英语双宾构式能产性的信息结构限制  

The information structure constraints on the productivity of English ditransitive constructions

作　　者：杨坤[1] YANG Kun(College of Intermational Studies,Southwest University,Chongqing 400715,China)

机构地区：[1]西南大学外国语学院,重庆市400715

出　　处：《外语教学与研究》2024年第1期64-75,159,160,共14页Foreign Language Teaching and Research

基　　金：国家社科基金后期资助项目“构式语法理论研究”(23FYYB014)的部分成果。

摘　　要：构式能产性一直是构式语法研究的难点。本文以英语双宾构式为例,立足Goldberg(2019)提出的Explain-Me-This“双宾谜题”,探讨信息结构对构式能产性的限制。研究发现,英语双宾构式的信息结构限制不仅体现在对间接宾语(旧信息)和直接宾语(新信息)的限制上,也体现在动词、间接宾语和直接宾语三个“空槽”之间信息流动的协同互动上。英语双宾构式的信息流动遵循“信息结构的刻意性原则”,即一个信息片段中越是复杂的、语义充实的信息越容易唤起听者/读者的注意,成为焦点。根据这一原则,双宾动词不能阻断其所在信息片段的信息流动,导致直接宾语失去焦点地位。Explain-Me-This“双宾谜题”的主要诱因是explain的语义相对充实,而this的语义空泛,导致直接宾语不能成为焦点。Constructional productivity is a challenging topic in the study of Construction Grammar.This paper takes English ditransitive constructions as examples,based on Goldberg's(2019)"Explain-Me-This"ditransitive puzzle,to explore the constraints of information structure on the productivity of constructions.The study reveals that the information structure constraints of English ditransitive constructions manifest not only in the restrictions on the indirect object(old information)and the direct object(new information)but also in the coordinated interaction of information flow among the verb,indirect object,and direct object.The information flow in English ditransitive constructions follows the Principle of Deliberateness,"whereby a more complex and semantically rich information fragment within a given discourse is more likely to capture the attention of the listener/reader and become the focus.According to this principle,ditransitive verbs cannot impede the information flow of ditransitive constructions to maintain the focal status of a direct object.The main reason for the""Explain-Me-This"ditransitive puzzle is that the semantic information of the verb"explain"is richer than the direct object"this,"resulting in"this"being unable to become the focus.

关 键 词：英语双宾构式 能产性 Explain-Me-This 信息结构 

分 类 号：H314.3[语言文字—英语]