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摘 要: 在英语文学文体中,特别是诗歌小说中,为了达到某种特殊的文学效果,词语搭配往往有变异。本文从矛盾、共轭、移就三种修辞手段的角度来分析英语文学文体中词语搭配变异的现象。
关键词: 英语文学文体 词语搭配 变异
在英语词汇学中,词语的搭配往往有其常规。如:我们可以说a warm-hearted person,却不说a warm-hearted table;可以说a lazy boy,却不说a lazy room;可以说to close the window,却不说to close the light。然而,在文学文体中,特别是诗歌小说中,为了创造某种形象,达到“突出”的目的,作家往往通过矛盾、移就、共轭等修辞手段使词语搭配产生变异。
1.矛盾修辞(Oxymoron)
矛盾修辞指的是把意义上互相矛盾或不协调的两个词放在一起使用,表面上看似乎自相矛盾,但仔细回味却感到意味深长,妙趣横生,其结构主要有五种形式:
①Adj. Noun.creative destruction,living death,tearful joy,etc.
②Adj. Adj.cold pleasant,sour sweet,poor rich,etc.
③Adv. Adj.dully bright,mercifully fatal,falsely true,etc.
④Verb. Adv.hasten slowly,shine darkly,groan loudly,etc.
⑤Noun. Noun.love-hate(relationship),the sound of silence,etc.
矛盾修辞曾于16—17世纪广泛运用到英国诗歌和戏剧中,下面的一段独白就是矛盾修辞的经典范例:
Juliet: O serpent heart,hid with a flow’ring face!
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
Beautiful tyrant!Fiend angelical!
Dove-feather’d raven!Wolfish-ravening lamb!
Despised substance of divinest show!
Just opposite to what thou justly seem’st.
A damned saint,an honorable villain!
(William Shakespeare)
细读这段独白,不难发现莎士比亚采用了一系列的矛盾修辞手段,主要结构形式为:Adj. Noun.如:beautiful tyrant,dove-feather’d raven,wolfish-ravening lamb,damned saint,honorable villain。另外还有一种特殊的结构形式:Noun. Adj.(fiend angelical),这一系列的矛盾修辞深刻揭示了Juliet在听说Romeo杀死Tybalt后矛盾的内心世界。
在矛盾修辞中,修饰成分与被修饰成分之间看似矛盾,产生变异,实则相辅相成,常揭示人和事物对立统一的辩证关系,从而表现人的复杂心理。
2.共轭修辞(Zeugma)
Zeugma(轭式搭配)源于希腊语,意为yoking,仿佛是轭把几匹马套在一起拉车,看似强拉硬套,实则协调前进,具有强大的合力,结构上通常是一个词同时支配或修饰两个或两个以上的词,其中只有一个是合乎逻辑的惯常用法,而其他的搭配在正常的情况下是不可能的,轭式搭配主要有以下三种结构:
①One Verb Two(or more)Objects
Side by side for seven years we had mined,ranched,sold patent chums,herded sheep,took photographs and other things,built wire fences and picked prunes.
(O.Henry)
七年来,我们一直合伙采矿、经营牧场、卖专利搅乳器、放羊、照相、顺手牵羊、拉铁丝网,还拾梅干。
这里took所支配的两个宾语photographs和other things,前一个为正常搭配,后一个则利用词语顺势牵来的独特搭配方式使文章语言深刻、简练。若用别的词语具体解释,整个句子就累赘多了。
②One Prep. Two(or more) Objects
Miss Bolo rose from the table considerably agitated,and went straight home in a flood of tears and a sedan chair.
(Dickens)
波罗小姐非常激动地从桌子旁站起来,泪如泉涌,坐着轿子径直回家。
介词in既支配a flood of tears又可支配a sedan chair,产生“泪如泉涌”“坐轿”两层意思,收到了幽默诙谐的效果。
③Two Subjects One Verb
Ten minutes later, the coffee and Commander Dana of Naval Intelligence arrived simultaneously.
十分钟后,咖啡和海军情报局指挥官达纳同时到了。
the coffee与Commander Dana都和arrived发生搭配关系,这种排列新奇、别致,暗示“同时到达”。
英谚“Kill two birds with one stone.”在共轭这种变异的词语搭配形式中得到了充分的体现。乍看上去,共轭搭配常给人一种不协调感,但稍加思索便会感到格外幽默、俏皮,并由此产生一种耐人寻味的逻辑力量。
3.转移修辞(Transferred epithet)
英文中的转移修辞大致相当于汉语移就格,指用表示性质或特征的词来修饰不同属性的中心词,使词语搭配产生变异,意义凸显。其结构为:转移修饰语 中心语。转移修饰语可以是形容词、现在分词、过去分词、名词,其中以形容词的转移最为常见。
①形容词转移
She was so worried about her son that she spent several sleepless nights.
②现在分词转移
The boy said “yes” to the question in unthinking moment.
③名词转移
He shouted a cry of displeasure.
④过去分词转移
Ten she fainted. By the light of a frightened candle, she was carried to a cot.
上面四句中的sleepless,unthinking,displeasure, frightened从结构上看分别修饰nights,moment,cry,candle,但从语义逻辑上看分别修饰she,the boy,he和“扶她进屋的人(例句4)”
移就格中的修饰词分前置和后置两种,可以由单个词(多为形容词)担任,也可由词组担任。如:
The assistant kept a respectful distance from his boss when they were walking in the corridor.(形容词修饰语前置)
He was waken by a deafening roll of a thunder.(短语修饰语前置)
The letters,sad and reproachful,offerthe choice of pleading ignorance or being proved insensitive(短语修饰语后置)
转移修饰能让人产生形象联想,收到情景交融耐人寻味的表达效果,在诗歌和小说中常被采用。如:
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly o’er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
(Thomas Gray)
parting day使人联想到“日落西山,夜幕降临”的景象,weary way可使人对ploughman产生形象性的联想,这样的转移修饰无疑能增强语言的表现力。又如:
Indeed they seemed to know,or to wise to know,as little about that as the earth itself which,beautiful there at any time, seemed that afternoon wear an extreme and pathetic beauty.
(Authur Glutton-Brock)
这是作者写战争爆发前夕,人们对战争危险一无所知,甚至也毫不在意这种危险,而美妙的自然景色却有某种灵感,因而呈现出一种极致的悲怆的美——当然这正是作者抒发的感慨。
可见,英语移就格是一种超乎常格的语言现象,是特殊语言环境中词语搭配的一种临时迁就。虽然就其表面的语言形式而言似乎不合规范,但从逻辑深层上看移就修辞是合乎情理的。在碰到此类词语搭配变异的时候,我们应透彻理解转移修饰词所表达的情感和信息。
参考文献:
[1]成庚祥,高凤江.浅谈轭式修辞的语言艺术及翻译[J].英语学习,2001,(3).
[2]冯翠华.English Rhetorical Option——A Handbook of English Rhetorical Devices[M].外语教学出版社,1995.
[3]黄伟新.Paul Livesey: An Introduction to English Stylish Stylistics and Rhetoric for Chinese Learners[M].警官教育出版社,1998.
[4]秦秀白.文体学概论[M].湖南教育出版社,1986.
[5]汪火焰.英语移就修辞格及其翻译浅析[J].中国翻译,2000,(6).
关键词: 英语文学文体 词语搭配 变异
在英语词汇学中,词语的搭配往往有其常规。如:我们可以说a warm-hearted person,却不说a warm-hearted table;可以说a lazy boy,却不说a lazy room;可以说to close the window,却不说to close the light。然而,在文学文体中,特别是诗歌小说中,为了创造某种形象,达到“突出”的目的,作家往往通过矛盾、移就、共轭等修辞手段使词语搭配产生变异。
1.矛盾修辞(Oxymoron)
矛盾修辞指的是把意义上互相矛盾或不协调的两个词放在一起使用,表面上看似乎自相矛盾,但仔细回味却感到意味深长,妙趣横生,其结构主要有五种形式:
①Adj. Noun.creative destruction,living death,tearful joy,etc.
②Adj. Adj.cold pleasant,sour sweet,poor rich,etc.
③Adv. Adj.dully bright,mercifully fatal,falsely true,etc.
④Verb. Adv.hasten slowly,shine darkly,groan loudly,etc.
⑤Noun. Noun.love-hate(relationship),the sound of silence,etc.
矛盾修辞曾于16—17世纪广泛运用到英国诗歌和戏剧中,下面的一段独白就是矛盾修辞的经典范例:
Juliet: O serpent heart,hid with a flow’ring face!
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
Beautiful tyrant!Fiend angelical!
Dove-feather’d raven!Wolfish-ravening lamb!
Despised substance of divinest show!
Just opposite to what thou justly seem’st.
A damned saint,an honorable villain!
(William Shakespeare)
细读这段独白,不难发现莎士比亚采用了一系列的矛盾修辞手段,主要结构形式为:Adj. Noun.如:beautiful tyrant,dove-feather’d raven,wolfish-ravening lamb,damned saint,honorable villain。另外还有一种特殊的结构形式:Noun. Adj.(fiend angelical),这一系列的矛盾修辞深刻揭示了Juliet在听说Romeo杀死Tybalt后矛盾的内心世界。
在矛盾修辞中,修饰成分与被修饰成分之间看似矛盾,产生变异,实则相辅相成,常揭示人和事物对立统一的辩证关系,从而表现人的复杂心理。
2.共轭修辞(Zeugma)
Zeugma(轭式搭配)源于希腊语,意为yoking,仿佛是轭把几匹马套在一起拉车,看似强拉硬套,实则协调前进,具有强大的合力,结构上通常是一个词同时支配或修饰两个或两个以上的词,其中只有一个是合乎逻辑的惯常用法,而其他的搭配在正常的情况下是不可能的,轭式搭配主要有以下三种结构:
①One Verb Two(or more)Objects
Side by side for seven years we had mined,ranched,sold patent chums,herded sheep,took photographs and other things,built wire fences and picked prunes.
(O.Henry)
七年来,我们一直合伙采矿、经营牧场、卖专利搅乳器、放羊、照相、顺手牵羊、拉铁丝网,还拾梅干。
这里took所支配的两个宾语photographs和other things,前一个为正常搭配,后一个则利用词语顺势牵来的独特搭配方式使文章语言深刻、简练。若用别的词语具体解释,整个句子就累赘多了。
②One Prep. Two(or more) Objects
Miss Bolo rose from the table considerably agitated,and went straight home in a flood of tears and a sedan chair.
(Dickens)
波罗小姐非常激动地从桌子旁站起来,泪如泉涌,坐着轿子径直回家。
介词in既支配a flood of tears又可支配a sedan chair,产生“泪如泉涌”“坐轿”两层意思,收到了幽默诙谐的效果。
③Two Subjects One Verb
Ten minutes later, the coffee and Commander Dana of Naval Intelligence arrived simultaneously.
十分钟后,咖啡和海军情报局指挥官达纳同时到了。
the coffee与Commander Dana都和arrived发生搭配关系,这种排列新奇、别致,暗示“同时到达”。
英谚“Kill two birds with one stone.”在共轭这种变异的词语搭配形式中得到了充分的体现。乍看上去,共轭搭配常给人一种不协调感,但稍加思索便会感到格外幽默、俏皮,并由此产生一种耐人寻味的逻辑力量。
3.转移修辞(Transferred epithet)
英文中的转移修辞大致相当于汉语移就格,指用表示性质或特征的词来修饰不同属性的中心词,使词语搭配产生变异,意义凸显。其结构为:转移修饰语 中心语。转移修饰语可以是形容词、现在分词、过去分词、名词,其中以形容词的转移最为常见。
①形容词转移
She was so worried about her son that she spent several sleepless nights.
②现在分词转移
The boy said “yes” to the question in unthinking moment.
③名词转移
He shouted a cry of displeasure.
④过去分词转移
Ten she fainted. By the light of a frightened candle, she was carried to a cot.
上面四句中的sleepless,unthinking,displeasure, frightened从结构上看分别修饰nights,moment,cry,candle,但从语义逻辑上看分别修饰she,the boy,he和“扶她进屋的人(例句4)”
移就格中的修饰词分前置和后置两种,可以由单个词(多为形容词)担任,也可由词组担任。如:
The assistant kept a respectful distance from his boss when they were walking in the corridor.(形容词修饰语前置)
He was waken by a deafening roll of a thunder.(短语修饰语前置)
The letters,sad and reproachful,offerthe choice of pleading ignorance or being proved insensitive(短语修饰语后置)
转移修饰能让人产生形象联想,收到情景交融耐人寻味的表达效果,在诗歌和小说中常被采用。如:
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd winds slowly o’er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
(Thomas Gray)
parting day使人联想到“日落西山,夜幕降临”的景象,weary way可使人对ploughman产生形象性的联想,这样的转移修饰无疑能增强语言的表现力。又如:
Indeed they seemed to know,or to wise to know,as little about that as the earth itself which,beautiful there at any time, seemed that afternoon wear an extreme and pathetic beauty.
(Authur Glutton-Brock)
这是作者写战争爆发前夕,人们对战争危险一无所知,甚至也毫不在意这种危险,而美妙的自然景色却有某种灵感,因而呈现出一种极致的悲怆的美——当然这正是作者抒发的感慨。
可见,英语移就格是一种超乎常格的语言现象,是特殊语言环境中词语搭配的一种临时迁就。虽然就其表面的语言形式而言似乎不合规范,但从逻辑深层上看移就修辞是合乎情理的。在碰到此类词语搭配变异的时候,我们应透彻理解转移修饰词所表达的情感和信息。
参考文献:
[1]成庚祥,高凤江.浅谈轭式修辞的语言艺术及翻译[J].英语学习,2001,(3).
[2]冯翠华.English Rhetorical Option——A Handbook of English Rhetorical Devices[M].外语教学出版社,1995.
[3]黄伟新.Paul Livesey: An Introduction to English Stylish Stylistics and Rhetoric for Chinese Learners[M].警官教育出版社,1998.
[4]秦秀白.文体学概论[M].湖南教育出版社,1986.
[5]汪火焰.英语移就修辞格及其翻译浅析[J].中国翻译,2000,(6).