语言学翻译原文

语言学翻译原文

1.2Semiotics:somebasicnotions1.2.1IconicitySignscangenerallybeclassifiedasiconicorarbitrary.Iconicsignsarethosewhoseformsmirrortheirmeaningsinsomerespect;signswithnonaturalanalogicalcorrespondencesbetweentheirformsandtheirmeaningsarecalledarbitrary.AsimpleexampleisprovidedbytheArabicandRomannumeralsfor"three":3andIII.TheArabicformgivesnocluetoitsmeaning;theRomanversion,ontheotherhand,incorporates"threeness"intoitsshape,andisthusiconic.Iconicityisamatterofdegree,andusuallycoexistswithsomedegreeofarbitrariness.ThreehorizontallineswouldbejustasiconicastheRomanIII:thefactthatintheRomansymbolthelinesareverticalisarbitrary,asisthefactthatitssizecorrespondstothatofletters.Iconicityenterslanguageinseveralguises.Themajorityofwordsinanaturallanguagearearbitrary:theformoftheworddog,forinstance,doesnotmirroritsmeaninginanyrespect.However,theso-calledonomatopoeicwordsdisplayadegreeoficonicity,inthattheirsoundsaresuggestive(tovaryingdegrees)oftheirmeanings:bangclanktinklemiaowsplashcuckoopeewitcurlewwhooshthudcrackringwheezehowlrumble,etc.Thepredominanceofarbitrarinessinthevocabularyisnotanaccidentalfeature,butisacrucial'designfeature'ofnaturallanguage.Thereisalimitedstockofdimensionsofformalvariationinlinguisticsigns;ifallsignswereiconic,itisdifficulttoseehowuniversalexpressivitycouldbeachieved.Someiconicityisalsoapparentingrammar.Forinstance,wordswhichbelongtogethertendtooccurtogether.InThetallboykissedtheyounggirlweknowthattallmodifiesboyandnotgirlbecausetallandboycomenexttoeachotherinthesentence.Insomelanguagesthisrelationship\nmightbeshownbygrammaticalagreement,whichisakindofresemblance,andthereforealsoiconic.Anotherwayinwhichiconicityappearsinthegrammaristhatgrammaticalcomplexitybyandlargemirrorssemanticcomplexity.1.2.2ConventionalityManyofthesignsusedbyhumansincommunicationarenaturalinthesensethattheyarepartofgeneticallyinheritedbiologicalmake-upanddonothavetobelearned,althoughamaturationalperiodmaybenecessarybeforetheyappearinanindividual,andtheymaybemouldedinvariouswaystofitparticularculturalstyles.Thesortofsignswhicharenaturalinthissensewillpresumablyincludefacialexpressionslikesmiling,frowning,indicationsoffearandsurprise,andsoon,perhapsmanyoftheposturalandproxemicsignsMeaninginlanguagethatconstitutetheso-called'bodylanguage',certaintypesofgesture,vocalindicationsofexcitement,desire,etc.(whetherornotlinguistic),andmanymore.Naturalsignsarelikelytobethemostcross-culturallyinterpretable.Othersignshaveconventionallyassignedmeanings;theyhavetobespecif-icallylearned,andarelikelytodifferindifferentcommunities.Linguisticsignsaretheprototypicalconventionalsigns.Evenonomatopoeicwordsusuallyhaveasignificantconventionalelement;oftentheiconicnatureofthewordcanonlybeappreciated,asitwere,withhindsight.TaketheTurkishwordbulbul.Whatdoesitreferto?Ababy'sbabbling?Thenoiseofamountainspring?Infact,itmeans"nightingale".Lookingback,onecanmaketheconnection.Itisnotonlylinguisticsignsthatareconventional.Obsceneoroffensivegestures,forinstance,canvaryquiteremarkablycrossculturally:IwasoncereprimandedforpointingthesolesofmyfeetatthePrimeMinisterofIraq(inArabculturethisisdisrespectful:mydisrespectwasentirelyinadvertent).EveninEurope,conventionalgesturescandiffer:Greeksarefamously—and\nslightlyinaccurately—saidtoshaketheirheadstosay"Yes",andnodtosay"No".1.2.3DiscretenessSomesignscanvarygraduallyintheirform,andtheirmeaningsvaryinparal-lelwiththechangeofform,likethefisherman'sindicationofthesizeof'theonethatgotaway';thesearecalledcontinuoussigns.Othersignshavefixedshapes,andmustbechosenfromalimitedinventory:intermediateformsarenotallowed,therangeofpossibilitiesis'chunked';suchsignsaredescribedasdiscrete.Linguisticsignsarevirtuallyallofthediscretevariety.Again,thisisnotanaccidentalfeature,buthasacloseconnectionwithiconicityandarbitrariness:continuoussignsarenecessarilyiconic;arbitrarysignsarenecessarilydiscrete.1.3LanguageandothercommunicativechannelsTheprototypicalscenarioforlinguisticcommunicationistwopeopleengagedinface-to-faceconversation.Ofcourse,insuchanencounter,lan-guagesignalsareexchanged;butnormallysoaremanyothertypesofsignal,andthesemodifyand/orsupplementthelinguisticallyencodedmessage.Letus,then,brieflylookatthesemioticenvironmentoflanguageinatypicalconversation.Thesignsthataccompanylanguagecanbedividedintotwomajortypes—paralinguisticandnon-linguistic.Thedefiningcharacteristicofparalinguisticsignswillbetakenheretobeanextremedependenceontheaccompanyinglanguage.Eithertheycannotbeproducedexceptduringspeech(becausetheyarecarriedonthevoice),ortheycannotbeinterpretedexceptinconjunctionIntroductionwithaccompanyinglanguage.Examplesofthefirstvarietyareabnormalvolume,tempo,pitch,andvoicequality;tofunctionassigns,theremustbeadeparturefromsome(personal)baselineornorm.Forinstance,abnormallyhighvolume,\nfasttempo,orhighpitchtypicallysignalaheightenedemo-tionalstate.Examplesofthesecondvarietyincludepausing,emphaticges-tures,andgestureswhichmetaphoricallydepict,forinstance,directionofmotion.