语篇的定义(Definition of Text)

 

　　从词源上看，英语“text”一词源于拉丁词textus(名词，=tissure)和textere(动词，=weave)，用来比喻在结构和语义上相互交织在一起的一组句子。根据上下文语境的不同.英语"text"可分别译为“语篇、文本、原文、正文、课本、经文”等。

 

　　《新牛津英语词典》对“text”的释义，就包括至少下列四项主要内容，它们的共同特点是认为语篇是具有特定特征的、书面的或印刷的文字材料。

 

　　(Text一1. a book or other written or printed work, regarded in terms of its content

 

　　rather than its physical form(语篇):a text which explores pain and grief. 2. a piece

 

　　of written or printed material regarded as conve如ng the authentic or primary form of

 

　　a particular work(原文):the text of the lecture was available on request. 3. written

 

　　or printed words, typically forming a connected piece of work(文本):stylistic fea-

 

　　ture of journalist text. 4. the main body of a book or other piece of writing, as dis-

 

　　tinct from other material such as notes, appendices, and illustrations(正文):too

 

　　much text and too few pictures in this book.

 

　　一The New Oxford Dictionary of English (2001)

 

　　对“语篇”这一重要概念，许多学者都曾从不同的角度进行过定义和阐释。为了更好地理解它的含义，我们再看一看更具专业性的解释。

 

　　英国语盲学家R. Quirk等在《英语语法大全》中，对语篇的概念进行过分析和解释。

 

　　虽然措词比较谨慎.但却勾勒出语篇应具有的从本特征。他们是这样说的:

 

　　A text-unlike a sentence一is not a grammatical unit but rather a semantic and prag-

 

　　static unit. It is a stretch of language which seems appropriately coherent in actual

 

　　use. That is, the text "cohere" in real world context，semantically and pragmatical-

 

　　ly. and it is also internally or linguistically coherent.

 

　　-A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language(1985)

 

　　在《文体学词典》中，英国文体学家Katie Wale、不但详细探讨了语篇的概念.而且还对有关语篇的研究进行了评述。她认为:

 

　　A text is commonly used to refer to a sequential collection of sentences or utterances

 

　　which form a unity by reason of their linguistic cohesion and semantic coherence,

 

　　such as a recipe. poem or sermon. However, it is possible for a text to consist of on-

 

　　ly one sentence or utterance, e. g. a notice or road-sign(Exit;Stop)，which is se-

 

　　mantically complete in itself, and pragmatically tied to a specific situation.

 

　　-A Dictionary of Stylistics(1989)

 

　　从这些论述可看出，语篇是言语交际的基本单位。它不是一个像句子一样的语法单位，而是一个相对完整的语义和语用单位。在实际交际中，语篇可以以不同的形式出现。它既可以是一个人说话时产生的言语单位‘如电视讲话、公众演说等)，也可以是一个人写作时生成的言语单位(如日记、总结、散文、故事等)，当然还可以是几个人轮流发言时所形成的言语单位(如对话、访谈、辩论、戏剧等)。

 

　　语篇可长可短。在多数情况下，语篇一般是由许多句子、语段、甚至章节组成的有机整体，如小说、论文、辞典、百科全书等。但有时，一个句子或短语，甚至一个词，都可以构成一个意义完整并能实现特定语用意图的语篇.像“DANGER!-, -ENTRANCE","Men's","No Smoking! ","Think before you leap"，"Vantage, the taste of success","Goodtaste, Kent style.”这样的标语、广告、便条、告示或谚语。虽然只有只言片语或一两句话，但在一定的语境中却是意义很完整的语篇。