（英语语言文学专业论文）童话建构的认知解读.pdf

iv 童话建构的认知解读童话建构的认知解读 年级：2003 级 学科专业： 英语语言文学 研究方向：英语语言学 研究生：廖锦超 导师：刘 迎 教 授 内容摘要内容摘要 童话是一种特殊的文学体裁，其特殊性在于大部分童话的读者都是儿童。基于现有研 究者的发现和理论，这些理论包括儿童认知发展理论、泛灵主义思维、概念隐喻、隐喻思 维、范畴和范畴化、概念合成以及可能世界，从涵盖认知科学和认知语言学的认知角度阐 释童话的建构及其本质，是一种新的研究尝试。 认知科学研究者（piaget 1929; carey 1985; inagaki and hatano 1987; 1991; 2004; hatano 1999）认为儿童在童年期间会出现泛灵主义的思维方式，从认知科学角度解读童话亦发现 童话中普遍存在着泛灵主义的思维，这些思维把人的属性投射到动物、植物、自然物体、 自然力量和人造物上，使后者具有了人的特性如语言、情感、行为等，本文提出童话反映 出的认知信息和儿童的认知实际是一致的论断。从认知语言学角度来说，童话的特点是具 有普遍的隐喻思维。童话里的隐喻思维和泛灵主义思维导致了童话里的范畴边界模糊化。 所有这些组成了一个童话的可能世界，而可能世界、隐喻思维和泛灵主义思维就是童话里 的童年精神气质，本文认为童话的本质就是童年精神气质。 第一章引言，主要介绍了研究课题的来源和研究的意义，并列出了论文的结构。 第二章文献回顾，对童话的定义、分类并对童话的精神分析、教育学、文学和美学等 不同的研究做了简单的回顾。 第三章从认知科学角度研究童话，主要分析了童话里的泛灵主义思维。童话里存在着 一种“人非人类”的投射思维（projection/mapping） ，包括“人动物” 、 “人植物” 、 “人无生命物体”以及“隐性的人生命/无生命”等四种投射。这些思维和认知科学研 究的发现是一致，因此本文提出童话反映出的认知信息和儿童的认知实际是一致的。 第四章从认知语言学角度研究童话，分别讨论了童话里的概念隐喻、范畴和范畴化以 及概念合成。我们发现童话中普遍存在（pervasive）着概念隐喻，在这些概念隐喻中， “客 观实体是人” （physical entity is person）和“人是客观实体” （person is physical entity）是最常见的。童话里的概念隐喻是系统性的，它们共同组成了一个 童话里的认知网络（cognitive network） 。在讨论中，本文也发现，童话里的范畴边界不是 清晰的而是模糊的(fuzzy)，尤其是“人” （human）和“非人事物”(nonhuman)之间更没有 明显的界限。同时，童话里的隐喻思维还促使了临时的范畴化（an ad hoc categorization） 的产生。其后，文章应用 fauconnier and turner 的概念合成理论（conceptual integration） 分析童话里的概念合成现象， 发现概念合成的选择性投射(selective projection)可以解释尽管 v 童话里人和其他物体之间可以随意转换，人可以变成动物，动物可以变成人，本文认为这 是自然的和合理的。 第五章结论，首先讨论了童话里的可能世界，在这个可能世界里，普遍存在的隐喻思 维和泛灵主义思维导致了童话里人和人以外的实体之间范畴边界的模糊，指出这个世界是 不同于童话以外的真实世界。结论二提出，童年精神气质是童话的本质，童年精神气质是 一种特殊的思维模式，是儿童特有的思维方式，是童话里的可能世界。这种思维模式是隐 喻的和泛灵主义的而隐喻和泛灵主义思维则促成了童话可能世界的形成。从认知角度解读 童话的建构及其本质这一新的视角尝试，只是个起点，有必要进行更广泛更深入的研究。 关键词：关键词： 童话 认知科学 认知语言学 解读 可能世界 童年精神气质 vi a cognitive approach to children fairy tales m.a. candidate: liao jinchao supervisor: professor liu ying abstract fairy tale is a unique genre of literature. it is unique in that most of its readers are children. this thesis is a tentative and original endeavor to study children fairy tales from the cognitive point of view whose perspectives include cognitive science and cognitive linguistics. research literature and resources on theories like children cognitive development, animistic thinking, conceptual metaphors, metaphoric thinking, categorization, conceptual integration and possible world contribute to the discussions and findings in this thesis. researchers in the field of cognitive science (piaget 1929; carey 1985; inagaki and hatano 1987; 1991; 2004; hatano 1999) agree that in childhood animistic thinking is often seen in children. the current study from the cognitive approach to children fairy tales identifies this claim of animistic thinking in childhood, thus the hypothesis that fairy tales cognitive information accords with the childs own cognitive reality is put forward. from the cognitive linguistic point of view, metaphoric thinking characterizes fairy tales. metaphoric thinking and animistic thinking enable the fuzzy boundaries of categories in fairy tales. all these constitute a possible world in fairy tales. and this possible world along with metaphoric thinking and animistic thinking is conceptualized as childhood spirit which is claimed in this thesis as the nature of fairy tales. chapter i introduces the origin of the current study and the structure of this thesis, and serves as the thesis statement. chapter ii defines fairy tales and classifies them, and a literature review on the study of fairy tales is presented. chapter iii discusses fairy tales from a cognitive science view. findings from the analysis of animistic thinking in fairy tales reveal a human-to-nonhuman-projection thinking which falls into four kinds of projections: people-to-animal, people-to-plant, people-to-inanimate object and implicit people-to-animate-or-inanimate. thus the hypothesis that fairy tales cognitive information accords with the childs own cognitive reality is established. chapter iv studies fairy tales from a cognitive linguistic view by analyzing fairy tales conceptual metaphors, categories, categorization and conceptual integration. findings suggest that conceptual metaphors are pervasive in fairy tales. among these metaphors, physical entity is person and person is physical entity are two important ones. conceptual metaphors in fairy tales are systematic and they constitute a cognitive network. vii findings also hold that boundaries between categories are fuzzy. there is no clear line between categories and there is no sharp line between human and nonhuman. metaphoric mapping also results in an ad hoc categorization of the concerned categories. based on gilles fauconnier and mark turners conceptual integration theory, the blend of concepts in fairy tales is analyzed. selective projection enables human beings to turn into nonhuman or nonhuman to turn into human being. conceptual integration agrees with the finding that these things are natural and reasonable in fairy tales. chapter v concludes that a possible world based on animistic thinking and conceptual metaphors exists in fairy tales and in this possible world there is no clear boundary between human and non-human; and that childhood spirit is the nature of fairy tales. fairy tales cognitive information accords with the childs own cognitive reality. childhood spirit is the peculiar thinking mode of children which differs from that of adults. this thinking mode is animistic and metaphoric and metaphoric mappings of this thinking mode enable a possible world in fairy tales. the current cognitive study of children fairy tales is just a tentative effort that invites further studies. key words: children fairy tales; cognitive science; cognitive linguistics; interpretation; possible world; childhood spirit. acknowledgements i attribute the completion of this thesis to a number of important people who have given me guidance and encouragement in those moments of confusion and frustration over the past years. i am greatly indebted to my supervisor, prof. liu ying, who is currently a visiting professor at jackson state university, ms, usa. i thank her for her guidance, her encouragement, her patience, her detailed corrections back and forth via emails, and her proactive assistance in inviting professor larry ray at tougaloo college, ms, usa to proofread the final draft. without her i wouldnt have been able to make it through. i would like to show my gratefulness to prof. wei han, prof. xu jiwang, prof. zhang shuning and prof. luo yaoguang, whose suggestions helped me to finally settle down on the framework of the thesis. my thanks also go to the other teachers and my classmates in college of foreign studies, guangxi normal university for their assistance and friendship. 1 chapter i introduction 1.1 the origin of the study fairy tales are works of art everyone may enjoy during the beginning years of his lifetime and these works of art might linger in the depth of the adults mind (yu: 2004). researchers study fairy tales from different perspectives. psychoanalysts argue that fairy tales have great psychological meaning for children. bruno bettelheim (1977:25) claims that in a fairy tale the inner processes taking place in an individual are externalized and become comprehensible as represented by the figures of the story and its events. in china, the educational functions of fairy tales are emphasized along with the literary and aesthetic values of fairy tales. researchers like zhou xiaobo (1999; 2001), hong xuntao (1985) have focused their research on literary and aesthetical perspectives, however most of these researchers have not dwelt upon the child and the childs cognitive reality as a research perspective. on the other hand, cognitive science has been well developed since jean piaget during the past decades. developmental psychologists (flavell: 2000) find that children are not miniature adults and children are very active, constructive thinkers and learners. susan carey (1985) studies the conceptual change in childhood and focuses on the development of childrens concepts on living beings. kayoko inagaki and giyoo hatano (1987; 1991; 2004) and giyoo hatano (1999) focus on childrens animistic thinking and animistic causality. in the field of cognitive linguistics, researchers have their great findings. george lakoff and mark johnson (1980:3) argue that metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action. our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature (lakoff rather, it is involved in constructions of its own; it builds up mental spaces, relations between them, and relations between elements within them. later gilles fauconnier 2002) go further to put forward the theory of conceptual integration. these findings in cognitive science and cognitive linguistics give an impetus to study fairy tales from a cognitive perspective which focus on the young readers cognitive reality. based on cognitive research findings, this thesis tries to answer the following questions: what cognitive information have fairy tales implied? is there any relationship between fairy tales and their young readers cognitive reality? 2 furthermore, in the thesis, we will also study the linguistic level of fairy tales with the help of contemporary cognitive linguistic findings and theories. these findings and theories mainly include conceptual metaphors, children categorization, mental spaces, possible world and so on. this thesis is a tentative effort to study fairy tales in a cognitive approach from a new research perspective. it is hoped that this novel research perspective with some original views may help broaden and expand the development of fairy tales study. 1.2 the structure of the thesis this thesis consists of five chapters in unity of a research focus on fairy tales from two perspectives: cognitive science and cognitive linguistics. chapter i is the introduction. it includes the origin of this thesis study and its structure. chapter ii is the literature review. this chapter begins with the definitions and classifications of fairy tales and then goes to fairy tales studies from different approaches. these approaches include psychoanalysts, educationalists, literary and aesthetical researches. the study of this thesis is based on these researches. in chapter iii, cognitive research findings are used to analyze fairy tales so as to find the cognitive information implied in the lines. among these findings, we focus on the animistic thinking. findings on what animistic thinking is, how many kinds of animistic thinking there are and why animistic thinking is there in fairy tales are presented. in chapter iv, we use cognitive linguistic theories and conclusions to study the language of fairy tales. we are first to prove that conceptual metaphors are also pervasive in fairy tales. then we go to the categories and category boundaries in fairy tales. and with the help of conceptual integration theory, we then try to explain why it is natural for us readers to find those that happen in fairy tales like that human beings turn into animals and vice versa. the last chapter, chapter v, discusses the possible world in fairy tales and the childhood spirit which is thought by the author as the nature of fairy tales and finally, makes a conclusion on this thesis. 3 chapter ii literature review 2.1 fairy tales 2.1.1 the definition of fairy tales as a literary genre for children, fairy tales have long been discussed and studied by many a researcher. what they are first concerned about might be the definition of fairy tales. in fact, people hold different points of views on this issue. bruno bettelheim (1977:12) claims that fairy tales are unique, not only as a form of literature, but as works of art which are fully comprehensible to the child, as no other form of art. in other words, fairy tales are not only a unique literary form but also works of art for children reading. he further argues that fairy tales have a great psychological meaning for children of all ages, both girls and boys, irrespective of the age and sex of the storys hero. marie-louise von franz (1996:1) argues that fairy tales are the purest and simplest expression of collective unconscious psychic processes. fairy tales are beyond cultural and racial differences, and they can migrate so easily. fairy tale language seems to be the international language for all mankindof all ages and of all races and cultures. in china, the definition of fairy tales is still quite obscure (hua 2004:1). as a unique literary form, fairy tales are the most representative and typical part of children literature. hua also thinks that characterized by fantasy and imagination, fairy tales are quite similar to the inner world of the children. but the most familiar definition by chinese researcher might be as follows: fairy tales are a member of children literature. using rich imagination, fantasy and exaggeration to shape their characters, fairy tales reflect life and teach children. they are simple but vivid and magical stories while personifying natural things so as to meet childrens need and accommodate their comprehensibility. (ci hai 1 1979) combining different definitions together, hong xuntao (1985:26), a famous chinese researcher on children literature, claims that the definition of fairy tales can be defined as the following: fairy tale is a form of children literature characterized by rich use of fantasy, exaggeration and personification. this definition is quite a natural and reasonable one while it is a bit general and vague. in this thesis, some further discussions on the nature of children fairy tales will be presented. 2.1.2 the classification of fairy tales in his book named studies on fairy tales, hong xuntao (1985:30) divides fairy tales into 4 three categories: classical fairy tales, which include some fables, legends and myths, typical and easy for children to read; folk fairy tales, which are handed down from generation to generation all around the world and include spoken and written ones; writer-created fairy tales, which are created by contemporary writers and catering for children of various ages. hong xuntao adds that fairy tales also fall into two types: science fairy tales and literary fairy tales. the former are those that try to teach children knowledge in the form of fairy tales and the latter are those in common sense. from a different perspective, zhou xiaobo (2001:133) claims that fairy tales might fall into excitement fairy tales, emotion-expressive fairy tales and national fairy tales. excitement fairy tales are those tales in which the authors exert exaggeration, symbolization and other writing skills to a full extent so as to create a certain kind of excitement to the young readers. these tales are special in that they are full of fantasies and mixtures of reality and imagination, even disorders of time and space. on the other hand, zhou xiaobo thinks that excitement fairy tales are of contemporary value in that they have a deep insight into the social reality and give implication to the young readers. lewis carroll along with his masterpiece alices adventure in wonderland is the forefather of excitement fairy tales. emotion-expressive fairy tales start from andersen and his well famous and welcomed tales. in her book, zhou xiaobo (2001:150) argues that roles of emotion-expressive tales are of innocent minds and honest characters and these roles can purify the readers mind. what andersen and writers of his same group created is a kingdom of elegance, romance and classical beauty. this kingdom, zhou xiaobo (2001:167) writes, along with its exquisite language and great aesthetical value, can improve and upgrade the young readers reading aesthetics. national fairy tales writers try to produce works of obvious national features. zhou xiaobo (2001:169) puts forward that national features lie in language and the contents. in national fairy tales, unique features of a certain nation are outstanding with the nations social conventions, emotions, spirits, cultural customs and local colors. in china, hong xuntaos famous story shen bi maliang is the representative of this group of fairy tales. 2.2 literature review of fairy tales studies fairy tales studies have a long history. a review on this history unfolds before us at least four kinds of studies. 2.2.1 the psychoanalysts studies on fairy tales psychoanalysts studies on fairy tales are based on sigmund freuds theoryid, ego and 5 superego, and carl gustav jungs archetypal theory. shu wei some of its forces can then be made to serve positive purposes. during his development, the child needs to be given the chance to understand himself in this complex world with which he must learn to cope. the unconscious may cause great pressures and even disorder in his inner world. these pressures and disorder may lead to great harm to him and others. but fairy tales, which are rich in imagination and fantasy, can help to reduce the harm. the child needs ideas on how to bring his inner world into order, and on that basis is able to create order in his life. bruno bettelheim (1977:5) thinks that the child finds these ideas through fairy tales. he also believes that fairy tales proceed in a manner which conforms to the way a child thinks and experiences the world and the child trusts what the fairy story tells because its world view accords with his own (bruno bettelheim, 1977:45). shu wei 2. by dealing with universal human problems, particularly those which preoccupy the childs mind, fairy tales speak to the childs developing