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现代英语词汇学（第三章）MotivationWhatismotivation?Motivationreferstotheconnectionbetweenword-symbolanditssense.Fromthepointofviewofmotivation,thegreatmajorityofEnglishwordsarenon-motivated,sincetheyareconventional,arbitrarysymbols.However,thereisasmallnumberofwordsthatcanbedescribedasmotivated,thatis,adirectconnectionbetweenthesymbolanditssensecanbereadilyobserved.Basedonourtextbook,motivationmayariseinthreemajorways:•1.Onomatopoeicmotivation•Wordsmotivatedphoneticallyarecalledonomatopoeicorphoneticorechoicwords,whosepronunciationsuggeststhemeaning.Theyshowacloserelationofsoundtosense,whereasnon-onomatopoeicwordsdonotshowanysuchrelationship.•Manyonomatopoeicwordsimitatenaturalsounds,suchasthecriesofanimalsorthenoisesthatresembletheseassociatedwiththeobjectoractiontobenamed,orthatseemsuggestiveofitsqualities.•Herethesenseistrulytheechoofthesound.Examplesare:thebow-woworwoof-woofofadog,themeow-meowofacat,themooofacow,theroarofalion,thecooofapigeon,thehissofaserpent,thehumofbees,andquackofaduck;theboomofacannon,thecrackofapistolshot,theclangofthefire-bell,theclashofweapons,thebangofadoorandtherumbleofthunder.•SomeonomatopoeicwordsarenotcompletelymotivatedaspointedoutbyR.Quirk:•“…Andeventhese(echoicwords)areconventionaltoquitealargeextent.Thewordmutterdoesnotmean‘mutter’inGermanorFrench,eventhoughtheselanguagealsohaveonomatopoeicwordsfor‘mutter’:murrenandmarmotterrespectively.Ifyouthrowastoneintowater,thesoundyouhearisbynomeansaswhenyousay‘splash’.”(Quirk1963:43)••Poetsandgreatwritersoftenusethesoundofwordstoachieveveryexpressiveeffectascanbeseeninthefollowingpoem:•“Theicewashere,theicewasthere,•Theicewasinallaround:•Itcrackedandgrowled,androaredandhowled,•Likenoiseinaswound.”•(Note:swound=woond:abewitchedstate;trance昏厥,神魂颠倒)•Thenumberofsuchwordsinanylanguageissmall,buttheirexistenceisimportantbecausetheyshowapopulardesireforasound-symboltohaveasclosearelationtoitsmeaningaspossible.Suchadesireispresentineverylinguisticcommunity.Onomatopoeicwordsmaybesubdividedintotwokinds:primaryonomatopoeiaandsecondaryonomatopoeia•PrimaryonomatopoeiaPrimaryonomatopoeiameanstheimitationofsoundbysound.Herethesoundistrulyan“echotothesense”:thereferenceitselfisanacousticexperiencewhichismoreorlesscloselyimitatedbythephoneticstructureoftheword.Thetermslikecrack,growl,hum,roar,squeak,squeal,whizzandagreatmanyothersfallintothiscategory.(2)SecondaryonomatopoeiaSecondaryonomatopoeiameansthatcertainsoundsandsound-sequencesareassociatedwithcertainsensesinanexpressiverelationship.Inthisform,thesoundsevoke,notanacousticexperience,butamovement(dither发抖,dodder蹒跚,quiver颤抖,slink潜逃,slither滑动,slouch懒散,squirm蠕动,wriggle扭动),orsomephysicalormoralquality,usuallyunfavorable(gloom阴沉,grumpy暴躁,mawkish厌恶,slimy黏糊,sloppy溅湿,sloth懒惰,wry[wai]扭曲).Someoftheseonomatopoeicwordshavecertainelementsincommon;inBloomfield’swords,thereis“asystemofinitialandfinalroot-formingmorphemes,ofvaguesignificance”,withwhichthe“intense,symbolicconnotation”ofsuchwordsisassociated.Forexample,thesounds/sn/mayexpressthreetypesofexperiences:“breath-noise”(sniff,snuff,snore,snort),“quickseparationormovement”(snip,snap,snatch),and“creeping”(snake,snail,sneak,snoop).Finalgroupshavesimilarfunctions:-aresuggests“biglightornoise”asinblare,flare,glare,stare;-umpsuggests“protuberance隆起,结节”asinbump,chump,clump,dumpand“heavyfall”asindump,crump,flump,pump,slump,thump.Anotherinterestingfeatureofonomatopoeiapatternsisthattheyoftenworkbyvowelalteration.Bysubstitutingonevowelforanotheronecanexpressdifferentnoises:snip—snap,sniff—snuff,flip—flap—flop.Akintothistendencyarereduplicatedwordsandphraseslikeriff-raff,wishy-washy,titfortat,tick-tock,click-clack.Itshouldbenotedthatmanyonomatopoeicformsarebasedonalterationsofnotvowelsbutofinitialconsonants:higgledy-piggledy,helter-skelter,namby-pamby,roly-poly,etc.Fairlyrecentonomatopoeicformationsare:hi-fi,walkie-talkie,heebie-jeebies,li-lo,flower-power,hokey-cokey,itsy-bitsy,swing-wing,etc.2.SemanticmotivationSemanticmotivationreferstothementalassociationsuggestedbytheconceptualmeaningofaword.Itexplainstheconnectionbetweentheliteralsenseandfigurativesenseoftheword.Whenwesaythemouthofariver,weassociatetheopeningpartoftheriverwiththemouthofahumanbeingorananimal.Whenwespeakofthefootofthemountain,wearecomparingthelowerpartofthemountaintothefootofahumanbeing.Inthesentence“Heisfondofthebottle”,bottleremindsoneofwhatiscontainedinside;andpenandswordin“Thepenismightierthanthesword”suggests“writing”and“war”respectively.Inthesameway,whenwesay“astonyheart”,thereissemanticmotivationduetothefactthat“heart”inquestioniscloselyassociatedwith“stone”.(“Hehasastonyheart.”means“Hehasaheartofstone.”Thefigurativemeaningcanbeeasilyunderstoodbythosewhoknowtheliteralmeaning.Hereitisthefigurativeusagethatprovidesmotivation.(1)MetaphorMetaphorisafigureofspeechcontaininganimpliedcomparison,inwhichawordorphraseordinarilyandprimarilyusedofonethingisappliedtoanother,asin“Thecurtainofnighthasfallen.”Weknowthatwordsareusedintwoways:literallyandfiguratively.Whenusedliterally,theyhavetheirnaturalandusualm