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Alfred Bloom (1981), following Whorf, hypothesized that the presence of counterfactuals inEnglish and the absence of such structures in Chinese might instantiate a cognitive difference betweenEnglish and Chinese speakers with regard to counterfactual thinking. He claimed that the hypothesiswas supported by his empirical study. However, Bloom's claim has been questioned by a numberof researchers in America, who pointed out the inadequacy of Bloom's linguistic analysis andexperimental design. This review chronicles... Alfred Bloom (1981), following Whorf, hypothesized that the presence of counterfactuals inEnglish and the absence of such structures in Chinese might instantiate a cognitive difference betweenEnglish and Chinese speakers with regard to counterfactual thinking. He claimed that the hypothesiswas supported by his empirical study. However, Bloom's claim has been questioned by a numberof researchers in America, who pointed out the inadequacy of Bloom's linguistic analysis andexperimental design. This review chronicles Bloom's study and the subsequent debate between Bloomand Terry Au, pointing out that Bloom's research was methodologically questionable inasmuch ashe failed to consider cultural variables which could have so much influenced the subjects' performance. 1987年,美国心理学家Alfred F.Bloom以一个引人注目的题目:《语言在思维形成中的作用——中国与西方语言对思维的影响的研究》(Bloom,1981),发表了他用了几年时间在香港、台湾、美国进行的一项关于语言与思维关系的研究。此书问世以后,引起了一场持续至今的争论,参加讨论的主要是国外的一些学者。引起争论的主要原因一是Bloom的研究缺乏绝密的语言分析,二是学者对于B.F.Whorf提出的语言相对性假说还有截然不同的看法。本文将首先介绍Bloom的研究以及后来Bloom与美籍华人学者Terry Au之间的争论,然后就研究及争论中的一些问题进行讨论。 The speech act theory dates back to J. L. Austin's work in the 1950s, becoming a fully accepted theory and a component of pragmatics in the 1970s. J. R. Searle not only systematized the theory, but also provided it with a philosophical basis. His classification of speech acts, introduction of indirect speech acts, and exposition of illocutionary logic have useful implications regarding cross-cultural linguistic contacts, translation and second/foreign language teaching. 本世纪50年代,英国哲学家奥斯汀(J.L.Austin,1911-1960)针对当时盛行的逻辑实证主义语言理论,提出了言语行为理论。他认为,语言不仅是对客观世界进行描述的工具,而且本身就是一种行为,即言语行为。由于仅用真实与谬误的概念很难对言语行为作出圆满的判断,奥斯汀又进一步论证了逻辑实证主义以真值条件为基础的语义理论的局限性。奥斯汀做了开创性的工作,但他的理论在前期和后期往往不一致,缺乏系统性。言语行为理论的集大成者是美国语言哲学家舍尔(John R.Searle)。他系统地发展了奥斯汀的言语行为学说,为言语行为提供了语言哲学的理论基础,阐明了言语行为分类的原则和标准,提出了间接言语行为问题,并探讨了言语行为的形式化,即言外示力逻辑问题。经舍尔的努力,言语行为理论已成为当代语用学的重要组成部分,为语言研究提供了新的途径。 Joln Stuart Mill's On Liberty was not a particularly important text among his numerous works on political theory, but it met the attention of two of his near contemporaries: Nakamura in Japan and Yan Fu in China. Both had been to England for the express purpose of acquiring the ideas and technology vital to their countries' modernization, and both had translated On Liberty with that aim in view. Yet an investigation of the two translations shows there were important differences in approach, as evidenced by each... Joln Stuart Mill's On Liberty was not a particularly important text among his numerous works on political theory, but it met the attention of two of his near contemporaries: Nakamura in Japan and Yan Fu in China. Both had been to England for the express purpose of acquiring the ideas and technology vital to their countries' modernization, and both had translated On Liberty with that aim in view. Yet an investigation of the two translations shows there were important differences in approach, as evidenced by each work's prefaces, notes and comments. The differences made an interesting study because they reflected a different political and cultural quest obtaining in Japan and in China. It would appear that Nakamura had his emphasis on individual liberty, aining to lead his People to a new set of values which he regarded indispensable to a modern nation. Yah Fu, on the other hand, took a more guarded, less idealistie view. He deliberately coined a phrase for the rendering of liberty, which appeared on the title-page as "On the delimitation of the right of society and the individual" (《群已权界论》). This was far from a derlant translation, since Mill himself saw the necessity of setting limits to the extent of freedom of the individual in a society. The paper also takes a look at the different ways each translation was received in Japan and China. In Japan, which was free from foreign invasion and fully bent on building itself into a modern power, the book found an enthusiastic reception—much less so in China, which, after suffering one defeat after another in the hands of foreign powers, was busy seeking a way to survive. 19世纪中叶,英国的社会学家J.S.Mill写的著名论文《论自由》(On Liberty,1859),先后为日本和中国的两位启蒙思想家所翻译。中村正直的《自由之理》出版于1872年,严复的《群己权界论》刊行于1903年。两位学者同在觉醒的东方,同是向西方摄取新的哲学思想,又同译一本书,这就保证了两位学者的可比性;但是由于两位学者的文化心态不同,对自由一词的认识不同,在翻译过程中所加的按语不同,虽是翻译同一论著,却产生了两部颇为不同的译品;又由于中村的学术活动,是在日本的明治维新时期,而严复则在甲午、庚子的战乱时期,译本既出,在不同的接受环境下产生的影响当然也不同。本文既见其不同又述其相同之处,饶具历史兴趣和理论兴趣。论文作者对于英文、日文、晚清文言文均有阅读能力,参阅资科和分析论点也有独到之处。论文全长6万字,本刊选登2万余字,呈献于读者。论文作者王克非原是许国璋教授指导的硕士研究生。
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