communication is described as such: the contribution of linguistic effort is so ideal that in the present context any reduction of the linguistic effort will impair the sufficient actualization of the communicative goal(s); on the one hand, the effort expenditure must be minimal or no more than necessary; on the other hand, the communicative needs must be actualized. these two conditions are indispensable and should be satisfied simultaneously. in other words, communication participants will save their linguistic effort as much as they can if and only if the optimal efficiency or utility of the linguistic units employed in verbal communication can be secured. and then the study makes an exemplification of the economy of language in verbal communication; later on it proposes a typology of linguistic economy in verbal communication: the explicit economy and the implicit economy; further, it dedicates due detail to discriminating among implicit economy, overinformativeness, and redundancy; last, an investigation is made into the causes, constraining factors and the process of attaining the right 论言语交际中的语言经济性 iv interpretation of the linguistic economy in verbal communication. the present research presents a comparatively panoramic view of the economy of language in verbal communication. it is significant in that it sheds some light on our understanding of language, provides some new insights into the economy of language, offers some useful guides for efficient communication, and benefits language teaching and learning. key words: verbal communication; economy of language; the economy principle; explicit and implicit economy; the principle of least effort 硕士学位论文 v list of figures figure 3.1 the nature of verbal communication.16 figure 3.2 shannon and weavers (1949) diagram of communication process.17 figure 3.3 the process of verbal communication by sperber and wilson (1995).18 湖湖 南南 大大 学 学位论文原创性声明 学 学位论文原创性声明 本人郑重声明：所呈交的论文是本人在导师的指导下独立进行研究所 取得的研究成果。除了文中特别加以标注引用的内容外，本论文不包含 任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写的成果作品。对本文的研究做出重 要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式标明。本人完全意识到本 声明的法律后果由本人承担。 作者签名： 日期： 年 月 日 学位论文版权使用授权书学位论文版权使用授权书 本学位论文作者完全了解学校有关保留、使用学位论文的规定，同意 学校保留并向国家有关部门或机构送交论文的复印件和电子版，允许论 文被查阅和借阅。本人授权湖南大学可以将本学位论文的全部或部分内 容编入有关数据库进行检索，可以采用影印、缩印或扫描等复制手段保 存和汇编本学位论文。 本学位论文属于 1、保密，在_年解密后适用本授权书。 2、不保密。 （请在以上相应方框内打“” ） 作者签名： 日期： 年 月 日 导师签名： 日期： 年 月 日 硕士学位论文 1 chapter 1 introduction 1.1 preliminaries the word “economy” originates from the greek word “oikonomia”, meaning “management of a household”. generally speaking, there are two understandings of the word, one related to the science of economics, and the other referring to thriftiness or efficiency. in this thesis the latter understanding is employed. since language was created to facilitate human behavior, it must follow the general principle that communication by use of language should be as efficient as possible. using language, as a kind of human activity, should not consume more time and energy than when it is not used. if it just complicated human behavior instead, the creation of language would be much less meaningful and language would hardly develop. it follows that language and communication by use of it seem to follow a certain economy principle. this “economy principle” acts as an “invisible hand” that constantly directs the linguistic activities of human beings. the literature on the economy of the language system proves to be abundant. surprisingly, however, the literature dealing directly with the economy of language on the dynamic level is rather sparse and comparatively inadequate. the present thesis aims to make a study on the economy of language on the dynamic level from the perspective of verbal communication, attempting to bring forward a typology of kinds of linguistic economy in verbal communication, the causes of the phenomenon of linguistic economy in verbal communication, the factors that influence or modulate the linguistic economy and the reasoning process of properly interpreting it in verbal communication. moreover, several points must be clarified at the very beginning of the thesis. first, to make the things easy to study and explain, i presuppose in this thesis that participants in verbal communication are rational, that is, they always tend to seek the maximal utility of their linguistic contributions in verbal communication. second, economy is not the whole picture of the nature of language and verbal communication. 论言语交际中的语言经济性 2 factors such as social, cultural, and psychological ones may also have an influence upon language use, verbal communication in particular. nevertheless, the thesis focuses on the economy of language only. third, economy is not just a classificatory but also a comparative concept. on the one hand, contrasted with redundancy, economy is a classificatory concept; on the other hand, economy is also a matter of degree, thus a comparative concept. among the uneconomical, some are more economical than others. fourth, qualitative instead of quantitative analysis is employed in the present study for the limitation of my knowledge scope and the time available. if there is chance, i would like to make some empirical studies on the present issue, which demand a lot of preparatory work and cover the knowledge of general linguistics, pragmatics, cognitive psychology, rhetoric, statistics, entropy of words, good skills in computer manipulation, theories of natural language processing, and the like. 1.2 theoretical background the thesis has as its main theoretical basis the principle of least effort proposed by zipf (1949)1 and the relevance theory by sperber and wilson (1986)2. 1.2.1 the principle of least effort the most comprehensive attempt to date to explain the economy intrinsic to language and to relate it to a general ecological theory of human behavior is zipfs book human behavior and the principle of least effort (1949)1. zipfs ambitious goal was to present convincing evidence for his conviction that “every individuals entire behavior is governed by the principle of least effort” (zipf 1949: 6)1. this venture cannot be appreciated properly if it is put aside without thorough inspection as a utilitarian reduction of the human nature to laziness and apathy or, perhaps somewhat less disparagingly, to optimizing chances of survival. rather, it must be recalled that in zipfs theory, minimizing effort does not mean the tendency to expend as little work as possible at any moment, but that a “persons average rate of work- expenditure over time” (zipf 1949: 6)1. zipf illustrates and proves his abstract principle by referring to the concrete example of the tools on a carpenters workbench. 硕士学位论文 3 he has also made some findings which clearly testify to how language evolution is affected by the principle of least effort. zipfs theory, which he needed a lengthy monograph to unfold, cannot be explained here in due detail. this brief recapitulation must suffice as an introduction to it. in later sections of this thesis, zipfs theory and some of his ideas will be adopted and developed in detail to facilitate the study on the economy of language in verbal communication, one of the most important kinds of human behavior. 1.2.2 the relevance theory 1.2.2.1 relevance in relevance: communication and cognition (1986)2, sperber and wilson put forward the relevance theory for communication and utterance understanding. they define relevance as follows. relevance extent condition 1: an assumption is relevant in a context to the extent that its contextual effects in this context are large. extent condition 2: an assumption is relevant in a context to the extent that the effort required to process it in this context is small. (sperber other things being equal, an assumption requiring a smaller processing effort is more relevant. 1.2.2.2 the principles of relevance the principle of relevance was first proposed by sperber and wilson in 1986. nine years later, in the second edition of the above-mentioned book, sperber and wilson made a revision of this principle. sperber and wilson (1995)3 revised the original principle of relevance into two principles of relevance: the first (or 论言语交际中的语言经济性 4 cognitive) principle of relevance and the second (or communicative) principle of relevance. they are spelled out as follows: (1) human cognition tends to be geared to the maximization of relevance. (2) every act of ostensive communication communicates a presumption of its own optimal relevance. (sperber (2) the striving for improving the efficiency of linguistic means; (3) the trend toward leveling regional and social norm differences in order better to meet communication demands. in the above, (1) refers to communication participants inclination to minimize physical and mental effort expenditure involved in realizing communicative ends and to the economy of the language system, (2) to the economy of information transfer, and (3) to an economical expansion of the range of a standard language. mosers definition of linguistic economy is relatively comprehensive. however, in verbal communication, the three kinds of linguistic economy are generally considered as a whole, just like three aspects of one thing instead of three kinds of one thing. g. k. zipf (1949)1 proposes the “principle of least effort” and asserts that every individuals entire behavior is governed by the principle of least effort which has economy as its essence. he proves and supports his assertion by referring to the concrete example of the tools on a carpenters workbench. working with tools involves not only operating them but also the work that is necessary for their procurement, maintenance, and modification. for every individual carpenter and for carpentry as a craft the principle of least effort will have the result that the most frequently used tool will be subject to most modifications, making it the tool that is smallest, lightest, and easiest to handle. there is thus an economy of increasing the frequency of use of the easiest tool. based on this, zipf demonstrates that the relationship between a words frequency of occurrence f and its rank r on a frequency scale for a given corpus is approximately the same for all texts and for all languages, which is known as zipfs law. the function fr is, in other words, a constant. he further finds out that words with more than one meaning occur more frequently than those with fewer meanings and that the statistical correlation between the number of different meanings of a word and its relative frequency of occurrence is a constant function with the number of different meanings of a word n being equal to the square root of its frequency, i.e.f n. zipfs study on lexicon reveals the internal economy of language. 硕士学位论文 7 drawing on zipfs principle of least effort, martinet (1955)7 examines the economy of language from a phonological perspective. he finds out that on the level of speech sounds a principle of economy is at work. martinet (1969)8 applies this principle to phonological research and comes up with the principle of duality of patterning, also known as “double articulation”, which allows for linguistic units to be segmented into meaningful units on one level, monemes in martinets terminology, and meaning-differentiating units, that is, phonemes, on another. he maintains that the evident advantage of the second articulation is economy. martinet (1975)9 makes a further study of the economy of language and puts forward the concept of “feature economy” which denotes that nearly 80% to 100% of the phonemes of a phoneme system are realized by combining articulatory features occurring in more than one of them. leech (1983)10 puts forward the concept of textual rhetoric which encapsulates four principles for language output: the processibility principle, the clarity principle, the economy principle, and the expressivity principle. the economy principle requires language users to avoid redundancy or repetitious information and to “be quick and easy” in conveying information while striking a balance between saving time and effort, and maintaining intelligibility when communicating. such a balance “will clearly depend in part on contextual factors, such as the physical distance between speaker and hearer, and the social predictability of the message” (leech 1983: 67)10. leech (1983: 67)10 maintains that “the economy principle can be regarded as a valuable precept not only for hearer but for speaker. if one can shorten the text while keeping the message unimpaired, this reduces the amount of time and effort involved both in encoding and in decoding.” according to leech (1983)10, on the phonological level, economy favors elisions, assimilations, and other abbreviating and simplifying processes; on the syntactic level, the economy principle has a contributory maxim of reduction which might be simply enunciated as “reduce where possible”. altogether he recognizes three kinds of reduction: pronominalization, substitution by other pro- forms, and ellipsis or deletion. leech (1983: 68)10 further stresses that the pragmatic point about reduction is that it abbreviates the text and often simplifies its structure 论言语交际中的语言经济性 8 while maintaining the recoverability of the message, and that reduction should evidently not be recommended where it leads to ambiguity. kasher (1985)11 proposes to replace grices cooperative principle by a more general principle governing conversational conduct. he puts forward the economy of discourse: given a desired end a minimal purpose make the linguistic action which most effectively and at least cost attains that purpose. kasher expects that speakers contributions should be rationally calculable, that is, ultimately accessible to cost-benefit analysis. such a “general principle” advocated by him has the principle of least effort as its essence, reflecting the economy of language in communication. coulmas (1992)12 holds a similar view to that of kasher. he points out that communication may be regarded as being governed by the conflict between participants communicative needs and their tendency to minimize their mental and physical effort (coulmas 1992: 245)12. coulmas further maintains that in discourse organization, the tendency toward reduction of expression is always in conflict with the need for perspicuity and that reducing ones contribution by means of pronominalization, ellipsis, and other shortcuts is in concordance with the rationality of discourse only inasmuch as it does not compromise the principle of the utterance, especially by rendering it ambiguous or incomprehensible. he states out the paradox in communication and implies that the economy of language in communication may be embodied in reduction of expression such as pronominalization, ellipsis, and other shortcuts. horn (1988)13 makes a pragmatic study of the economy of language and advises communication participants to “say no more than must”. such advice is indicative of the economy embodied in communication. horn defines his q-principle as “a hearer- based economy for the maximization of informational content, akin to grices first maxim of quantity”, and the r-principle as “a speaker-based economy for the minimization of form, akin to zipfs principle of least effort”. he sheds new light on the study of the economy of language by classifying economy into hearer-based economy and speaker-based economy, maki