浅析自然顺序及视点在建构语篇中的作用
2015-09-08王传梅
王传梅
【摘要】语篇的建构是言语活动和认知心理活动的统一。由于语言表述呈线性排列,不可能同时表达所有事物,所以必须先进行分析,把握其逻辑关系及内在联系,然后依次表达出来。所以,在语篇的建构过程中,人们需要通过对自然顺序和视点的运用,把语篇的材料按照一定顺序或视角表达出来。本文主要通过例子来探讨自然顺序及视点在建构语篇中的作用。
【关键词】语篇 自然顺序 视点
语篇是由一系列语段或句子所组成的语言整体。它的形成既能体现人们的语言表达能力,又能体现人们的心理活动以及世界观、价值观等。大多数语篇中的逻辑关系是通过自然顺序和视点实现的。
一、自然顺序
自然顺序包括时间顺序和感知顺序,在叙述性和描述性语篇中起着至关重要的作用。自然顺序为语篇提供一个时空框架,将所有活动包括言语行为都限制在这个框架内,使语篇条理生动连贯紧凑的展现出来。
1.时间顺序。事件的描述通常是以时间先后为序,正如Levelt指出的那样,“描述一个事件时,一般要把先发生的放在前面,后发生的放在后面”。如果作者想强调故事结局或者创造出特殊效果,可以采用倒叙或者插叙的写作手法。记叙文如新闻、自传等通常按照一定时间顺序展开,这样可以将事件十分清楚条理叙述开来,从而使语篇连贯紧凑。例如,“Lincoln was born in Kentucky.When Lincoln was eight years old,his father lost most of his land in Kentucky.Then,his family moved to Indiana.The first winter there they lived in a house with only three walls; the fourth side was open for a fire.Lincolns mother died when he was nine years old.Later,his stepmother persuaded his father that Abraham should begin to go to school.He started school but it soon closed.”
该段文字对林肯儿时的经历进行了简单叙述,按照时间先后顺序展开,给读者提供清晰、准确的信息。
2.感知顺序。按照Van Dijk提出的理论,对状态或者地点的描述可以采用感知顺序或空间顺序,如由内到外,由上到下,有两边到中间的顺序。按照一定的空间顺序进行地点描写,可以使文章变得准确、生动,使读者脑中形成形象的图片。
“Oxford is an exceptionally old university town,on the River Thames,about 60 miles from London.Oxfords center is the university; and all around the crossroads at the very heart of Oxford,Carfax,there are gray stone Colleges and other university buildings.In the center you can also find interesting old pubs and paved passages.There are a lot of churches,and one or two really large and interesting buildings,such as the Ashmolean Museum,the “round library”,the Bodleian and the Radcliffe Camera,with its domed roof.Like all English towns,there are parks,and one,“the Parks”,is the leafy home of university cricket in summer months.As you leave the center and go towards the outskirts of Oxford you can see industrial estates and a car factory in one direction; and in another,attractive suburbs.”
这段文字描写了大学城牛津,首先介绍了牛津的大体位置,然后按照由中心到郊区的顺序展开。该段描写重点突出、详略得当,重点描述了牛津的中心,并对具体事物进行了描写。
二、视点
视点在某种程度上制约语篇深层结构,它反映作者看待世界的角度和态度,支配着语篇信息的选择和组合。
根据Roger Fowler的理论,视点可以分为时空视点、观念视点、知觉视点三大类。时空视点主要体现人们观察事物的时空角度;观念视点主要由情态和语体体现,反映人们对事物的价值观、信仰体系等;知觉视点关注知觉的对象,包括话题和内容两部分。
通俗的说,视点一般表现为讲话人的赞同和反对,喜欢与厌恶等,词汇的选择在很大程度上受到视点影响。因此,视点为文章奠定一定的基调。
下面这段话出自《新视野大学英语2》中的课文“Weeping for My Smoking Daughter”,读者可以从字里行间看出作者的视点,从而看出作者的态度。
“There is a deep hurt that I feel as a mother.Some days it is a feeling of uselessness.I remember how carefully I ate when I was pregnant,how patiently I taught my daughter how to cross a street safely.For what,I sometimes wonder; so that she can struggle to breathe thorough most of her life feeling half her strength,and then die of self-poisoning,as her grandfather did? ”
这是作者看到女儿抽烟并且回忆父亲深受香烟之害后的一段话,通过评价性副词(如carefully,patiently)和评价性动词(如struggle)以及修辞疑问句的运用,充分体现了作者的心理及态度,即作为一个母亲对女儿抽烟的心痛及强烈反对并且向读者表明抽烟的严重危害。
三、结语
句子和语篇同时受自然顺序和一定视点的制约。自然顺序为语篇的建构提供一个时空框架,将所有言语行为都限制在这个框架内,使语篇通过一定的顺序,清晰条理、有条不紊的将事物展现给读者。语篇中任何言语行为又必然蕴涵着作者或话语者的观点,所以视点又给语篇设定了一个基调,使读者感受作者的态度、价值观等。
参考文献:
[1]丁往道.英语写作基础教程[M].北京:高等教育出版社,2011: 97.
[2]丁往道.英语写作基础教程[M].北京:高等教育出版社,2011: 101.
杂志排行
校园英语·中旬的其它文章
- On Dynamic Characteristics of Culture and its Implications
- A Contrastive Study of Verbal Taboos in Chinese and EnglishHu Bei University OF Arts AND Science
- An Analysis of Chinese College Students’ Reasons for and Attitudes towards Chinese—English Code—Switching (CS)in Their Daily Speech
- Rootlessness on a Transitional Cultural Space
- 概念隐喻理论视角的英汉基本颜色词“黑”隐喻用法差异
- 生态翻译学视角下富含文化意象的方剂名英译的策略分析