英语论文The Semantic Ambiguity of Animal Words Between.docx
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英语论文The Semantic Ambiguity of Animal Words Between.docx
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英语论文TheSemanticAmbiguityofAnimalWordsBetween
TheSemanticAmbiguityofAnimalWordsBetween
EnglishandChineseCultures
1.Introduction
“Culturalconceptsunderliethevarietyoflanguageusageandlanguagehabits.Thewayofthinking,beliefs,attitudesandvaluesofdifferentculturesgiverisetofailuresormisunderstandingincross-culturalcommunication”(LiaoQiyi,2000:
172).Whenpeopleofdifferentculturesmeettogether,althoughtheycanspeakthesamelanguage,theystillhavesomeproblemsincommunication.Thereasonisthatthesepeoplehavedifferentwaysofthinking,beliefs,attitudesandvaluesofcultures.Differentnationshavedifferentculturesduringtheirlongdevelopinghistories.Variousculturalfactorsresultindifferentlanguageforms(QianFudong,2005).
Ideasofbeautydifferfromoneculturetoanother.ThereisaminoritygroupinBurma,wherealloftheirfemaleswearmorethantencopperringsaroundtheirnecks,andtheirnecksbecomelongerwiththerings’increasing.Theyweartheringsaroundtheirwristsandanklesaswell.Intheiropinions,wearingtheseringsisbeautiful.Whileinoureyes,itisridiculous.Foranotherexample,whenpeopledie,theirbodiesarehandledindifferentwaysindifferentcultures.Sometimesbodiesareburnt.Sometimesbodiesareburiedundertheground.Inmanyculturesinthepast,peoplewereburiedwithfood,weapons,andotherthingsthatmightbeusefulinthenextlife.Forinstance,theancientEgyptiansburiedpeoplewithlittlehumanfigureswhichweremadefromclay.Theseclayfigureswereintendedtoworkforthedeadpersonintheotherworld.Theseareculturaldifferences.
Cultureinfluenceshumanbeingsindifferentways,especiallyinhumanlanguage.EnglishandChineseareexpressedwithcertainlanguageforms.Therearethreekindsoflanguagephenomena(WangFengxin,2003:
33):
synonym-toexpressidenticalmeaningwithdifferentlanguageforms;
antonym-toexpresstheoppositemeaningwithdifferentlanguageforms;
ambiguity-toexpressthedifferentmeaningwithidenticallanguageforms.
Thethirdphenomenonisthemostusualone,whichalwayscausesmisunderstandingbetweenEnglishandChinese.
2.Semanticambiguity
2.1Thedefinitionsofsemanticsandambiguity
“Semanticscanbesimplydefinedasthestudyofmeaning.Morespecifically,semanticsisthestudyofthemeaningoflinguisticunits,wordsandsentencesinparticular”(HuZhuanglin,2001:
158).Peopleexpressthemselvesbylanguage,nomattervocalornonvocal.Intheprocessofcommunication,themeaningofeachsentenceisconveyedfromonepersontoothers.
Asacommonlinguisticphenomenon,ambiguityexistsinmanylanguages,especiallyinEnglish.Ambiguitymeansthattwoormorethantwomeaningsareincludedinalinguisticstructure,andthenitgivespeopledifferentunderstanding.Inaword,ambiguitymeansaword,aphrase,orasentence,whicharecorrectingrammar,butwithtwoormorethantwounderstandinginmeanings,alsowithtwoormorethantwoanalysesinstructure(HeYingyu,2005:
42-56).
2.2Differentaspectsofsemanticambiguity
2.2.1Lexicalambiguity
Itmeansambiguityfromtheunderstandingofasentence,wherethereisawordwithtwoormorethantwomeanings.Herearesomeexamples:
Whilethereishomonymy,thereisambiguityinthesentence.Thehomonymycouldbenouns,verbs,adjectives,prepositions,conjunctions,etc..Forexample:
Shedidn’ttakehistip.
“Tip”heremeans“extramoneyforservices”or“advice”.
Tomtosseddownhislunch.
“Tossdown”means“swallowsomething”or“throwsomethingtotheground”.
Theremaybemorethanonehomonymyinasentence,andthereiscollocationbetweenwords,thentheliteralmeaningandtransfermeaningwillcauseambiguity.Forexample:
Jacksawthelight.(Literalmeaning:
杰克看见了那盏灯;transfermeaning:
杰克明白了).
Heisasweetsalesman.(Literalmeaning:
他是一个糖果推销员;transfermeaning:
他是一个和蔼可亲的推销员).
Sometimestherewillbeanoppositemeaninginaword.Forexample,“overlook”couldbeunderstoodas“inspect,supervise”or“ignore,failtosee”.Thesemeaningsarecompletelydifferent.Forexample:
Themeetinghadbeenoverlookedbythepoliceonduty.
Itcouldbeunderstoodas“thepolicesupervisedthemeeting”or“thepolicefailedtoseethemeeting”.
Thechangeofwords’meaningscausesambiguity.“Word”isthereflectionofobjectmattersandphenomenon,andtheobjectworldisconstantlychanginganddeveloping,so“meaningofword”isdevelopingwithhumansocietyandnature(QiuJin,2005).Somewordshavenewmeaningswhiletheoldonesvanish;somewordshavebothnewandoldmeanings;theothershavetheirmeaningstransferredincontext.Forexample:
Onlysomeofthevisitorsgainedadmittanceintothecleanroom.
Theoriginmeaningof“cleanroom”is“干净的房间”,buthereitmeans“供制造精密零件用的无尘室”.
DifferentusageofBritishEnglishandAmericanEnglishcausesambiguity.Forexample:
Theprojectwillcostabilliondollars.
“Billion”hereisambiguous.ForAmericanpeople,abillion=thousandmillions;forBritishpeople,abillion=millionmillions.
2.2.2Contextambiguity
Contextambiguityphenomenonisformedinlanguagecommunicationactivities.Languageactivitiesincludeexpressionsofspeakersandwriters,andcomprehensionoflistenersandreaders,soitcouldbeanalyzedfromformandrecognition.Incommoncommunication,boththeideasandwordsspeakerssayandlistenershearhaveprecisecontexts,andthereceiverscanunderstandthemaccurately.Atthismoment,bothofthemareunified,andcommunicationisfinishedtogether.Butwhenneitherofthemisaccordant,ambiguityappears.
Forcertaincontexts,maybelistenersorreaderscouldnotunderstand,evenmisunderstand;maybedifferentlistenersorreadershavedifferentunderstanding;maybetheycanunderstandbutdistortdeliberately.Forexample:
----“Fromwhichbookhaveyoubenefitedthemost?
”AreporteraskedGeorgeBernardShaw.
----“Mychequebook,”repliedShaw.
BernardShawknewwhatthereportermeant,buthetwisteditdeliberatelytobehumorous.
Sometimesasentencecanconnecttopicswithtwokindsofcontexts,orconnectthemforuncertainty.Somewordsareambiguous,asforthespeakers,itmeansonething;asforthelisteners,itmeansanotherthing.Forexample:
Asafreshmanatuniversity,Ifailedtocatchthedetailsofaparticularassignmentintheinterpersonalclass.SoIaskedthestudentnexttome,“Whenisitdue?
”“July,”sheanswered,pattingherpregnantbelly.
Theambiguityoccurredbecausethelistenerdidn’tfollowwhatthespeakermeant.Theformermeantwhentohandintheassignment,butshemisunderstoodaswhenthebabywouldbeborn.
Thebackgroundknowledgebetweenspeakersandlistenersisdifferent,andthenmisunderstandingoccurs.Forexample:
----(Judge)Whenyouwerecommittingthetheft,didyounotspareathoughtforyourwifeanddaughter?
----(Defendant)Idid.Yourhonour.Buttherewereonlymen’sclothesintheshop.
Inacourt,whatthejudgemeantwasthatthetheft’sbehaviorwouldcauseeffectonhiswifeanddaughter;butthetheftmisunderstoodasheshouldstealsomeforhisfamily.
Socialcultures,psychologicalcustomsandotherhiddenfactorswouldinfluencecommunicationandcomprehensionaswell,whichcauseambiguity.Forexample:
InChinese,“他进去了”means“heentersaplaceoranarea”,butitalsomeans“bearrested”(ChiYufeng,2003).
2.2.3Phonologicalambiguity
Phonologicalambiguityiscausedbyliaison,intonation,stress,etc.,especiallybyhomonymyandhomophone.InEnglish,homonymycanbedividedintothreetypes:
completehomonymy(perfecthomonymy);partialhomonymy;andfalsehomonymy(ChiYufeng,2003).
completehomonymy(perfecthomonymy)
Therearethousandsofsuchwords,suchas:
swallow(noun:
kindofbird;verb:
tocausefoodanddrinktogodownthethroat);light(adjective:
notheavy;noun:
kindofnaturalradiationthatmakesthingsvisible).Itistheambiguityformwhichpeopleusefrequently,asitisrelatedtoa“pun”inrhetoric.Politicsslogans,advertisementpropagandas,andliteraturesoftenusephonologicalambiguitytocreateameaningful,activeandhumorouseffect.Forexample:
----Diner:
Waiter,thissoupisspoiled.
----Waiter:
Whotoldyou?
----Diner:
Alittleswallow.
----Whyisdoughlikethesun?
----Whenitrises,itislight.
partialhomonymy
ThereisplentyofhomophoneorpartialhomonymyinEnglish.Sometimes,thesewordsseemtobehumorous.Forexample:
Whenthecollegegirlannouncedthatsheweighted140poundsstrippedforgym,heranxiousfatherwantedtoknowwhoJimwas.
Theword“gym”and“Jim”makethegirl’sfathermisunderstand.
Wemustallhangtogether,orweshallallhangseparately!
ItwasasemanticpunwhichconsistedofhomonymyfromFranklin’sspeechatthesignatureceremonyofAmericanIndependentDeclarationin1976,whichwasregardedasoneofthemosttypicalpuns.Here,“hangtogether”means“tobeunited,”while“hangseparately”means“tobehanged”.Thepunhadastrongpoliticalappealing.
2.2.4Grammaticalambiguity
Theorderorarrangementofwordscausesgrammaticalambiguity.Itisoftenanalyzedasastructureofdifferentorchangeablelevels.Therearemanyphenomenaofsuchambiguity(QiFumin,2004).
Ambiguitycausedbytheparalleledstructure.Somepartofasentencecouldconnectanypartoftheparalleledstructure,whichmakesupadifferentmeaning.Forexample:
Somepersons,afterconsumingalcohol,wanttofightandbecomehardtomanage.
Thiscanbeunderstoodas“somepersonswant…andbecome…”or“wanttofightandwanttobecome…”.
Ambiguitycausedbytheabbreviationstructure.Forexample:
Ilik
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