已有不少研究探索空间语言与认知,但相关的汉英对比研究却比较稀缺。本文在Danziger (2010)四分参照系模式下对比研究汉英语篇中的空间参照系表达。结果表明,汉英空间参照系表达既有共性也有异性。主要共性为:两者都采用由“目标物”至“参照物”/“参照物”至“目标物”两种语序结构,都使用“绝对、相对、物本、直接”四种参照系描述空间物体位置。主要差异为:(1)“参照物先于目标物”的语序结构在汉语语料中占压倒性优势,“目标物先于参照物”的语序结构在英语语料中占绝对优势;(2)“绝对参照”是汉语的优选参照系表达,“物本参照”是英语的优选参照系表达;(3)汉语通常须使用后置方位词标示物体位置(前置介词可用可略),英语只用介词表达物体位置。研究还表明,汉英空间参照系表达的共性是由人类普遍性空间认知驱动的,而两者差异性具有其特定的、多样性的认知语义理据。
Research is quite rich in spatial language and cognition; however, there is little work done contrastively in Chinese and English. This study compares and analyzes the spatial expressions and frames of reference (FORs) used in Chinese and English discourse within Danziger's (2010) four way typology. The results show that there are likenesses and dissimilarities in spatial descriptions between the two languages. The likenesses are that both languages utilize the Figure Ground and Ground Figure sequence and the four FORs to describe the objects' location. The dissimilarities are as follows. First, the Ground Figure structures occur overwhelmingly in Chinese while the Figure Ground structures are prevailing in English. Second, absolute FORs are more preferred in Chinese, but object centered FORs more so in English. Third, in Chinese a postposition is normally required, with or without a preposition concurring, to localize the Figure, whereas in English a preposition is always used to specify the Figure's location. It is also suggested that the similarities in spatial descriptions between the languages are driven by universal cognition in space, yet the differences thus found are attributable to cognitive and semantic diversity.
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