现代汉语中声音象征意义

现代汉语中声音象征意义

中文

当前主流语言学理论认为语言符号本质上是任意的，除个别情况外，音义之间不存在必然的联系。但是声音的象征意义一直受到西方语言学家的广泛关注，对语言音义关系的探索自柏拉图以来就没有停止过，特别是近年来随着认知语言学理论的发展，人们开始从更深的认知层次思考音义关系。90年代以来，西方语言学界从不同的角度研究印欧语系中的音义现象，并取得了较大的进展。但对汉语中音义关系的研究却较为少见。由于受到主流语言学派的影响以及汉语自身特点的制约，我国语言学界对此现象的研究更少。本文借用西方学者的研究成果及研究模式来探讨现代汉语中的音义关系。通过对现代汉语中部分拟声词与非拟声词声、韵母特征及语义的分析，发现语音与语义之间在某些方面存在对应关系，且这种对应关系具有一定的理据性，它与人类的本体感受、社会生活经验等生理及非生理因素相关。尽管各种语言中都有此类现象，但是由于受到地域、文化、环境等因素的影响与制约，这种现象的具体表现形式又各不相同。本论文进一步探讨了现代汉语中音义对应关系的表现形式及具体特征。最后，作者认为音义对应关系的理据性并不否认语言符号的任意性，语言符号与客体的联系是任意的，但是在语言发展的过程中由于受到多种因素的影响与制约，语言单位之间在某些方面往往表现出一定的理据性。本研究对于认识语言本质、特别是语音象似性特征具有一定的参考价值。同时，对于文学创作与翻译也有一定的指导意义。

译文

According to Saussure, the linguistic sign unites a concept and a sound image, while the bond between the concept and the sound-image is arbitrary. However, the study of the relationship between sound and meaning can trace back to the time of Plato. Many linguists have employed various methods to explore the topic within a single language as well as two or more languages. Especially after 1990, with the development of cognitive linguistics and phonology, great achievements have been made by western linguists from different points of view. However, there is apparently less amount of study concerning sound symbolism in the Chinese language, which is partly due to the dominant view of the arbitrariness of linguistic signs as proposed by Saussure, and partly due to the unique characteristics of the Chinese language, i.e. a language of monosyllable, tone, pictographic writing system, etc. By using the results and methods of earlier linguists for reference, the author firstly takes onomatopoeias and other words as the subject to be investigated in a systematic way and demonstrates that sound symbolism does exist to a certain extent in the modern Chinese language. It shows that the correspondence between sound and meaning is motivated and the motivation is relevant to such factors as

human experiences, culture backgrounds, psychological attributes, physiological characters, etc. Though sound symbolism can be found in nearly all-human languages, its representations vary from language to language. Then, special attention has been focused on the study of sound symbolism as it relates to size symbolism in the Chinese language, symbolism motivated by the sense of sight, the Chinese tone, the Chinese culture, gender difference in the spoken Chinese, etc. Finally, the author claims that the linguistic motivation is not in contradiction with the arbitrary nature of linguistic sign. Arbitrariness refers to the relationship between the linguistic sign and the object in reality is arbitrary, while linguistic motivation refers to that certain associative meanings could be found between different linguistic units. Theoretically, this study serves as a reference for a better understanding of the nature of human language systems, especially for language iconicity. Practically, this study might provide some insights for writing, translation, naming, etc.