詞語語義新探：「一詞一義三元法」及「皮」之個案研究

Abstract

傳統以一詞多義看待「詞」與「詞義」的習慣方法並不利於精確辨析詞義，因此不利於有關閱讀、寫作、詞彙學習等過程的研究設計，尤其不利於學生在其它語種學習過程中對詞義的精確辨析。本研究提出「一詞一義三元法」，借鑒Lyons的詞義三分理論和Cruse的詞義單元概念，將二者揉和、改造和細化後，對「詞」和「詞義」重新定義，建構成一個可精細辨析詞義的分析模式。 在這個模式下，所謂「詞」，是指一個由特定外形（語音、書寫）與心理字典裡一個相對獨立的語義單元結合而成的單位，大致相當於傳統字典詞條下的一個獨立意思。而所謂「義」，則是由三個面向的意思組成的整體效應，即：類指義、概念義和特指義。在新的一詞一義三元法的理論分析觀點下，字典中的一個字或詞目將被視為是為編輯方便而用的一個索引條目，其下不同的意思條目才更接近心理辭典中的獨立語義單位，也更接近說話人的語言心理習慣和更方便對詞義進行描述與分析，因此也是理論上定義「詞」時更恰當的依據。 本研究將此「一詞一義三元法」的理論分析架構應用在對「皮」的個案分析上，全面重新釐清分析了「皮」的所有語義，並演示、檢測此一方法的實用性及操作合理性。本研究認為，「皮」只是一個字形符號，旗下可以分為十二個相對獨立的心理「皮」詞（即：「皮１」～「皮12」）和一個無語義內涵的黏著型態素（即：「皮0」）。這十二個「皮n」詞各自類指世界上不同的實體物類、有由此而抽象概括出的各自不同的概念、可以特指語境中各自特定的具體實體並形成各自特有的隱喻用法。至於黏著型態素「皮0」的存在，則略做簡述，以使本研究對「皮」的個案研究更趨完整。 「一詞一義三元法」的詞彙分析與學習模式更符合語言使用心理習慣，有利詞彙相關的研究設計和理論分析，同時也是建立並培養學生對詞義精確思辨的策略和方法，能有效幫助學生更精確掌握詞義，促成有效的外語詞彙學習。The traditional way of defining WORD and MEANING is inconvenient for analysis of shades of meanings of words, nor readily applicable in designing research into the processes of reading, writing, and vocabulary learning, particularly with respect to learning word meanings in another language. In this study, an exploratory approach to word meanings: single word meaning in three dimensions, was proposed on the basis of modification and reintegration of Lyons’s notions of denotation, sense, and reference and Cruse’s of lexical units and sense traits. It is a different analytical frame that defines WORD as a single meaning unit of three constituents. Under this frame, a WORD is a union of certain phonological and orthographic forms designated to a single, relatively independent meaning unit in a imagined mental dictionary; it approximately corresponds to one of the distinct meaning items under a certain lexeme—a word item in a traditional dictionary. And MEANING of a word so defined is the virtual function of a word’s three coexistent constituents: denotative, referential, and conceptual (sense) aspects. From this new perspective, any lexeme is considered no more than an index for the editing convenience of compilation, whereas each of its meaning items is a closer surrogate of a distinct meaning unit of the mental dictionary, which is more consistent with the psycholinguistic capacity of language users, more convenient for descriptions of words and their meanings, and hence a better representation of WORD-MEANING in theoretical discussion and research design. This single-meaning-unit-of-three-constituents frame was also applied to a case study of the lexeme ‘Pi’, whereby to demonstrate its practicability in analyzing and clarifying the mixed shades and nuances of meanings under ‘Pi’, which were also reclassified into twelve distinct words （‘Pi1’～‘Pi12’）, so defined according to the new frame, and a ‘Pi0’ of bound morphemes. Each of the twelve ‘Pin’ denotes its own class of things in the world and may refer to a particular member or groups of members of that class in a given context, or even metaphorically so in referring things of different classes, in accordance with the concept abstracted from its denotative contents. As for the existing bound-morphemes, they were described as such to make the case study of ‘Pi’ complete. In conclusion, this exploratory approach to word meanings: single word meaning in three dimensions, is more consistent with the language users’ psycholinguistic capacity, hence more readily applicable in research design and theoretical analyses. Moreover, it has the potential for training students in strategy and tactics in effectively figuring out the shades of word meanings in learninga language other than their own.