第六讲 语法隐喻.doc

第六讲 语法隐喻 1、书面语与口语体的区别 判断书面语的复杂程度的两个重要的指标是看语法复杂程度和词汇复杂程度。词汇密度和语法复杂程度是两个重要的语言特征。这两个特征与名词化有着密切的关系，同时也是口语体和书面体的主要区别。在书面语中，词汇比较复杂，密度大，语法结构简单；在口语体中，词汇密度小，语法结构复杂。然而，国内的许多学者都注意到名词化这一特征并没有在外语学习者的作文中体现出来。 2、词汇密度 词汇密度指的是一个语篇中小句实义词的平均值。提高词汇密度的一个有效的途径就是减少虚词，减少小句。 3、名词化 名词化是口语体向书面体转变的主要手段。所谓名词化，就是将不是名词的词（如动词和形容词）变为名词，并引起句子中其他成分的相应变化。名词化是产生语法隐喻的惟一之最重要来源。 4、名词化的功能 名词化能使我们避免很多拖泥带水的表达，因为它表达的是本来需要用很多小句才能表达的意义。名词化的使用使句子词汇密度加大、语言简练了。它为简化句子结构，避免复杂冗长创造了条件。 例115：She became powerful and popular in a phenomenal way, and she became powerless and unpopular in a fantastic way and then she was made politically powerful and popular again even more rapidly and remarkably less than four years before she was assassinated in the autumn of 1984. （Halliday Matthiessen, 1999: 280） 这个句子属于口语体，其中包含了四个小句，中间用and连接。它的语法复杂程度为4，词汇密度为9.3。把这个句子用书面语表达: 例116：Her phenomenal rise to power and popularity was followed by a fantastic fall and then by an event more rapid and remarkable political resurrection less than four years before her assassination in the autumn of 1984. 整个句子只有一个小句，中间没有连词连接，其语法复杂程度为1，词汇密度为22。通过对比，可以看出口语体的语法复杂程度明显高于书面语。第二个句子进行名词后句与句连接更加紧密，小句的数量相对减少。 例117：On the fifth day they arrived at the summit. → The fifth day saw them at the summit. 例118：The fact that I denied what he accused me of impressed the jury. → My denial of his accusations impressed the jury. 名词化取代了The fact that。 例119：The enemy destroyed the city. → The destruction of the city. 名词化省略了destruction的施事者。作者还可以用名词化将事件前景化。例如： 例120：The destruction of the city led to an extended conflict. 例121：Some mornings it was a dull red, then it would be frightened then a rich purple, and once they found it bright green. These changes naturally amused the family, and they tried to guess what it would be next. 例122：The enemy bombed the city for weeks. The destruction was devastating. 例121和例122中的changes和destruction分别与它们前面的句子产生照应，使得句子简洁，使得语篇连成一体。 例123： We won’t formally extend the time you have to do your assignments, // but if you can’t hand your assignm