语言变化是邪恶的:一个多义形容词的语义和社会意义

IF 0.9 2区 文学 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS
RHYS J. SANDOW, GEORGE BAILEY, NATALIE BRABER
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引用次数: 0

摘要

由于向“相反”的转变,多义形容词wicked是一个自反义词,具有两种相反的意思,即“恶”和“善”。我们讨论了两项研究,它们探索了这个词的社会生活,第一个研究重点是它的产生,第二个研究重点是它的感知。在英国康沃尔进行的第一项研究中,我们发现年轻男性最擅长使用邪恶的“good”,而年轻女性似乎对这种变化的增加(即进步)没有贡献。在第二项在英国进行的在线研究中,我们发现,相对于它的同义词good,邪恶的“good”被认为不那么年轻,并且在与地位和团结有关的不同特征上得到了积极的评价,尤其是年长的男性。我们发现邪恶的“邪恶”与其同义词“邪恶”相比,在地位类型特征上得到了更高的评价。这个新发现的邪恶指数领域为观察到的生产变化提供了一种可能的解释,有助于解决有关社会意义在推动变化增量中的作用的持续问题。更一般地说,这篇文章增加了越来越多但有限的文献,通过变异社会语言学的视角探索语义变异。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
Language change is wicked: semantic and social meaning of a polysemous adjective
As a result of an ameliorative shift-to-opposite, the polysemous adjective wicked is an auto-antonym, having two senses opposite in meaning, that is, ‘evil’ and ‘good’. We discuss two studies which explore the social life of this word, with the first focusing on its production and the second on its perception. In the first study, conducted in Cornwall, United Kingdom, we find that young men are most advanced in the use of wicked ‘good’ while young women appear not to contribute to the incrementation, that is, the advancement, of this change. In the second study, conducted online across England, we find wicked ‘good’, relative to its synonym good, to be perceived as less young and to be evaluated positively across disparate characteristics relating to status and solidarity, particularly by older men. We find wicked ‘evil’, in contrast to its synonym evil, to be evaluated higher in status-type characteristics. This newly uncovered indexical field of wicked presents a possible explanation for the observed changes in production, contributing to ongoing questions about the role of social meaning in driving the incrementation of change. More generally, this article adds to the growing yet limited literature which explores semantic variation through the lens of variationist sociolinguistics.
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来源期刊
CiteScore
2.70
自引率
10.00%
发文量
46
期刊介绍: English Language and Linguistics, published twice a year, is an international journal which focuses on the description of the English language within the framework of contemporary linguistics. The journal is concerned equally with the synchronic and the diachronic aspects of English language studies and publishes articles of the highest quality which make a substantial contribution to our understanding of the structure and development of the English language and which are informed by a knowledge and appreciation of linguistic theory. English Language and Linguistics carries articles and short discussion papers or squibs on all core aspects of English, from its beginnings to the present day, including syntax, morphology, phonology, semantics, pragmatics, corpus linguistics and lexis.
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