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英语词汇与文化
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摘要
文化语言学是当今语言研究的一个热点。这一领域的研究对于跨文化交际、英语教学和翻泽等方面只有重要的应用价值,从而吸引了越来越来越多的学者加入到此研究的行列来。论文从英语词汇----语言大系统赖以生存的支柱----出发,探讨语言与文化的联系。
     论文主体由二部分构成,即人名、地名和外来词。各部分可独立成章,又紧密围绕语言与文化这一中心进行论述,成为一个系统。论文运川文化语言学的相关理论,在分析语词的构成、语源和含义的同时,更挖掘与其所联系的国家的地理、历史、经济状况、政治变化、民族心理、人们的价值观等文化内涵。
     人名篇。人是社会的构成因子。作为人的代号的人名,是一种普遍的社会现象:人人都有名字,有的甚而不止一个。人名是看似简单实而复杂的人类历史的产物。英语民族的祖先盎格鲁·萨克逊人原本无姓,他们的宗族姓氏直到“诺曼征服”之后才由外族引进。赋名(given name)是刚来区别不同的个体的。而姓氏起初则是“明身份,别贵贱”的标志。姓氏(surname),反映了当时男尊女卑,富贵贫贱的社会现实。中名(middle name),是随着社会人口增长,重名加剧应运而生的。英语人名就由“赋名+中名+姓氏”组合而成。这一排序本身体现了英语民族“重个性,轻共性”的民族传统心理,是对萨丕尔-沃尔夫假说(the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis:该理论认为,语言结构能够决定操该语言的人的思维方法和价值取向)的有力印证。英语人名的语源非常丰富,来自法语、希伯来语、拉丁语和希腊语的人名在英语人名中占据了一定份额。这是历史上民族接触和民族融合的结果。同样,人们的宗教信仰、命名心态和性别歧视在普普通通的人名当中都得到充分的体现。要理解进入普通词汇当中的人名就更需要只备一定的文化背景知识。
     地名篇。人的活动离不开特定的地点。地名对于旅游、通讯、外事和外贸等的作用是显而易见的。地名是痕迹。透过地名,人们可以洞察到历史上的民族侵略和民族迁徙活动。地名不仅对语言学家有重要意义,还是历史学家研究历史,地理学家考察地理状况以及人类学家进行人种学、文化学研究的宝贵依据。在泰勒的理论中,“进化”和“痕迹”的概念占有重要地位。他指出,人们研究文化,就是要从远古文化的痕迹中洞察出意义并作出解释,而这些“痕迹”,很大一部分就储存于语言当中。如,英语里含“Avon"(凯尔特语:河流)一词的地名就揭示了凯尔特人生存、繁衍和迁徙的历史进程。地名的得来有多种方式。从地名命名的依据及意旨可知,地名与地理、历史、名人(为数不少的地方是以人名命名:这类地名称为eponym)、社会观念和宗教文化等有密切关联。地名一经命定,就极少变动,或变更缓慢。地名的变化,往往是社会动荡,民族冲突的结果。英语习语富含地名,这些地名,同样向我们述说着各地的风俗民情、地理物状和历史变迁等。
     外来词篇。不同地域的人的交流引起了文化的碰撞与融合。外来事物、外来概念在客观上必然寻求新的表达方式,这是外来词产生的根源。英语词汇中富含外来词,有
    
    “co。mopoht。n voc。bul。ry”’之美誉。据统计,英语中有人约孤%的词汇属丁外来词。这
    一亨实为洪堡时()ilhelm von Humboldt)的比放语言观提供了例证。止是英语比族开放
    的传统,O理才有了今大的“cosmopolitan vocabulary’”。英话人名的外来语源相当丰g,
    地名中的外来成分也并非无迹可卉。追根溯源,研究外来词,可从中了解到英语民族的心
    理特征,英语屡遭外侵的历史,同时对英语超乎寻常的吸收功能和强人的繁殖力有一个深
    刻的认识。
     英治的词汇系统,是要比治音、语法系统更为复杂和富丁变化的系统。在词汇教学中
    融入英洁比族文化的讲解,可以增进学生对语言现象的理解,加深印象,从而在翻译和跨
    文化交际刀语言实际)不川中更加得心应手。
Cultural linguistics is a topical subject in language studies of today, for its great significance to English teaching, translation and cross-cultural communication. It attracts more and more scholars to exercise their wits in this field. I am making an attempt in this thesis to delve into this issue from the angle of lexicon.
    The body of this thesis is roughly divided into three parts: Anthroponym, Toponym and Loan word. They are independent of one another, but meanwhile, they all centre around the relationship between language and culture. Each part, in analyzing the constitution, etymology and connotation of the words, digs into geography, history, economic development, political changes, social values and national mentality of the relevant countries.
    Anthroponym. Human society is made up of individuals. Anthropomyms, as personal codes, are universally existing. Everyone, without exception, has at least a name. So, anthroponym is a common social phenomenon. It is seemingly simple but in fact complicated. The ancestors of the English people, the Anglo-Saxons, originally bore no surnames. It was only after the Norman Conquest that they learned to employ such a name pattern. The most important function of given name lied in its validity in distinguishing different members in a tribal group or a certain community; while surname, at the beginning, was a symbol indicating wealth and upper social status. It reflected the fact that the male and the well-to-do held dominant positions in the ancient English society. Middle name was born due to much name duplication as a result of the rapid growth of social population. Thus, an English name is composed as "given name + middle name + surname". Such a pattern reveals that individuality, instead of generality, is traditionally highly favored by the English people. That provides a strong, supporting evidence for the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis which holds that language structure is decisive to people's way of thinking and value preference. English anthroponym originate from various kinds of languages. Personal names derived from French, German, Hebrew, Latin and Greek are still in use today and they constitute a significant percentage in English anthroponyms. That is simply the inevitable result of long-term amalgamation of varied races and nationalities in history. Likewise, people's religious belief, naming psychology, sexual discrimination are reflected to the full in the common anthroponyms. The understanding of antonomasia, namely, anthropnyms which have entered the common core of English vocabulary, also requires a good mastery of cultural background knowledge.
    Toponym. Place is essential to human beings' activities, and place-name plays an important role in turism, telecommunication, foreign trade and so on. Place-names are 'traces", from which people can perceive historical invasions and tribal migrations in remote ages. The study of
    
    
    
    toponym is a significant job not only to linguists, but also to historians, geographers and anthropologists, for place-names provide precious evidence to these scholars in their own research fields. In Tylor's theory, "evolution" and "traces" are both concepts of great importance. He pointed out that the purpose in studying culture was to infer the connotations from the "traces" left by ancient cultures and give appropriate interpretations to them. Many "traces", as a matter of fact, have been reserved in language. Take English for example. Generally speaking, place-names containing the word "Avon" (Celtic, meaning "river") indicate the inhabitancy of the Celts, their multiplication and migration. Places get their names in all kinds of ways. The sources and the purposes in naming them inform us that there is a close link between place-names and geography, history, celebrated people (many places are named after famous persons; this kind of names are called eponyms), social values and religious culture, etc. Once a name is set, it will undergo slow and mild changes. A change of place-name is. for most cases, the result of social tur
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