基于语料库的英语元音开首NP前an变a研究  

“an” to “a” before English NPs beginning with vowels:A corpus-based approach

作　　者：时健[1] 张京鱼[2] Shi Jian;Zhang Jingyu

机构地区：[1]西安科技大学人文与外国语学院,陕西西安710054 [2]西安外国语大学英文学院,陕西西安710128

出　　处：《西安外国语大学学报》2021年第4期7-12,共6页Journal of Xi’an International Studies University

摘　　要：20世纪末有国内外研究通过收集语言生活里的"a+元音开首NP"用例,发现美国英语元音开首NP前不定冠词an正在变a的趋势。本研究经BYU语料库对比检索"a+主题词_(i)"和"an+主题词_(i)"后发现:各英语变体的真实话语语料中确有"a+元音开首NP"零星现象,特别是网络、影视等口语域。但在不同英语变体和不同语域中,大多数"an+元音开首NP"的搭配频数高于90%。本文最后从社会因素、语言因素、过渡语特征、个人语言风格、语音学原理等角度解释了标准英语中不定冠词"an+元音开首NP"的主流用法和存在少量"a+元音开首NP"用例的理据。In the late 1990s,the trend that the indefinite article "an" to "a" before NPs beginning with vowels in American English was found by some researches at home and abroad via collecting the instances "a+ NPs beginning with vowels" in language life.After the comparative concordancing of "a+ keyword_(i)"& "an+ keyword_(i)" in the BYU-Corpus,this paper finds:in the actual utterances of various English varieties,there are indeed few cases of "a" before NPs beginning with vowels,especially in the colloquial registers such as network,TV,movie.But whether it is in different English variants or in various registers,most of "an+ NPs beginning with vowels" collocation occupy more than 90%.And the motivations of the overwhelming use of "an+ NPs beginning with vowels" and of the sparse existence of "a+ NPs beginning with vowels" are presented from the perspective of social factors,linguistic factors,interlanguage features,idiolect and phonetic principles.

关 键 词：不定冠词 a+元音开首NP an+元音开首NP 

分 类 号：H030[语言文字—语言学]