ISSN 1008-2204
CN 11-3979/C

时间认知与语言相关性的手势语研究——以英、汉母语使用者为例

Study on Relation Between Temporal Cognition and Language via Gestures: A Case Study of Native Chinese and English Speakers

  • 摘要: 根据概念隐喻理论,人类在认知时间这样的抽象概念时需要借助像空间这样的具体概念,即采用"时空隐喻"。"时间流逝是运动"就是一个广泛存在于不同文化中的时空隐喻,但受到语言、文化的强化作用,不同语言使用者会对这一隐喻所蕴含的子隐喻或隐喻中"过去/未来"在时间轴上所处的方位有不同偏好。通过观察并比较英、汉母语使用者的手势语及其异同点,对"时间流逝是运动"这一隐喻的心理现实性和语言变量以及认知变量的相关性进行了实验研究。实验结果显示,英、汉母语使用者手势方向的异同点与两种语言的书写方向及其隐喻性语言所指示方向的异同点高度一致,且改变实验语言导致实验对象行为模式发生变化。这些结果证明:英、汉母语使用者确会用空间概念认知时间,且语言因素是影响人们时间认知的重要因素之一。

     

    Abstract: According to Conceptual Metaphor Theory, metaphor is a basic mechanism of human cognition. The cognition of abstract concept such as time relies on the mapping from the concrete concept such as space onto abstract concept such as time, i.e. adopting spatiotemporal metaphor. Being one of the universal spatiotemporal metaphors, "Time Passing is Motion", however, has diversified realization in different cultures due to the influence of language and culture:different language speakers show different preference to the sub-metaphors entailed in it or the positions of "past/future" on the linear temporal axes. By observing and comparing the gestures of native Chinese and English speakers, the present research aims at testing:the psychological reality of the metaphor "Time Passing is Motion"; and the relation between the linguistic and cognitive variables. The research results show that the similarities and differences between native Chinese and English speakers' gesture directions were consistent with those suggested by the two respective languages (including writing direction and metaphorical expressions). In addition, the change in the test language led to a change in the English subjects' gesture direction. Those results help to prove the psychological reality of the above mentioned metaphor and the influence of linguistic variable on cognitive variable.

     

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