（外国语言学及应用语言学专业论文）英汉近义词语义韵对比研究.pdf

vii 英汉近义词语义韵对比研究英汉近义词语义韵对比研究 摘要摘要 本篇论文旨在通过对比研究英汉近义词在搭配以及语义韵方面存在的异同， 探究其 对语言教学以及翻译的启示。 此项研究采用语料库语言学的定量分析和对比语言学定性 分析相结合的研究方法，语料取自 ccae 英语在线语料库和国家语委汉语语料库 (cmlc)。参照同义词和双语词典，并兼顾在语料库中的显著程度(出现频数)，本研究 选取了四组词义相近的动词词对，详细观察他们在语料库中的出现频数，搭配词以及索 引行。 其次，以搭配词的语义场为依据，识别同义词对的语义趋向和语义韵。最后， 将英汉同义词的搭配行为和语义韵进行对比，揭示对语言教学和翻译的意义。 本研究显示近义词搭配行为的趋势包括：1. 关键词的语义韵由搭配词组的语义 趋向构成，而非由单个关键词本身显示。 2. 英汉动词多呈现错综语义韵。所谓的同义 词只是在某种意义上对应。3. 英汉近义词在搭配和语义韵上都存在不同程度的差别； 某些近义词对和其他词对相比，在搭配和语义韵方面呈现出更多的相似特征。4. 和英 语相比，汉语的动词呈现出更加鲜明的语义韵特征。5. 英汉近义词对之间在搭配和语 义韵上存在显著的区别性特征。 通过对四组词义相近动词搭配行为的详细观察，此项研究结果如下： 1. 关于第一组动词， 英语词对display 和 exhibit大量使用在中性的语言环境中， 后者表现的更为明显。二者整体上都表现出错综语义韵，但是前者倾向和积极的词汇进 行搭配， 而后者倾向与消极的词汇搭配。 和二者对应的汉语词对展现展现和展示展示都表现出积 极的语义韵倾向。英汉词对在搭配上具有一定的相似性，但是在语义韵上呈现出差别性 特征。 2. 在第二组动词中，face 和 confront 都表现出消极的语义韵特征，后者的特 征更加典型。 和它相对的汉语词对面对面对和面临面临也表现出相似的语义韵特征。面临面临具有典 型的消极语义韵特征，面对面对更多的用在中性的语境中， 它的消极语义色彩没有面临面临浓厚。 英汉词对无论是在搭配还是语义韵方面都具有很多共同点。 3. 在第三组动词中，meet 和 encounter 共享的语义场较少。meet 表现出错综 语义韵， 而 encounter 倾向于使用在消极语言环境中。 对应的汉语词对遇到遇到和遭到遭到， viii 前者表现出错综语义韵，但是更倾向于和消极意义的词汇进行搭配，后者表现出典型的 消极语义韵特征。和英语词对相比，汉语词对表现出更加鲜明的语义韵特征。 4. 对于第四组动词，reveal 和 disclose 都大量使用在中性的语言环境中，但是 后者表现出和消极的词汇进行搭配的倾向。对应的汉语词对揭露揭露 和 暴露暴露 都表现出典 型的消极语义韵特征。英汉词对在搭配和语义韵方面的共同点比较少。 关键词关键词：近义词，语义韵，搭配行为，对比分析 iii a contrastive study of semantic prosodies of near synonyms in english and chinese abstract the present study aims to explore the degree of correspondence of semantic prosodies of near synonyms in english and chinese and their pedagogical and translational implications. it is conducted using methodology that combines both the quantitative approach of corpus linguistics and the qualitative approach of contrastive analysis. the data for this research are drawn from the online ccae (corpus of contemporary american english) and cmlc (chinese modern language corpus). based on their meanings as defined in a dictionary of synonyms and a bilingual dictionary, and their significance of occurrence in the corpus, four sets of semantically-related verbs are selected for investigation, which include: 1. display and exhibit versus 展现 and 展示; face and confront versus 面对 and 面临; meet and encounter versus 遇到 and 遭到; reveal and disclose versus 揭露 and 暴露. frequency of occurrence, collocations, and concordances of the near synonyms are closely observed. on the basis of the semantic fields of recurrent collocations, we identify the semantic preference and semantic prosody of these lexical words, and the findings are compared and contrasted between english and chinese. the general tendencies of the collocational behavior of the near synonyms revealed in the present investigation include: 1. the concordance analysis shows that it is the semantic preference of the collocations that builds up particular semantic prosodies. 2. the semantic prosodies of the verbs in english and chinese as well incline to be complex. the so-called synonyms only exist in certain sense but not in all the senses. 3. the synonyms in both english and chinese vary to a certain degree in their collocational behaviors and semantic prosodies. some pairs of synonyms seem to be more synonymous than others in terms of collocations and semantic prosodies. 4. compared with english, the chinese verbs exhibit more prominent prosody features. 5. there are more gaps than overlaps between english and iv chinese semantically related verbs in light of collocational behaviors and semantic prosody. by examining the collocational behaviors of the four sets of semantically-related verbs in a detailed manner, we have obtained the findings as follows: 1. in the first semantic set, the english pair of synonymous verbs is mainly used in neutral contexts. display shows a mixed semantic prosody, with the possibility to be chosen first for those favorable words; exhibit also shows a mixed semantic prosody, with apparent tendency to favor those negatively evaluated nouns. their chinese counterparts 展现 and 展示 demonstrate apparent positive semantic prosodies. the english pair of synonymous verbs and the chinese pair have some overlaps in collocational profile but show a major difference in semantic prosodies. 2. in the second semantic set, when face collocates with those tangible nouns, its semantic prosody can be neutral or positive; however, when it collocates with abstract nouns, it is imbued with a negative semantic prosody. while confront seldom occurs with words referring to tangible objects, it is usually constrained to the negative contexts and is rarely used in positive contexts. as for their chinese counterparts 面对 and 面临, the former displays a mixed semantic prosody, while the later exhibits a negative one. for this semantic set of verbs, there is great resemblance in collocational behaviors and semantic prosodies between english and chinese. 3. in the third semantic set, meet in all likelihood exhibits a mixed semantic prosody, while encounter bears an apparent negative semantic prosody. as for the chinese pair of synonymous verbs 遇到 and 遭到, the former shows a statistical tendency for negative semantic prosody, while the later exhibits a definite negative semantic prosody. the prosody profiles of meet and 遇到 diverge from each other, as the chinese lexical item is more oriented to negative context than its english counterpart. encounter and 遭到 resemble each other in semantic prosody. 4. in the fourth semantic set, the semantic preferences of reveal point to a neutral semantic prosody, while those of disclose show a similar tendency, with occasional use in negative contexts. when it comes to the chinese pair of near synonyms, 揭露 and 暴露，, both exhibit typical negative semantic prosody. a sharp contrast in semantic prosody exists in v the members of this semantic set, reveal, disclose and 暴露, 揭露. key words: near synonyms, semantic prosody, collocational behavior, contrastive analysis xiii list of tables table 3. 1 semantic profile of display.23 table 3. 2 semantic profile of exhibit.23 table 3. 3 semantic profile of face.30 table 3. 4 semantic profile of confront.31 table 3. 5 collocational profile of 展现.36 table 3. 6 collocational profile of 展示.37 table 3. 7 collocational profile of 面临.43 table 3. 8 collocational profile of 面对.44 table 4. 1 semantic profile of meet.51 table 4. 2 semantic profile of encounter.52 table 4. 3 semantic profile of reveal.54 table 4. 4 semantic profile of disclose.55 table 4. 5 semantic profile of 遇到.60 table 4. 6 semantic profile of 遭到.61 table 4. 7 semantic profile of 暴露.65 table 4. 8 semantic profile of 揭露.66 xv list of figures figure 3. 1 distribution of display and exhibit in text genres.19 figure 3. 2 concordance lines of exhibit containing collocates of “direction of change” .21 figure 3. 3 distribution of face and confront in text genres.25 figure 3. 4 concordance lines of confront containing collocates of “person”.26 figure 3. 5 concordance lines of face containing collocates of “time period”.27 figure 3. 6 concordance lines of face containing collocate as “task”.28 figure 3. 7 concordance lines of confront containing collocates of “issues”.29 figure 3. 8 concordance lines of 展现 containing collocates of “picture”.32 figure 3. 9 concordance lines of 展示 containing collocates of “picture” or “vision”.33 figure 3. 10 concordance lines of 展现 containing collocates of “picture of future” .33 figure 3. 11 concordance lines of 展示 containing collocates of “picture of future” .34 figure 3. 12 concordance lines of 展示 containing collocates of “product”.34 figure 3. 13 concordance lines of 展现 containing collocates of “underlying principles or hidden rules”.35 figure 3. 14 concordance lines of 展示 containing collocates of “underlying principles or hidden rules”.35 figure 3. 15 concordance lines of 展现 containing collocates of “personal qualities” 36 figure 3. 16 concordance lines of 展示 containing collocate of “personal qualities”.36 figure 3. 17 concordance lines of 面对 containing collocates of “tangible things”.38 figure 3. 18 concordance lines of 面临 containing collocates of tangible things.39 figure 3. 19 concordance lines of 面对 containing collocates of “people”.39 figure 3. 20 concordance lines of 面临 containing collocates of “situation” or “task”40 figure 3. 21 concordance lines of 面对 containing collocates of “situation” or “task”40 figure 3. 22 concordance lines of 面临 containing collocates of “hard situations”.41 figure 3. 23 concordance lines of 面对 containing collocates of “hard situations”.42 figure 3. 24 a sample concordance of 面临.44 xvi figure 3. 25 a sample concordance of 面对.44 figure 4. 1 distribution of encounter and meet in text genres.49 figure 4. 2 concordance lines of encounter containing collocates of “experience” .51 figure 4. 3 distribution of reveal and disclose in text genres .53 figure 4. 4 concordance lines of 遇到 containing collocates denoting people or things .57 figure 4. 5 concordance lines of 遭到 containing collocates denoting people or things .57 figure 4. 6 concordance lines of 遇到 containing collocates of harsh conditions.58 figure 4. 7 concordance lines of 遭到 containing collocates of harsh conditions.58 figure 4. 8 concordance lines of 遇到 containing collocating indicating favorable things.59 figure 4. 9 a sample concordance of 遇到.60 figure 4. 10 concordance lines of 暴露 containing collocates of tangible things.62 figure 4. 11 concordance lines of 暴露 containing collocates of mental activities.63 figure 4. 12 concordance lines of 揭露 containing collocates indicating the nature of things.63 figure 4. 13 concordance lines of 暴露 containing collocates indicating the nature of things.64 figure 4. 14 concordance lines of 揭露 containing collocates of “problem” or “crime” .64 figure 4. 15concordance lines of 暴露 containing collocates of “problem” or “crime” .65 上海交通大学上海交通大学 学位论文原创性声明学位论文原创性声明 本人郑重声明：所呈交的学位论文，是本人在导师的指导下， 独立进行研究工作所取得的成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本 论文不包含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的作品成果。 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结果由本人承担。 学位论文作者签名：田平平田平平 日期： 2009 年 2 月 2 日 上海交通大学 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，同时 学校保留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。 本人授权上海交通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。 学位论文作者签名： 田平平田平平 指导教师签名：卫乃兴卫乃兴 日期： 2009 年 2 月 2 日 日期： 2009 年 2 月 2 日 i acknowledgements i hereby present my heartfelt gratitude to those who have provided invaluable help in making this thesis a reality. the thesis would have been impossible without the tremendous help i got from my esteemed supervisor professor wei naixing. his profound academic knowledge, deep insights and rigorous scholarship have guided me through all the stages of thesis writing from the formation of the ideas to the arrangement, structure, and the completion of the whole work. i am especially grateful to him for his patient reading, careful revision and wise comments on my drafts. i have indeed benefited a great deal from his guidance in the completion of this thesis. my sincere thanks also go to all the professors who gave lectures during my m.a studies; those lectures have prepared me in both knowledge and research methods for the writing of the thesis. i am also grateful to my dear classmates and friends who have given me support and encouragement in the process of writing. last but not least, i am indebted to my parents, who have always been there for me, and whose love, encouragement and understanding have supported me all my life. without the assistance and support from these people, the present study would have never been accomplished. 1 chapter 0 introduction 0.1 background of the present study in lexical studies, the phenomenon of synonymy has been of great interest for both language learners and language teachers. for the former, a great deal of evidence has been revealed to suggest that language learners can effectively acquire vocabulary by analogy; in other words, they associate the strange words with the previously acquired items which are similar in meaning (rudska et al. 1982, 1985; see also carters discussion(1987；1703) of word acquisition using semantically related grids). for the latter, it is a popular practice in pedagogy to explain the strange words in terms of so-called synonyms. in addition, it has been uncovered that a central feature of most dictionary texts is “definition through synonyms” (ilson 1991:294-6). both non-native learners and translators often resort to dictionaries to locate lexical alternatives to express a particular concept for motives of stylistic variation. harvey therefore, they are suitable for contrastive studies. this contrastive study combines quantitative measurements and qualitative analysis and aims to address the degree of correspondence in semantic behaviors between the members of the synonymous sets of verbs. 0.4 organization of the thesis the structure of this study is as follows. chapter 1 first examines the concept of 3 synonymy and its different types. it then traces back the previous approaches to semantic prosody and discusses its relationships with collocation and semantic preference. the last section of chapter 1 reviews related contrastive lexical studies. chapter 2 describes the theoretical foundation and analytical framework of the present study. chapters 3 and 4 explore the resemblance and divergence in collocational behavior and semantic prosodies between the semantic-related lexical words in the two languages. in chapter 3, we first investigate the two english pairs of synonymous verbs in their similarities and differences in collocational behaviors and semantic prosodies: then we do the same to their chinese counterparts. after that, comparison and contrast is made between english and chinese. in chapter 4, the same procedure is adopted but with different lexical items. chapter 5 investigates the exploitation of semantic prosodies in the two languages based on the research findings obtained in the previous two chapters. chapter 6 summarizes the major findings of the present study and addresses its possible implications and makes recommendations for future studies. 4 chapter 1 literature review the thesis is primarily concerned with two basic concepts: synonymy and collocation. they both have to do with how words relate to each other. thus, this chapter is concerned with whether any two words can be considered synonymous and what different types of synonymy there are. then the concepts of collocation, semantic preference and semantic prosody are reviewed. the last part of this chapter is devoted to the contrastive studies of near synonyms both in english and chinese as well as from a cross-linguistic perspective. 1.1 synonymy 1.1. the notion of synonymy synonymy is something that fascinates people, especially semanticists, translators, and those studying language acquisition. however, there is the question of whether synonymy exists at all. many linguists talk about it, but when it comes to the definition of synonymy, things become more complicated. what is synonymy? how do we decide which words can be considered synonymous and which words can not? can two words still be