摘要
否定在逻辑中占据着核心地位,尤其在语言哲学和语言学领域。一种普遍的观点认为,否定以肯定为前提和基础,而反之则不然。本研究通过探讨跨语言的临界事件的语法表征,来探索否定的情感逻辑。这些事件包括几乎发生但最终没有发生的情形,或以微小差距勉强实现的结果。我们将这些事件称为“临界事件”,并将描述这些事件的语法结构称为“临界构式”。通过对汉语、西班牙语和意大利语临界构式的比较分析,特别是聚焦于否定在这些结构中的作用及其与接近词的关系,我们发现三个语言中否定结构都是临界事件概念化的原始结构,说明否定不以肯定为前提,否定式不依赖于肯定式而存在。否定在三个语言中一致通过未然语义传达交互元语用信息,在对话准则的制约下标示夸张意图,因而在语义上并非冗余成分。汉语和西班牙语在临界构式上表现出显著的语法和语义相似性,意大利语则呈现出一种不同的模式。本研究揭示了这些语言在构建临界事件时的共同情感立场,反映了人类认知和情感中的普遍负面偏见。本研究挑战了传统真值条件语义分析的局限性,揭示了否定的情感逻辑以及人类语言的对话性本质。
Zhuo Jing-Schmidt;Negation holds a central role in logic,particularly within the philosophy of language and linguistics.A widespread view suggests that negation presupposes affirmation and is secondary in importance.This study explores the affective logic of negation by investigating cross-linguistic representations of situations near a tipping point,often referred to as“close calls”and“narrow escapes.”These scenarios encompass events that nearly occurred but were narrowly averted,as well as outcomes achieved by a slight margin.We term such events as“approximative events”and refer to the constructions describing them as“approximative constructions.”Through a comparative analysis of Chinese,Spanish,and Italian approximative constructions,with a focus on the role of negation and its relationship to approximative expressions,we find that in all three languages,irrealis approximative constructions with negaters are the original patterns for conceptualizing approximative events.This indicates that negation does not presuppose affirmation and does not rely on affirmation for its existence.In all three languages,negaters in approximative constructions consistently convey metapragmatic messages through irrealis semantics,serving an overtly hyperbolic function under the constraints of conversational maxims,demonstrating that they are not semantically redundant.While Chinese and Spanish exhibit significant grammatical and semantic similarities in their approximative constructions,Italian presents a distinct pattern,particularly in the clear demarcation of negation and affirmation across negative and affirmative constructions.Additionally,this study points to a shared emotional stance across these languages in constructing approximative events,reflecting a universal negativity bias in human cognition and emotion.This research challenges traditional truth-conditional semantic analysis,revealing the affective logic of negation and the dialogic nature of human language.
出处
《语言教学与研究》
CSSCI
北大核心
2024年第6期66-82,共17页
Language Teaching and Linguistic Studies
