《2019年度碩士論文佳作獎》

姓名：蘇洪寬（國立臺灣師範大學英語研究所）指導教授：陳正賢教授

論文題目：以量化語料庫方法研究中文空間詞「裡」、「內」、「中」

中文摘要

認知語義學領域最常討論的話題之一就是人類如何將空間經驗概念化。而在空間概念中，容納(CONTAINMENT)和支撐(SUPPORT)這兩個重要的空間概念，在過去十年中備受關注。雖然語言共享許多共同的空間概念，但不同語言的人們在如何編碼這些空間關係上卻是十分多樣的。本研究旨在探討中文母語使用者如何通過三個接近同義詞的空間詞構式意即[在…NP…裡/內/中]來概念化容納語意關係。

過去大都採用質性分析來理解這些空間構式上的語義差異，而本研究意在透過以量化語料庫的角度，檢視容納空間構式與其地標詞(landmark)之間的共現模式。更具體地說，本研究藉由兩個統計分析，即多重鑑別詞彙連接分析(multiple distinctive collexeme analysis)和事後語義分析(post-hoc analysis)，從量化語料庫的角度來研究這些概念上類似的容納語意構式。目的在於探討每個空間構式，鑑別詞彙連接(distinctive collexeme)所形成之語義場(semantic field)，從而識別構式間之語義差異。

研究結果發現，三種空間構式對其地標詞選擇具有不同的偏好。這些差異反映了中國人使用容納的意象基模(image schema)來概念化一系列抽象概念，如時間和事件。[在…NP…裡]此空間構式被認為是容納關係的原型和無標記形式(unmarked)。因此，它具有更多樣化的模式，吸引了具體名詞，時間名詞，靜態抽象名詞。另一方面，當使用容納的意象基模來指定時間事件的閾值時，[在…NP…內] 此空間構式則被用於指定預先計劃的目標的截止日期。當容納的意象基模擴展到事件類的概念化時，[在…NP…內] 此空間構式可能在中文較為偏好，且通常會激發對地標的未完成(imperfective)解讀。

英文摘要

How humans conceptualize space is one of the most commonly discussed topics in the field of cognitive semantics. Two important spatial concepts, namely CONTAINMENT and SUPPORT, have received much attention in the past decades. While languages share many common spatial concepts, studies have suggested cross-linguistic diversity in the categorizatgion of these spatial relations. In particular, this study focuses on how Chinese conceptualize the CONTAINMENT relation through three near-synonymous spatial particle constructions [zai…NP…li/nei/zhong]. While previous works mostly adopt a qualitative analysis on the semantic differences of these spatial particles, this study provides a quantitative corpus-based analysis of these CONTAINMENT constructions by examining the relationship between space particles and their co-occurring landmarks. More specifically, we investigate the semantic commonalities and differences of these conceptually similar particles of CONTAINMENT in Chinese through two quantitative analyses, i.e., multiple distinctive collexeme analysis and post-hoc semantic analysis.

Our results show that each construction has its own semantic preference for the landmarks. These differences reflect how Chinese speakers utilize the image schema of CONTAINMENT to conceptualize a range of abstract concepts. For li construction, it tends to attract more diverse types of landmarks, including concrete objects, temporal units, static abstract entities. It is the only particle that shows a connection to a prototypical CONTAINMENT landmark, i.e., a three-dimensional bounded entity. Our result suggests that li construction may be the prototypical and unmarked form to encode the CONTAINMENT. For nei construction, it shows a strong preference for landmarks denoting temporal concepts. This metaphorical use of CONTAINMENT with temporal landmarks often implies a preplanned objective with the landmark as an intended deadline for achieving the goal. Finally, for zhong construction, it shows a strong connection to landmarks denoting events of higher dynamicity. This metaphorical use of CONTAINMENT with dynamic abstract entities as landmarks often comes with a marked specificity, motivating an aspectual reading of the landmark.

論文貢獻

本論文旨在於以量化語料庫的角度，重新檢視空間構式[在…NP…裡/內/中]與其地標詞之間的共現模式，結果顯示[在…NP…裡]此空間構式被認為是容納關係的原型和無標記形式。 [在…NP…內] 此空間構式則被用於指定預先計劃的目標的截止日期。當容納的意象基模擴展到事件類的概念化時，[在…NP…中] 此空間構式可能在中文較為偏好。這樣的發現有助於中文外語學習者更快速的掌握這三個近義中文空間詞的特色。