語意與語用的互動

Pragmatic Inferencing and Semantic Change: Some Examples from Taiwanese Southern Min

本文旨在闡述語意和語用之間的模糊界線與互動關係，並探討語用推論在語意變遷過程中所扮演的關鍵角色。研究主要以Levinson（1995, 2000）所提出的「Neo-Gricean隱涵理論」和Traugott主張的「語意變遷的導引推論理論」為基礎，指出許多當代語料中的多義現象，唯有應用語用推論的過程，才能得到最合理的解釋。換言之，新語意的產生，往往是起源於在特定語境中被導引出的語用推論，也就是特殊會話隱涵（particularized conversation implicature）或話語表徵意義（utterance token meaning）；隨後由於經常使用的結果而發展為普遍會話隱涵（generalized conversational implicature）或話語類型意義（utterance type meaning），再經由高頻率使用而制約化（conventionalized）成為新的語意（或標碼意義coded meaning）。台灣閩南語副詞「閣」和「並」的多義現象即展現了此種語用推論制約化的路徑和軌跡，而這種典型的語意變遷過程往往也反應出語意變遷逐漸趨向主觀化的的趨勢。

This paper explicates the intimate relation between semantics and pragmatics as well as the significant role that pragmatic inferencing plays in semantic change and grammaticalization. It is pointed out, mainly based on Levinson's(1995, 2000) Neo-Gricean Theory of Implicature and Traugott's(1999) Invited Inferencing Theory of Semantic Changes, that the complicated polysemy often observed in synchronic data is best captured if new meaning is viewed as first arising from invited inferences(or specific conversational implicatures), later developed into generalized invited inferences(or generalized conversational implicature) through frequent use, and finally conventionalized as coded(or semantic) meaning. This path of semantic change is proposed to characterize the multiple functions of the polysemous adverbs koh(閣) and pheng/peng(並) in Taiwanese Southern Min, both cases exhibiting an obvious escalation of the speaker's subjective belief and attitude.