中文口語言談中的轉喻呈現

Abstract

本篇論文旨在探討轉喻於中文口語語料中的呈現，並且從認知和語用的角度切入來闡述與解釋其表現型態的背後動機。 轉喻是一種涉及替代關係的重要概念運作。然而過去轉喻卻一直被視為附屬於隱喻之下的次要機制，長久以來鮮少引起學者的關注。近來，語言學界開始注意到此概念機制的重要性，一些學者也開始探究轉喻的運作與功能。然而，關於轉喻的討論至今仍多屬理論性的探討，少有研究著墨於轉喻在真實語言使用中的表現，更沒有以中文為基礎的相關討論。有鑑於此，本篇論文將以中文口語語料作為分析基礎，探究轉喻在兩個不同語言層次—指涉層次與語言行為層次—的呈現，並且將其表現型態與認知語用的原則作連結。 研究結果發現，就指涉轉喻(referential metonymy)而言，全體代替部分(WHOLE FOR PART)的轉喻關係在中文中較常被使用，這與實體的整體型態在人類認知中的感知突顯性有關。此外我們認為不論是全體代替部分或是部分代替全體(PART FOR WHOLE)的轉喻運作，都有其認知與語用的動機。就認知上來說，整體型態的感知突顯性觸發了全體代替部分的轉喻關係，而部分實體的互動突顯性則觸發了部分代替全體此轉喻關係的活化。就語用上而言，兩種轉喻關係的使用都反映了說話者在溝通中企圖達成互動言談的最理想相關性(optimal relevance)。除此之外，本篇研究觀察到固定化指涉轉喻(entrenched referential metonymy)的現象，我們認為這種固定化的轉喻起因於人類與外在環境或文化社群的不斷互動，當某些概念在互動過程中一再地被突顯，這些概念將會頻繁地被使用作轉喻的來源範疇，並且進一步固定成慣例化的語言形式。 另一方面，就語言行為層次的轉喻(illocutionary metonymy)而言，研究發現中文說話者傾向使用核心階段代替整體事件(CORE FOR WHOLE)的轉喻關係來執行一個語言行為。在認知上，我們認為這樣的轉喻偏好起因於核心階段在語言行為結構中的概念突顯性。而當說話者選擇使用或避免其他的事件階段(BEFORE/AFTER stage)來代替整體語言行為時，則是反映了語用因素—特別是禮貌原則的考量。從另一個角度解釋，語言行為轉喻的表現型態可以被視作主觀性(subjectivity)和互動主觀性(intersubjectivity)的體現。 無論是指涉層次或是語言行為層次，轉喻在語言中的呈現與認知語用的原則有密切的關連。具體來說，轉喻其實是一種認知上的視角操作(construal operation)，也可以說是觀點化(perspectivization)的現象之一；它展現了人類在某概念架構內活化與突顯其中一個面向的認知能力。從語用功能來看，轉喻機制構成了禮貌策略(politeness strategy)的選擇基礎；藉由操作不同的轉喻關係，說話者可以表達與表現不同程度的禮貌行為。更進一步來看，我們認為轉喻是達成溝通最高相關性的重要手段；說話者利用轉喻運作所突顯的某一面向，代表的是其經過認知或語用評估後所傳達與當前語境最相關適切的訊息。此外，我們也提出轉喻必須以語境(context)為首要前提方能生效；唯有成功地識別各種語境要素，對話者雙方才能成功地使用與理解轉喻形式的語言。 藉由探究轉喻在中文真實口語語料中的呈現，我們證實了轉喻系統的確不斷地在語言和思想中運作，換言之，轉喻是我們思考和說話所仰賴的重要機制。

This corpus-based study explores how conceptual metonymy is empirically manipulated in Mandarin talk-in-interaction and how its patterns reflect the existing cognitive and pragmatic theoretical claims. Metonymy is a conceptual mechanism that basically characterizes a stand-for relation. It was previously deemed a subsidiary device subordinate to metaphor and thus received relatively little attention. Recently, however, it has aroused some scholarly interest in its operation and function; yet the discussion is largely theoretical and notional in nature. Few efforts have been made to probe into how it manifests itself in real use of language. Owing to the lack of empirical evidences, this study sees the need of looking into its authentic representation and sets out to empirically investigate how it is patterned in naturally-produced spoken discourse. Specifically, we examine metonymic manifestation at two linguistic levels: the referential (entity) and the illocutionary (event/action) designation. The result shows that in terms of referential metonymy, WHOLE FOR PART metonymic relation is more frequently exploited than PART FOR WHOLE, which supports the view that a whole is more salient than its parts. Moreover, it is argued that the exploitation of both referential metonymic relations is cognitively motivated by perceptual saliency and interactional saliency respectively to achieve the communicative goal of optimal relevance. In addition, there are entrenched uses of referential metonymies observed in our corpus data, which reveals how our recurrent interaction with outer environment gives rise to the saliency of particular concepts and how these concepts, universal or culture-specific alike, further lead to language routinization. In terms of illocutionary metonymy, it is found that Mandarin speakers mainly orient toward the use of CORE FOR WHOLE metonymy. This is argued to be cognitively motivated by the conceptual prominence of the CORE stage in a speech act scenario. Moreover, the exploitation of other metonymic relations is also well grounded on the pragmatic factors including the social concern of politeness and the communicative purpose of relevance. By and large, the manipulation of illocutionary metonymy is argued to reflect the force of (inter)subjectivity. Overall, this empirical study reveals that the exploitation of metonymy has its cognitive and pragmatic purposes and functions. Cognitively speaking, metonymy is an important construal phenomenon and a process of perspectivization displaying our ability to highlight saliency in a given conceptual structure. In terms of its pragmatic motivation, metonymy should be regarded as both a strategy to attain to different levels of politeness and a device which speakers rely on to create the maximal contextual effect to ultimately achieve optimal relevance in communication. Finally it is noted that context serves as the prerequisite for the production and interpretation of metonymy. Interlocutors must base on contextual resources at hand to plan and think about how to say and how to understand metonymic expressions. All in all, this thesis uncovers the patterning of metonymy in Mandarin spoken discourse, demonstrating that its exploitation is cognitively and pragmatically motivated. More importantly, with this empirical investigation we manifest how constantly human beings think and speak metonymically.