情緒的表達：中英文情緒動詞之語意比較

Abstract

本研究旨在瞭解並呈現中英文情緒表達的不同。先前對於英文中的情緒動詞，已有 Belletti & Rizzi (1988)、Grimshaw (1990)、Filip (1996)與Nelson (1999)等人之研究，中文部分有蔡美惠等(1996)與張麗麗等(2000)之研究，但是這些研究僅將焦點放在代表性的動詞，卻無法將研究範圍含括至整組動詞，也因為如此，我們難以全面性地比較中文與英文之情緒表達，便無法更進一步瞭解中英文的使用者是如何建構情緒的概念。 英文中像(1)、(2)的例句可以用來表達類似的情緒： (1) He frightens me. (他嚇到我了。) (2) I fear him. (我很怕他。) 縱使這兩句例子似乎要表達幾乎相同的情緒事件，例句中呈現的兩種不同及物構事(transitive comstruction)，刺激物(Stimulus)-動詞-情緒感知者(Experiencer) 構事與情緒感知者-動詞-刺激物構事，乃是從兩種不同的心理途徑(mental path)來表達情緒。中文中可用嚇到和怕來表達類似英文例句(1)和(2)的情緒。 (3) 他嚇到我了。 (4) 我很怕他。 具備相同的及物構事，例句(1)與(2) 似乎分別等同例句(3)和(4)，但是擁有相同的構事是否暗示著，使用英文與中文表達fright 嚇到和fear 怕時，心理途徑的構成是相同的呢？此外，尚有類似的中英文例句可以有力證明此一假設 的正確性。 (5) I am happy. (我很開心。) (不及物情緒感知者-動詞構事) (6) 我很開心。(不及物情緒感知者-動詞構事) (7) The book is interesting. (這本書很有趣。) (不及物構事) (8) 這本書很有趣。(不及物構事) 然而，Wierzbicka於1991年與1992年分別提出「emotion words reflect certain cultural models」與「emotion terms cannot be neatly matched with concepts in other languages or cultures」的說法，與例句(1)至(8)所呈現出來的構事相似程度似乎有所衝突，究竟中英文又是如何使用情緒謂語(emotion predication)來表達該文化的特色？有鑑於此，本文以Berkeley FrameNet對於英文情緒謂語的分析與洪詩楣(2009)對於中文情緒動詞的分析為本，採用框架語意理論(Frame semantics (Fillmore & Atkins, 1992))分析比較中英文的情緒謂語，而能更加瞭解中英文是如何建構情緒的概念。 本文主要有三項發現。首先，情緒謂語可進一步表達動態與靜態，Van Voorst (1996) 認為英文中的心理動詞(psychological verbs)可以被視為「瞬(間達)成動詞 (Achievement verb)」表達動作，我們將中文的情緒動詞以 Van Voorst 提出之理論測試，發現在某些情緒框架下的動詞的確表現得較為動態，有別於以往情緒動詞被普遍認為為一種靜態動詞的看法。第二項發現在於我們能由框架元素 (frame element) 和構詞組合 (morphological make-up) 觀察到語言對於情緒表達上偏好的參與者，刺激物雖不為英文情緒框架中最常出現的框架元素，但是卻是謂語詞彙中所嵌入的語意參與者，也因此我們可得知英文似乎偏好採用刺激物的角度來表達情緒。另一方面，我們觀察到中文情緒框架中最常出現的框架元素為情緒感知者，該元素也常被詞彙化、變成謂語中通性的名詞(generic noun)，此特性也因此暗指中文喜好情緒感知者作為其表達情緒的潛在主詞。最後一項發現即是有些與情緒為低關聯性的英文情緒框架，如評斷 (Judgment) 框架也被列為該語言情緒框架的子框架之一，而中文將情緒引動者 (Affecter) 此一新語意參與者運用至情緒範疇 (emotion domain) 中。此外，還比較中英文表達相似情緒的框架，如英文悔恨 Contrition 框架與中文 Regret-Sorry 框架，會挑選不同的語意框架元素與不同的構事。經由比較中英文的情緒謂語後，最後得到以上三項不同的發現使我們更能了解中英文情緒表達的雷同或相異之處。 簡言之，此論文比較中英文對於情緒的表達，除了能了解中英文使用者表達同一情緒概念時的相同點與差異處，尚可使此二語言的學習者和教育者對於該語言情緒的概念有更深入的認知並了解如何更精確地以其學習語言表達情緒。

This paper aims to show how English and Mandarin differ from each other on emotion predication. Although many studies have been done to investigate psych-verbs of English (Belletti & Rizzi, 1988; Grimshaw, 1990; Filip, 1996; Nelson, 1999) as well as those of Mandarin (Tsai et al. 1996; Chang et al. 2000), these studies mostly paid attention to the representational verbs and failed to investigate the whole set of verbs. Therefore, it is hard to compare these two languages so as to gain a better understanding of how English and Mandarin speakers conceptualize emotions. In English, sentences like (1) and (2) can be used to express a similar event. (1) He frightens me. (2) I fear him. The different transitive Stimulus-Verb-Experiencer and Exeriencer-Verb-Stimulus constructions are used here to represent two mental paths of a person even if they seem to interpret the same psychological state. In Mandarin, similar emotion of (1) and (2) can be expressed through verbs like xiadao 嚇到 and pa 怕. (3) 他 嚇到 我 了。 ta xiadao wo le ‘He frightens me.’ (4) 我 很 怕 他。 wo hen pa ta ‘I fear him.’ With constructions alike, (1) and (2) may be equivalent to (3) and (4) respectively. However, does the similarity suggest English and Mandarin share the same psychological path when expressing fright and fear? More similar constructions shared in expressing emotions, like (5) and (6), may provide stronger support to such assumption. (5) I am happy. (Intransitive Exeriencer-Verb construction) (6) 我 很 開心。(Intransitive Exeriencer-Verb construction) wo hen kaixin ‘I am happy.’ Nonetheless, according to Wierzbicka (1991), she claimed “emotion words reflect certain cultural models;” moreover, “emotion terms cannot be neatly matched with concepts in other languages or cultures” (Wierzbicka, 1992). Hereof, how do emotion predications differ in English and Mandarin to carry cultural features if (1)-(6) exemplified a great resemblance in the surface construction? Adopting Berkeley FrameNet’s (http://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/ ~FrameNet/) analysis of English emotion expression as well as Hong’s (2009) analysis of Mandarin emotion verbs, we are able to compare the two languages from the perspective of Frame Semantics to obtain more details of how emotion is conceptualized in both languages. There are three major findings of this paper. First, emotion predication can be further divided into stative and active interpretations in both languages. Van Voorst (1996) discovered that English psychological verbs can also denote an active state and be seen as achievement verbs. Applying the rules Van Voorst provided, we also tested Mandarin emotion verbs and found that some frames may imply an active state and become less stative than they have often been regarded. Second, frame elements and morphological make-ups in both languages provide information to show the preference of each language in terms of construing emotion sentences. Stimulus may not be the most frequent frame element in English emotion frames, but it has been the underlying subject incorporated in the lexicon, which serves as a piece of evidence to indicate that English favors to take the viewpoint of Stimulus as its fundamental perspective when expressing emotions. On the other hand, Experiencer occupies the position of a core element in almost every Mandarin emotion verb frames and it has been often lexicalized as the generic noun within Mandarin lemmas, which entails that Mandarin prefers Experiencer as its underlying subject. Third, English included frames which seem to be lowly related to emotions, e.g. Judgment frame, into Emotions while Mandarin introduced an Affecter into its emotion domain. Moreover, even frames expressing the similar emotion, such as Contrition frame in English and Regret-Sorry frame in Mandarin, may differ in their selection of frame elements and their constructions. All the findings allow us to see how English and Mandarin are different or alike in expressing emotions. In brief, this paper compares English and Mandarin emotion expressions and shows the similarity and dissimilarity. It can also benefit English and Mandarin learners and educators who wish to understand better how these two languages conceptualize and express emotions.