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This is a brief review of a book on explanations of language universals edited by John A.Hawkins, Basil Blackwell 1988. It is a state-of-the-art volume which gives equal space to each typeof explanations: Semantic and pragmatic explanations, cognitive, perceptual and processing explana-tions, and diachronic explanations. The book is of value for its many Chinese examples, especiallyto those who wish to examine the Chinese language within the purview of world languages. 本文是对J.A.Hawkins主编、Basil Blackwell 1988年出版的《什么是语言共性》一书的简要评介。该书荟集了有联系的几个学科的专家对同一问题的不同观点,代表了当今学者在解释语言共性方面达到的水平。编者承认“语言特性似有一定的天赋性”,但编辑思想的倾向很明显:对语言共性的其他解释——语义和语用解释,认知、知觉和语言处理的解释、历时的解释——在书中占有相同的篇幅。该书既有一般性的参考价值,对有志于从世界语言变异范围来考察汉语的人也以其众多的汉语例子而具有启发作用。 The final goal of contrastive studies is to explain rather than describe the similarities and differences between two languages. Functional-cognitive explanations are given in three case studies: (1) meaning bias of neutral words, (2) difference of order between attributive and head, and (3) constraints in relativization. The final case also shows the necessity of comparing the two languages within the broad scope of variation of world languages. 对比研究的最终目的是要对语言间的异同作出解释。本文从认知的角度对英汉语法三个现象的异同作尝试性的解释。这三个问题是:(1)中性名词的语义偏移,(2)偏正结构的语序,(3)定语从句化。最后一个问题还说明有必要将英汉两种语言置于世界语言变异的范围内来加以考察。 Abstract "The global Chinese culture circle" is used here to refer to those countries, regions and communities in which modern Chinese language is used and which share some common features of culture. The study of the language variations in these regions and communities is an important part of the cultural study of this circle. The author presents a discourse on the significance, the possible levels and the method of this study. 简论世界汉语文化圈的语言变异研究中国人民大学林杏光Abstract"TheglobalChineseculturecircle"isusedheretorefertothosecoun-tries,regionsandcommunitiesinwh...
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