英语被动语态的认知研究

1、硕士学位论文ACognitiveApproachtoEnglish PassiveVOICestudy英语被动语态的认知研究费守丽彦清大李二00 七年六月分类号UDC硕士学位论文ACognitiveApproachtoEnglish Passive VOice Study 英语被动语态的认知研究费守丽学科专业指导教师论文答辩日期2007 年06 月,夕日学位授予日期2007 年6 月答辩委员会主席湿抖菩论文评阅人_逊丝乞_广西大学学位论文原创性声明和使用授权说明原创性声明本人声明:所呈交的学位论文是在导师指导下完成的,研究工作所取得的成果和相关知识产权属广西大学所有,本人保证不以其它单位为第一

2、署名单位发表或使用本论文的研究内容。除已注明部分外,论文中不包含其他人已经发表过的研究成果,也不包含本人为获得其它学位而使用过的内容。对本文的研究工作提供过重要帮助的个人和集体,均己在论文中明确说明并致谢。论文作者签“:告守肉时年。翻妇日学位论文使用授权说明本人完全了解广西大学关于收集、保存、使用学位论文的规定,即:按照学校要求提交学位论文的印刷本和电子版本:学校有权保存学位论文的印刷本和电子版,并提供目录检索与阅览服务;学校可以采用影印、缩印、数字化或其它复制手段保存论文;在不以赢利为目的的前提下,学校可以公布论文的部分或全部内容。请选择发布时间:赢发布口解密后发布(保密论文需注明,并在解密

3、后遵守此规定论文作者签名:曹守内导师签叁乎“介加日沙产英语被动语态的认知研究内容摘要英语被动语态(passive voice 在科技类文章,政府文件及新闻报道中出现频率较高。对于它的研究由来己久,但是传统语法,结构语法与乔姆斯基等人的论述只是罗列其表面形式,并没有解释被动语态形成的认知方面的原因。本文借助Lakoff , Langacker , C :。ft 等人的理论,在总结和借鉴前人研究成果的基础上,试探讨英语被动语态产生的认知方面的原因,并探讨其基本属性和分类。本文第一章是文献综述,简要介绍传统语法及其它主流语法学派对被动语态进行的研究并指出以往的研究无法解释被动态的各种限制等问题。通过

4、第一章的研究分析以往研究中存在的不足。第二章引入认知语言学对于被动语态的理解。介绍本文中使用的认知语言学的框架。包括原型理论(pr 。t 。type Theory ,典型事件模型(Canonical Event Model 和关系链模型(Causal Chain Model 。并对被动语态的两个主要属性承事( affectedness 和升格(promotion ,降格(demotion 进行分析。第三章借助于原型理论将被动语态分为典型成员(prototypical member 和非典型成员(non 一prot 。typiCal member c 第四章从认知的角度对第一章提出的语态本身的限

5、制进行了解答。从而证明了从认知角度理解被动语态相对于其他理论的优越性。第五章讨论了被动语态的功能。第六章是本文的结论部分。关键词:被动语态认知被动语态定义被动语态分类夕ACOGNITIVEAPPROACHTOENGLISH PASSIVE VOICE STtJDYABSTRACTThe passive voice is commouly used in scientific articles , govemmeni documents and news reports . The study on passive voice has a long 址story . However , trad

6、itionaianalysis , structUral analysis and Chomsky , 5 analysis onjy focus on the language itself and fail to illustrate the deePer reasons of the formation of passive voice from a cognitive perspective . In this paPer , resorting to the theories founded by Lakoff , Langacker and Croft 1 try to probe

7、 into the passive voice and findout how it is fonned on the basis of previous studies on this subject . Chapter 1 is literalure review , a brief introduction of thes 加dies of trad 让ional grattu 刀ar and other mainstream linguistic schools on the passive voice . And the defects of previous studies and

8、 their failure toexplain the constraints ofvoice are also introduced in 面5 chapter . Due to the inadequacy of previous stUdies on the passive voice and the constraints of voice , in Chapter 11 the co 翻tive definition of passive voice is introduced . Several theories are provided as relevanl theories

9、 in 而sp 即er , i . e . Prototype Theory , Canonical Event Model 阶d Causal Chain Mode . Then comes the analysis ofthe two main properties ofthe passive voice 一胡七ctedness and promotion of non 一agent and demotion of agent . In Chapter 111 the passive voice is divided intoprototyPical member and non 币rot

10、otyPical member based on the PrototyPe Theory . In Ch 即ter W the constraints of voice are answered from a cogriltive perspective , wllich proves the suPeriority ofthe analysis ofthe passive voicefromacogTiltive perspective compared with other theories . Chapter V concems withthe functions of English

11、 II明passives . Chapter Vl is the conclusion ofthis paper .KEY WORDS : passive voice ; cognition ; de 血ition of passive voice ; categorization of English passives111了CONTENTSAbstraCt in Chinese . . . . . . . . . . ., .,.、IAbstract in Englisb . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .,. . . . .

12、 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11C0ntents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .,. . . . . . . . . . . .。.。. .。二Jll忆、i 产气1 Jr ' !产、.2 曰.工J .工气乙气今z 、沪、声了卜、了r 、Chapter 1 Intr

13、oduction : Relevantstudies on EnglishPassivcs ·····1 . 1 TraditionalA 卫alysis ······. . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 .2 Structural Alialysis " ”·”二,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

14、. 3 Transformational Analysis ·,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ., ( 5 ( 7 ( 7 : 8 ( 8 : 8 1 . 4 Functional Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 . 5 Constrai 址5 of 飞bice. . . . . . . . . . . . .1 . 5 . 1 勺乞rb CollstraintS. . . . . .

15、. . . . . . .1 : 5 Object Constraints " ,·," " , ,二," ”·," ? ,二,"二0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .L53 Absence ofA By 一phras 护" " ' " ”··" " " ". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .L5 . 4 Semantic Constraints 

16、3;。··········. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .、IJ 、l ' . 1 弓.1 曰l 占,.工了、/、ChapterZ Cognitive Approach to English Passives2 . 1 Cognitive Approach to Language. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 2 /布、/' .、2 . 2 . Cognitivea

17、ch to the Definition ofthe Passive 丫bi0 . . . . . . . .2 .3 Relevant Tbeories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 .3 . 1 ICMs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .·(12 2 .3 . 2 The Prototype Theory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

18、 . . . . . . .2 .3 . 3 Canonical Evellt Model. . W. . . . . . . .二(13 . ( 14 '2 .3 .4 Causal Chain Model. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 . 4 Transitivity and Affectedness . . . . . . . . . . . . . .··(is " " ( 17 8 8 0 ( l 心(22 . 4 . 1 Definition ofTransitivity ,

19、83;," ,二,·”" ' " . . . . . . . . . . . .2 . 4 . 2 Transitivity and Passivizatioll ····. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 . 4 .3 Afl 七ctedness and Passivization. . . . . . . . . . . . .飞.,护飞.尸z , .上内勺石,一2 .火Z 、2 一5 Promotion and Demotion. 0 . .

20、. . . . . . . . .Cbapter 3 Categorization of English Passives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3 。IThe PrIcal Member , , , " , " " " " " , ,. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .·”··仗23 、,产飞了只行z 乃乙勺白了.又廿、3 . 1 . 1 Agen 血1 and Agentless Causative Passives. .

21、 . . . . .The Non 一proto 勿pical Member ·. . . . . .7 8 9 1 3 7 7 7 ( 2 ( 2 ( 2 ( 3 ( 3 ( 3 ( 3 ( 3 . 1 The Medio 一passive " " " ". . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .份石勺石: 枯J fJ3 . 2 . 2 Tlle Slative Passive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

22、. . .3 . 2 一3 Non 一五正te Use of Passives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chapter 4 Cognitive Explanation of the Constraints of Voice ·. . .Chapter 5 Functions of English Passives ···”···Chapter 6 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Maj or Findings " 

23、9; " " " ' " " " " " " '. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .L 汕议以ions and Remaining Questions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .,五2 : 6 护幻八夕勺二( 3 侈:Bibliography. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

24、. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ACKNOWLEDGEM 田NTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thesis Published During M . A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .( 43 V7广西大学硕士论文被动语态的认知研究Chapter 1 Introduction : Relevant Studies on Engli

25、sh PassivesThe passive voice has been an essential linguistic phenomenon in the field of grammar . For the past decades , different approaches have been adopted and various views have been expressed . Herein is the brief review of the studies concerning this issue .1 . 1 Traditional Analysistraditio

26、nal grammrians maintain that the active 一passive relations 址p takes the form ofa correlation of both structure and meanlng . And they put more emphasis on a correlation betweens 加ctUre and me 耐ng and thefu 刀ction of the passive . For traditional graxnmarians passive sentences are described mailily a

27、ccording to their relations With their active counterp 叭5 .Aware of the comPlication of using the bc 一Ved form to construct passives sentences , traditionalists maiuly adopt two Solutions . They either distinguish more than one class of passives or restrict their definition of the passive and exclud

28、e a certain nurQber of be 一Ved forms from the field . o 川ons ( 1971 : 99 is the one Who adopts the former solution . " The forms of the passive voice have two distinct meanings : they may eXPress coniinuous or habitual action or they may express the state resulting from an action . " C ? e

29、 ( 1931 calls these two kinds of passives ' actional ' and ' statal ' passives . Other gran 卫narians suchas Poutsma ( 1 914 一29 , Eckersley ( 1960 , Zandvoort ( 1975 and Scheurweghs ( 1961 adopt the latter . They holdthat ifa be 一Ved form expressesastate resulting from an action , it

30、 is nota passive form but a copula + adjecti 代combination .However , theybase their analyses on suPe 币cial formal features of the passive constrUction . It is easy to find passives without actives and actives Without passives , which demonstrates that an active construction does not necessarily impl

31、y the existence of a passive construction and vice versa . This point can be illustrated in the following exaJ 卫ples : ( l They were married at the church .( 2 Mary was said to be a good teacher .( 3 Kate loves bananas .l * Bananas are loved by Kate ·( 4 TOm has a large library .* A large libra

32、ry is had by Tom .Ex 田泊ples ( l and ( 2 。how that they cannot be changed inio active voice . The other two show that some transitive verbs cannot be passivized . Traditional granunarlans have failed to explain these Phenomena . Neither have they Provided principles for choosing the right voice forn

33、比Traditionalists endeavor to give us a thorough insight inio the working of the English passives . The above examples serve as a proof of 而5 point . Due to the lack of differentiationbe 勺刀een the different levels of analysis such assemantic and functional , theiranalyses are often extremely confused

34、 . What , 5 more , their insistence one exhaustiveness obscures the general tendency .1 .2 Structural AnalysisMost of the strUcturalists approach passive strUctUre based on their analysis of syntax . They hold that the stUdy of language should be descriptive , instead of normative . To begin with ,

35、the analysis of passive structUres is substituted by the analysis of subject from a purely strUctUral approach . Friesbelieves that " subject then is a formal linguistic strUctural matter ; it is ap 斌icular construction for a Class 1 word ; it is not a matter of meaning of the word 丽th referenc

36、e to a real situation , , . ( Fries , 1 952 : 176 Here he defines subject solely on formal criteria . Theme 耐ngs seem less important than the subject . Furthermore , other strUct ' UIalists like Roberts interpret the subjectas ' undergoer ' . " The subject has the meaJ 叮ng of underg

37、oer ofthe action whenever it occurs in 而5 patte 邝:IA ( be 2 一d . The word be under the symbol for auxiliary means that the auxillary is to be some form of the word be . The symbolZ 一d means that the verb is to be past form . , , ( Roberts , 1 956 : 162 Nevertheless , the approaches adopted by struct

38、Uralists have many defects . Forone thing , the passive pattem interpreted by Roberts does not exclusively embrace all passive cases . In thls pape 巩the asterisk indicates that this sentence is not appropriate .广西大学硕士论文被动语态的认知研究Some cases even do not 切改e that form . For another , they put more empha

39、sis on thefo 恤5 and strUc 恤es , whlle exclude semantic and pragmatic considerations from their analyses . Their aim is confined to the description of language , shori of eXPlanations why language operates the way it does . In addition , their approach prevents linguists from establishing any kind of

40、 relationship between actives and passives . Thus in 面5 sense , they perform more poorly than traditionalists , detailed investigationofpassive structUxes .1 . 3 Transformational Analysis肠皿sformationalists retUrtt to the active 一passive relations but they take a more radical approach . The very touc

41、hstoneof transformational gra 皿nar is the passive transformation derived from the correlation between the active and the passive .儿nong transfonnationalists , Choms 场is the one pl 即ing the leading role and attracti 飞many followers . Actually his analysis of passive voice undergoes several models . H

42、ere is a brief review of his successive treatmenis of the passive transformation which can be divided into two stages .The first stage is characterized by Classical Theo 叮which co 娜rises three features : ( l emPhasis on the generative ability oflanguage ; ( 2 introduction oftransformational rules ;

43、and ( 3 ganunatical description regardless ofme 耐ng .In the second Stage of his transformational granllnar , he putfo 柳ard the Standard Theory . Choms 幼rejected his former fonnulation that actives and passives have the same deeP strUctUre ; the passive transformation performs three operations : intr

44、oduction of be + en , preposing of the object and postPosing of the subject + introduction ofby ; actives and passives arenot necessarily synony 切ous . Herefonnulated his fonner transformation because of its shortcomings . The 介st problem is thatthe transformationalmles aretoo powerful . An ordinary

45、 sentence can be transformedat 诫11 , negated , passivized , with certain elements added or deleted 初thout restrictions . The second problem is that his rules may generate 111 一formed SentenceS as Well as Well 一fonned sentences . According to his theo 理in 1 957 , the follo 初ng sentences are permitted

46、 :( 5 *毛venty dollars is cost by 而5 fun 血ure .( 6 * 1 80 pounds is weighed by 而5 baskethall player .广西大学硕士论文被动语态的认知研究( 7 * Jack wasm 别比ied by Mariah .Thus , his new theory staris from the principle 比at the verbs that cannot passivize are all verbs whlch cannot take manner adverbs freely . The passiv

47、e transformation will be made obligatory by the presence of a dununy element ' by 八passive ' whlch is itself one of the possible realizations of ' Manner Advethial ' . Chomsky ( 1 965 introduces the following rules . Manner - -卜by 八passiveNPI 一AuX 一V 一NPZ 一by 八passive= > NPZ 一AuX

48、+ be + en 一V 一by + NPIAccording to these rules ,衍stly in order to be passivized , a verb must be subcategorized in the lexicon as 一NPI 八Manner . Thls excludes the existence of sentences suchas ( 5 一7 . In 1 971 , he putfo 户刀ard a new version of his transformational model , called the Extendcd Standa

49、rd Theory . He concludes that semantic interpretation cannot wholly be determined by properties of deep strUctUre for the reason that many aspects of surface structUre also contribute to semantic interpretation . His latest development of the model is called the Tracc Theory . Chomsky ( 1 976 assert

50、s that all interpretation takes place at the level of surface StruCture . This level is enriched by traces left by the application of the movemeni rules . As he exPlains , a moved NP is taken to leave behind a trace 从rhich remains in surface strUcture unless it is covered uP by the insertion of a le

51、xical item into its place in the tree . The trace is interpreted as a bound variable , with all the relevant properties of its controller , the noun phrase to which it is bound . Throughout his analysis ofthe passive voice , we may find that Choms 玲tried to pe 成ct his transformational on the notion

52、that the passive voice is just the transformation of active voice . Linguists who have worked along the line with him develop the TG graJ 的rnar in one way or another , but ouly concentrating on the senience level . Furthermore , the complexity and richness of the passive strUCtUre , of Which traditi

53、onal graxnmarians had given us a foretaste , are not specifically illustrated in the transformational accounts of the passive . The main reason Wliy transformational grammar offers 50 few new insights into the working of English passives is that transformationalists 一and more particularly Choms 玲一ha

54、ve not investigated the passive for its own sake but as a tool to demonstrate the validity of the different transformational models . Generally speaking , all the various versions of transformational · 4 ·广西大学硕士论文被动语态的认知研究graJ 力mar seem to focus on a high level of abstraction and formaliza

55、tion with no or little empirical support which Mallinson emphasizes " it is only after such work has been done that theorists have any chance of coming uP with a workable model of grammar Which does something more than say what others have said in a different way , and whlch avoids shoeho 而ng a

56、lll 粗guages into some preconceived theoretical pattern , , . ( quoted from Grange 丸1983 : 49 Another defect of 而s 盯axnmar is that it does not cotrectly reflect human general cognition in using a lan 四雌e . " Simple sentences do much more than simPly providetemPlates . They actively interact with

57、 the ways in which we apprehend and inierpretreal world situations . " ( Langacker , 1 987 : 128 Passive seniences are adoPted due to the necessity to eXpress different meanings . It is not necessarily for us to eXPerience the Process of generating seniences in line with gra 时naticality through

58、 transformation .1 . 4 Functional AnalysisFunctionalists are primarily concerned 诚th the comm 俪cative aspect of language . The differences which transformationalists hold in surface and deep strUctures are deied and lose their valueto fullctionalists . hi their point of vie 砚language is a tool to me

59、et human colnnlunicative need .The 九nctional aPproach was 份st ushered in by the Linguistic School of Prague . Of the many ideas developed by 而5 school , three points are especially important . To begin with , it is stressed that the synchroinc study oflanguage is fullyjustified as it can draw on complete and controllable material for investigation but no rigid theorctical barrier is erected to seParate diachronic studles . Secondly , there is an emphasis on the systemic character oflanguage . It is 盯gued tha