（英语语言文学专业论文）模糊限制语的认知研究.pdf

硕士学位论文 模糊限制语的认知研究 a cognitive approach to hedges v 内内 容容 提提 要要 在相当长的时间内， 伟大的哲学家亚里士多德提出的 “思维规律”（the laws of thought）一直是语言研究的基础。人们认为，一个事物要么 属于一个范畴，要么不属于。美国数学家和电脑科学家 l. a. zadeh 在 1965 年提出了“模糊理论” （fuzzy set theory）并证明模糊是语言 的本质。语言学家 george lakoff 把“能使事物变得更加模糊或者更 加不模糊的词”称为“模糊限制语”(hedge)。可见，模糊限制语与语 言的模糊本质关系十分密切。此后，语言学家们从多种角度对模糊限 制语进行了研究，例如，语用学，语法，语义学等。认识语言学于二 十世纪九十年代兴起。 george lakoff 从认知语言学的角度对模糊限制 语进行研究。他认为，模糊限制语可以区分出范畴中的典型成员，不 同的模糊限制语可以激发相应的理想化认知模型（icm） ，从而为人 们提供了合适的认知模型。此外，某些模糊限制语的使用还可产生隐 喻含义。 模糊限制语有很强的意义揭示能力， 但国内学者对模糊限制语的研究 尚未成熟。为了引起国内学者对模糊限制语的认知价值的重视，本文 尝试总结了对模糊限制语的认知研究， 并在前人研究基础之上对模糊 限制语与范畴的关系、模糊限制语与理想化认知模型的关系、模糊限 制语与隐喻的关系、以及模糊限制语由英文到中文的翻译进行探索。 硕士学位论文 模糊限制语的认知研究 a cognitive approach to hedges vi 一方面，对译者来说，将模糊限制语由英文译为中文是一个难题；另 一方面， 模糊限制语由英语到汉语的翻译对于中国读者准确领会各种 英文材料起着至关重要的作用。 认识到模糊限制语的独特性及其重要 性，本文尝试从文学作品中挑选一些模糊限制语的译文进行分析比 较，旨在引起学者对于模糊限制语翻译的重视及深入研究。 本文由四章组成。 第一章“引言”部分介绍文章大意及学术价值。 第二章“文献综述”包括两小节。第一小节简要介绍了国外学者对模 糊限制语的认知研究。第一小节由三部分组成。第一部分重点讨论模 糊限制语与范畴的关系。 模糊限制语的使用不仅能够区分出范畴的成 员，还能够区别出范畴的典型成员。第二部分研究模糊限制语与理想 化认知模型的联系。模糊限制语为人们理解话语提供恰切的认知模 型。第三部分重点研究了模糊限制语与隐喻的联系。lakoff 认为，有 些模糊限制语，如 regular，能够产生隐喻含义。本章第二节总结了 国内学者对模糊限制语的研究并主要介绍了伍铁平和何自然的研究。 鉴于前人对模糊限制语进行的认知语言学研究， 第三章谈论了笔者对 于模糊限制语的认知探索。通过例子，第一节讨论了模糊限制语与范 畴的关系，并试图展示模糊限制语在日常生活中的广泛应用及其作 硕士学位论文 模糊限制语的认知研究 a cognitive approach to hedges vii 用。 第二节重点讨论模糊限制语 loosely speaking 及其引起的理想化认 知模型。通过对一些例子的分析，笔者认为，模糊限制语 loosely speaking 通常引起民俗认知模型 （folk cognitive model） 作为理想化认 知模型。第三节通过例证展现模糊限制语 regular 与隐喻的关系。第 四节列举了从文学作品中搜集到的一些模糊限制语的翻译，如 somewhat， pretty， rather 等。 从搜集到的模糊限制语的译文可以看出， 不同的译者在对模糊限制语的翻译上有明显的分歧， 有时同一译者对 同一模糊限制语也采用了截然不同的翻译策略。可以说，对于译者， 模糊限制语在翻译中既非常重要但又是一个难题。 第四章总结了文章大意和不足之处，并提出了进一步研究的方向。 关键词：关键词：模糊限制语；认知语言学；原型理论；理想化认知模型； 模糊限制语的翻译 硕士学位论文 模糊限制语的认知研究 a cognitive approach to hedges i synopsis for a long time, the laws of thought by the great philosopher aristotle dominated the study of language and it was a firm belief that an entity either belonged to a category or did not. in 1965, l. a. zadeh, an american mathematician and computer scientist, set forth “fuzzy set theory” and proved that fuzziness is the nature of language. george lakoff, a great linguist, defines hedges as “words whose job is to make things fuzzier or less fuzzy”. therefore, hedges are closely related to the fuzzy nature of language. since then, a great number of linguists conduct research on hedges from various linguistic aspects, say pragmatics, grammar, semantics, etc. the 1990s witnessed the development of cognitive linguistics. george lakoff studies hedges from cognitive linguistic point of view and finds that hedges could sort out the prototype of a category and some hedges could produce metaphorical properties. different hedges evoke corresponding icms, providing an appropriate cognitive model for understanding. hedges have great power in revealing meaning, but the research on hedges is still immature in china. for the purpose of drawing chinese scholars attention to the cognitive value of hedges, the present thesis has 硕士学位论文 模糊限制语的认知研究 a cognitive approach to hedges ii a go at summarizing the previous cognitive linguistic study of hedges, grounded on which the thesis studies the relationship between hedges and category, the relationship between hedges and icm, the relationship between hedges and metaphor, and the translation of hedges from english into chinese. on the one hand, the translation of hedges from english into chinese might be a difficulty for translators; on the other hand, the translation of hedges from english into chinese has an essential effect on chinese readers understanding of original english material. the present thesis takes a shot at exemplifying the translation of some hedges from english into chinese in literary works, aiming to bring close attention to the problems in translating hedges. the present thesis consists of four chapters. chapter one “introduction” introduces the main idea and academic value of the thesis, and the arrangement of the thesis. chapter two “literature review” has two sections. the first section briefly examines the research on hedges carried out abroad, introducing hedges mainly from cognitive linguistic point of view. the first part of this section centers on the relationship between hedges and category. the application of hedges could not only distinguish the membership of a 硕士学位论文 模糊限制语的认知研究 a cognitive approach to hedges iii category but also pick out the prototype of a category. the second part talks about the relationship between hedges and icms. the use of hedges could naturally provide a suitable cognitive model for the understanding of the utterance. the third part focuses on the relationship between hedges and metaphor. according to lakoff, some hedges, say regular, is able to pick out the metaphorical properties. the second section of this chapter talks about the study on hedges by chinese scholars, wu tiepings（伍铁平） and he zirans （何自然） mainly. based on the cognitive linguistic research of hedges that has been carried out, chapter three shows the cognitive study of hedges by the authoress. through some examples, the first section discusses the relationship between hedges and category, attempting to display hedges wide application in daily life and their effective functions. the second section focuses on the hedge loosely speaking and the icm that it evokes. through the analysis of some examples, the authoress holds that the hedge loosely speaking usually evoke folk cognitive model as icm. the third section illustrates the relationship between the hedge regular and metaphor. the forth section collects the translation of some hedges, such as somewhat, pretty, rather, from english into chinese from literary works. from the collection of translation, it could be seen that the translation of hedges is important but also a difficulty for translators in 硕士学位论文 模糊限制语的认知研究 a cognitive approach to hedges iv that different translators usually translate one hedge very differently, sometimes, one translator seems to have different translating strategies for the same hedge. chapter four summarizes the main idea and talks about the shortcomings of the present thesis, and puts forward the suggestions for further research. key words: hedges; cognitive linguistics; prototype theory; icm; translation of some hedges 原创性声明原创性声明 本人声明兹呈交的学位论文是本人在导师指导下完成的研究成果。 论文写作中不包含其他人已经发表或撰写过的研究内容，如参考他人或 集体的科研成果，均在论文中以明确的方式说明。本人依法享有和承担 由此论文所产生的权利和责任。 学位论文作者签名： 日期： 学位论文版权使用授权声明学位论文版权使用授权声明 本人同意授权华侨大学有权保留并向国家机关或机构送交学位论文 和磁盘，允许学位论文被查阅和借阅。 论文作者签名： 指导教师签名： 签 名 日 期： 签 名 日 期： acknowledgements the completion of this thesis results from the help from many people. hereby i would like to express my sincere gratitude to those who made this thesis possible. first and most, i owe a debt of gratitude to my supervisor professor chen daoming who has always been kind, considerate, and patient. without his valuable guidance and enlightening instruction, i could not have completed my thesis. his devotion to academic research is not only a great help to my thesis but also a precious fortune for my study and life in the future. i would also like to extend my hearty thanks to all my respected teachers for the knowledge and inspirations i acquired from their lectures during my undergraduate and postgraduate studies. i am deeply indebted to my parents for their support, understanding, and love. whatever i do, my parents always stand behind me, giving me constant support and sharing my happiness and frustrations. my parents are not at all academic or intellectuals themselves, but their confidence in me and their support for me have made this thesis and my writing it all the more worthwhile. i am also grateful to my roommates for their help in this thesis and my life. they are always there when i am in need of encouragement and support. last but not least, i would like to thank all my classmates and friends who helped and encouraged me so much. 硕 士 学 位 论 文 chapter one introduction 1 chapter one introduction for a long time, people held the belief that language should be as precise as possible, however, the phenomenon of fuzziness exists objectively and widely in all aspects of human life. the fact is that fuzziness is the nature of language. since l. a. zadeh, a mathematician and computer scientist at the university of california, berkeley, put forward fuzzy set theory in his paper fuzzy sets in 1965, there was a surge on the study of fuzziness. from then on, due to the wide existence of fuzziness in life, the study of fuzziness had been related to many other subjects, such as mathematics, psychology, logic, and translatology. hedge, a product of fuzzy linguistics, receives close attention. linguists later find out that hedges are not only related to fuzzy linguistics and they begin to conduct close research about hedges from various aspects, such as truth-conditional semantics, grammar, pragmatics, etc. the research has made certain achievement and has shown that hedges can effectively reveal meanings. the importance of the hedges in linguistic study has become more and more obvious. george lakoff studies hedges and finds that hedges could sort out the prototype of a category and some hedges could produce metaphorical properties. different hedges evoke corresponding icms, enabling people to correctly understand the utterance. hedges are powerful in revealing meaning and deserve close attention. the cognitive research of hedges by chinese scholars is not profound. the present thesis makes a maiden attempt to carefully examine the cognitive linguistic research on hedges. based on the previous research on the relationship between hedges and category, the relationship between hedges and icms, and the relationship between hedges and metaphor, the authoress of the thesis conducts further study in these aspects. owing to the fact that hedges are widely used in various works, the translation of hedges from english into chinese is unavoidably a difficulty for translators, but the translation of 硕 士 学 位 论 文 chapter one introduction 2 hedges is essential for the understanding of chinese readers. as a result, the english-to-chinese translation of hedges is a new topic that deserves close attention. the present thesis explores the translation of some hedges from english into chinese, which are selected from literary works, aiming to arouse peoples attention to the cognitive value of hedges, especially in the translation issue. chapter two briefly goes over the research on hedges that has been carried out abroad and at home in two sections respectively and summarizes the research on hedges from cognitive linguistic aspect. compared with the research on hedge carried out at home, the research carried out abroad is more mature. the first part of the section “research on hedges carried out abroad” focuses on the relationship between hedges and category. the study of hedges reveals that the classical approach of categorization is not correct, in fact, categorization is not a yes-or-no question and an entity indeed belongs to a category to some extent, which is decided by the application of the hedge. the second part talks about the relationship between hedges and icm. the application of hedges could evoke proper icms, i.e., expert cognitive models or folk cognitive models. besides, the same hedge might evoke different icms to people from different fields. the third part discusses lakoffs research on the hedge regular, which he thinks picks out metaphorical meanings. the second section reviews the study on hedges carried out at home, wu tiepings（伍铁平） and he zirans（何自然）study in chief. chapter three talks about the authoress study of hedges, which is grounded on the cognitive linguistic research on hedges that has been carried out. the first section, via some examples which display the extensive application of hedges and their effect, discusses the relationship between hedges and category. the second section centers on the hedge loosely speaking and the icm it evokes. by means of analyzing the examples, the authoress holds that it is folk cognitive model that the hedge loosely speaking usually evokes as its icm. the third section exemplifies the relationship between the hedge regular and metaphor. as various hedges have different influences 硕 士 学 位 论 文 chapter one introduction 3 on the meaning of the word that it modifies, the forth part displays the translation of some hedges, which are chosen from literary works, aiming to cognitively find out the chinese equivalents of some hedges. different translators are likely to adopt contrasting translation strategies on the same hedge, in addition, one translator sometimes applies different translating strategies for the same hedge. chapter four concludes the main idea of the present thesis, discusses the shortcomings of the present thesis, and puts forward the suggestions for further research. 硕 士 学 位 论 文 chapter two literature review 4 chapter two literature review 2.1 research on hedges carried out abroad 2.1.1 hedges if any of the defining features is not exhibited by the entity, the entity is not a member of the category. the classical approach to categories dominated psychology, philosophy, and linguistics throughout much of the twentieth century. by his influence, for a long time, it had been a common belief that an entity either belonged to a category or not and there was no other possibility. basic assumptions of the classical approach to category are: (1) “categories are defined in terms of a conjunction of necessary and sufficient feature. the law of contradiction states that a thing cannot be both be and not be, it cannot both possess a feature and not possess it, it cannot both belong to a category and not belong to it. the law of the excluded middle states that a thing must either be or not be, it must either possess a feature or not possess it, it must either belong to a category or not belong to it. hence: (2) features are binary a feature is either involved in the definition of a category, or it is not; an entity either possesses this feature, or it does not. (3) categories have clear boundaries a category, once established, divides the universe into two sets of entities-those that are members of the category, and those that are not. there are no ambiguous cases, no entities which in a way or to some extent belong to the category, but which in another way do not” (taylor, 2001:23). 硕 士 学 位 论 文 chapter two literature review 5 (4) “all members of a category have equal status an entity which exhibits all the defining features of a category is a full member of that category; any entity which does not exhibit all the defining features is not a member. there are no degrees of membership in a category, i.e. there are no entities which are better members of the category than others” (taylor, 2001:24). according to the classical approach of categorization, members of bird category, i.e., birds of various kinds share all the features within this category and their status are all the same. though the application of the classical approach of categorization contributed a lot to language use, some problems exist objectively in this theory. this way of categorization is too absolute and leaves much room for improvement. this way of thinking does not match our actual recognition of the world. a case in point is ostrich. it is definitely a member of the bird category, yet it is short of a very important defining feature of the category, that is, it lacks the ability to fly. judged by the classical standards of category membership, ostrich could not be included in the bird category, which is opposite to our cognition. the category membership of an entity is not a yes-or-no question, therefore, language, which is based on the categorization, is not so precise, as claimed by aristotle. it was l. a. zadeh who first brought up fuzzy set theory, thus enabling the fuzzy theory of language to become a formal subject. in 1965, zadeh published his seminal work fuzzy sets, in which he put forward the mathematics of fuzzy set theory and established the “quantitative fuzzy semantics”, through which the fuzzy languages were computed with mathematical function. he introduced some mathematical terms into linguistics, such as “fuzzy set”, “grade of membership”, and “membership function”. in 1972, zadeh published another article entitled “a fuzzy-set-theoretic interpretation of linguistic hedges”. there are four kinds of hedges according to zadeh. “(i) some adjectives and adverbs such as sort of, a little bit, maybe, often, usually, always, quite, very, almost, some, somewhere, recently, somewhat, etc. 硕 士 学 位 论 文 chapter two literature review 6 (ii) words with suffixes such as -ish, -likely, -ly, etc. (iii) phrases such as as if, sothat, as though, soas to, etc. these phrases show the speakers uncertainty about what he said. (iv) sentences such as i think, i guess, i wonder, as far as, etc. these sentences can help the speaker to express himself more indirectly and more politely” (huang, 2007). george lakoff in 1973 published “hedges: a study in meaning criteria and the logic of fuzzy concepts”. in this outstanding work, lakoff defined hedges as “words whose job is to make things fuzzier or less fuzzy” (1973: 471). he accepted zadehs fuzzy-set theory an