评《新编简明英语语言学教程》
2007-05-29 14:00阅读：
一部英语专业教材中的“不和谐音符”——评《新编简明英语语言学教程》
由上海外国语大学戴炜栋、何兆熊两位教授主编的《新编简明英语语言学教程》（A NEW CONCISE COURSE ON
LINGUISTICS FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH）
[1]（以下简称《教程》）是一本用英语编写的“普通高等教育‘十五’国家级规划教材”、“新世纪高等院校英语专业本科生系列教材”之一（见该书封面页）。目前，该教材是我国高校英语专业语言学课程普遍采用的教材之一。该《教程》“由于内容紧凑精炼，文字简明流畅”，
“得到了各高校英语专业教师与学生的广泛欢迎与好评”（该书前言）。综观全书，应该说，该评论是恰如其分的。
但其中第九章LANGUAGE AND
CULTURE（第127—141页），英语表达水平显然与其他章节不在同一档次，问题颇多，措辞和语法都带有明显的口语语体痕迹，如使用了很多逗号句（即仅用逗号连接两个独立句），不符合英语语体规范，且存在一些语法错误。笔者认为，英语专业教材具有双重功能，不仅传授知识，同时帮助学生提高英语表达能力，因此，教材语言应该规范。本着此认识，笔者班门弄斧，不揣冒昧将发现的问题提出，以便再版时能进一步完善。如有不妥之处，请作者和语言学界同仁批评指正。为便于读者对照，问题按顺序列举。
一、第九章存在的英语表达问题
1. Culture, in a broad sense, means the total way of life of a
people, including the patterns of belief, customs, objects,
institutions, techniques, and language that characterizes the life
of the human community. (p. 127)
问题：从结构上分析，这里的定语从句that characterizes the life of the human
community有两种理解。一种理解是，该定语从句修饰including后面的所有成分，那么兼充当主语功能的that应该是复数，因此谓语动词characterize后不应该加-s。还有一种理解是，该定
语从句修饰的是the total way of life of a
people，那么that前应用逗号与language隔开，且应把that改为which。因此，该句无论怎么理解，都存在语法错误。
2. In a narrow sense, culture may refer to local or specific
practice, beliefs or customs, which can be mostly found in folk
culture, enterprise culture or food culture. (p.127)
问题：practice既可用作可数名词，也可用作不可数名词。当用作可数名词时，意思是thing done
regularly（惯例，习惯做法），从上下文可以看出，该词在这里可以作此理解，且考虑到后两个平行结构beliefs or
customs均用复数形式，按照英语平行结构特点，practice似乎改为复数形式practices为佳。
3. Culture, especially material culture, is reproduced and
preserved through the maintaining of beliefs, traditions, education
and other institutional mechanisms, meanwhile, it changes slowly
with the development of the society. (p. 128)
问题：该句由两个分句构成，通过meanwhile被连接成为一个句子。那么，meanwhile是否具有连接两个独立句的连词功能呢？查词典可知，该词在英语中是副词（adv.），有两个意思：1）in
the time between two events期间；2）during the same period of
time同时。在《牛津高级英汉双解词典》（第4版第918页）所举的两个例子中，meanwhile所在的句子是用句号与前句分开的：1）She
is due to arrive on Monday. Meanwhile, what do we do? 2）I went to
college. Meanwhile, all my friends got well-paid jobs.
在《朗文当代高级英语辞典》（最新版第941页）所举的两个例子中，一个是用句号分开的：They’ll be here soon.
Meanwhile, let’s have coffee.
另一个例子中，meanwhile虽然是用逗号与前句隔开的，但meanwhile与其所在的句子之间没有用逗号隔开，而是连成一体：Eve
was cutting the grass, (and) meanwhile Adam was planting roses.
为了弄清meanwhile的用法，笔者又查阅了相关的语法书。据张道真《实用英语语法》（最新版第417页）
[2]，meanwhile属于“使与上文连接更紧的副词”，该书所举的例子中，meanwhile所在句子与前句是用分号隔开的：Jack
ran for a doctor; meanwhile we stayed with the patient. L. G.
亚历山大编著的《朗文英语语法》
[3]把meanwhile归于“连接副词和短语”，并指出：“连接副词可以出现在句首，在口语中后接一个停顿，在书面上则后接一个逗号。”（第258页）换言之，其前应用句号与另一句隔开。由此可见，本句有三种改法：1）把meanwhile前的逗号改为分号；2）把meanwhile前的逗号改为句号，并大写第一个字母；3）把meanwhile后的逗号去掉。
4. Sharing a same community culture, people have acquired common
ways of viewing the world through their speech interactions with
other members of some same group. (p. 129)
问题：same 能与不定冠词a和限定词some连用吗？学过英语的都知道，same一般与the连用，此外还可与
this，that，these， those连用，但不能与a和some连用。这也是各类英语考试考查的一个主要语法点。
5. Historically, each culture has its past and tradition, to put
it simply, the culture of everyday practices has been evolved and
become consolidated over time. (p.129)
问题：短语to put it simply前似乎应该用句号。
6. On the one hand, language as an integral part of human being,
permeates his thinking and way of viewing the world, language both
expresses and embodies cultural reality. (p. 130)
问题1：as an integral part of human
being是插入语，其前似乎应用逗号与主语language隔开。
问题2：两个独立句用逗号连接，且主语都是language，似乎不符合英语表达习惯。
7. That is to say, different languages offer people different
ways of expressing the world around, they think and speak
differently, this is also know as linguistic relativity. (p.
130)
问题：这句话由四个独立句构成，全都仅用逗号连接。这显然不符合英语语法规则。
8. Until recently with the revival interest in this issue, it
regains people’s attention. (p. 131)
问题1：这里的revival interest似乎存在搭配问题。
问题2：这句话的时态值得商榷。
9. While the strong version believes that the language patterns
determine people’s thinking and behavior, the weak one holds that
the former influence the later. (p. 131)
问题1：later属于拼写错误，应改为latter.
问题2：the language
patterns中的the似乎应去掉，因为这里不是特指，而是一种普遍现象，且patterns已经表示种类。
10. So far, many researches and experiments conducted in various
disciplines provide support to the weak version. (p. 131)
问题1：时间状语so far应该与现在完成时连用，而不是一般现在时。
问题2：名词support一般与for搭配。
因此全句似乎应改为：So far, many researches and experiments conducted in
various disciplines have provided support for the weak
version.
11. Any linguistic sign may be simultaneously of a denotative,
connotative, or iconic kind of meanings. (p. 132)
问题：这句话似乎存在语法和逻辑问题。
12. To begin with, any sign has a meaning that can be found in a
dictionary, this is the denotative meaning. (p.132)
问题：这里又一次出现仅用逗号连接两个独立句的情况。
13. On most occasions “rose” means more than a flower, it also
triggers many associations mostly good ones such as love,
fragrance, passions and beauty etc. (p. 132)
问题1： 再次出现仅用逗号连接两个独立句的情况。
问题2：many associations和mostly good ones之间似乎需要加一个逗号。
14. Differently, a Chinese speaker may greet his friends or new
acquaintance with “Nin Hao” or “Nihao”, whether they meet for the
first time or anytime in the day. (p. 133)
问题：这里的acquaintance显然也应该用复数形式以便与friends形成平行结构。
15. It is also interesting to note that in recent years “Mr.” and
“Miss.” are picked up again to replace “Tongzhi” with the changes
in society. (p. 133)
问题：这里似乎存在不一致问题。作者在其他地方提到中国人使用的称呼用语时，都是用汉语拼音表示的，按理这里的Mr.
和Miss.也应该使用其相应的汉语称呼拼音Xiansheng和Xiaojie。否则，人们还误以为中国人都使用Mr.
和Miss.彼此称呼。全句可作如下处理：It is also interesting to note that in recent
years “Xiansheng” and “Xiaojie” (the Chinese equivalents of “Mr.”
and “Miss.” respectively) are picked up again to replace “Tongzhi”
with the changes in society.
16. for they believe that the compliment is sincere, it is not
expressions of pride or impoliteness and that the praise is not
unworthy achievement. (p. 134)
问题1：这里又一次出现仅用逗号连接两个主句the compliment is sincere和it is not
expressions of pride or
impoliteness的情况。事实上，由于他们的主语相同，完全可以把后一句简化为一个短语。
问题2：主语是单数it，表语中怎么能使用复数expressions呢？
建议全句改为：for they believe that the compliment, instead of an
expression of pride or impoliteness, is sincere and that the praise
is not unworthy achievement.
17. For example, in English “green” is associated with envy or
jealousy like “green with envy” or “green-eyes”, and “greenhorn” as
a person without training or experiences. (p. 135)
问题：这句话很别扭。and “greenhorn” as a person without training or
experiences与前半句不一是一回事，是green的另外一种含义。试比较：For example, in English,
“green” is associated with envy or jealousy like “green with envy”
or “green-eyes”. And it can also be associated with inexperience
such as “greenhorn”.
18. Although people of different culture have many areas of
privacy or taboos, there are also areas where our culture differs
from Western culture. (p. 135)
问题：显然different culture中的culture应该用复数形式。
19. It is advisable we should not talk about such things, when
conversing with English-speaking people unless they indicate
clearly that they do not mind or they talk about them first
themselves. (p. 135)
问题1：这句话的标点符合使用不当。
问题2：they talk about them first themselves不符合英语表达习惯。
试比较：It is advisable we should not talk about such things when
conversing with English-speaking people, unless they indicate
clearly that they do not mind or they talk about themselves
first.
20. Moreover, we should be careful to avoid expressions related
to sexual intercourse, some organ of human body, four-letter words
and racism etc. (pp. 135-136)
问题：four-letter words显然与其它三者不属于同类范畴，而是与expressions形成并列关系。另外根据上文
organ使用复数形式为佳。建议改为：Moreover, we should be careful to avoid
four-letter words and expressions related to sexual intercourse,
some organs of human body, and racism etc.
21. The way a speech community rounds off its numbers is not
haphazard, rather, it is explainable as interplay between language
and culture. (p. 136)
问题：rather是副词，不是连词，似乎不能连接两个独立句，应把其前面的逗号改为句号。
22. We Chinese also use a round number followed by the measure
sui in place of the English measure years old, however, sui is not
exactly equivalent to “the number of years during all or part of
which one has been alive”. (p.136)
问题：however不能用来连接两个独立句。我们知道，however与but在意思上大致一样，都表示转折。但他们在用法上不同。but是连词，可以连接两个并列独立句；而however是副词，不能连接两个独立句，其所在句子必须用句号与另一独立句隔开。其可以位于句首、句中和句末，但不论置于何处，都用逗号与其所在句子其他成分隔开。因此，在规范的英语中，该句应改为：We
Chinese also use a round number followed by the measure sui in
place of the English measure years old. However, sui is not exactly
equivalent to “the number of years during all or part of which one
has been alive”.
23. Sometimes, a same word in two different languages many have
totally different connotations. (p. 137)
问题1：same 不能与a连用，理由同前。
问题2：many属于印刷错误，应该改为may。
24. Things or concepts that are represented by one or perhaps two
terms in one language, but by many more terms in the another
language, that is, finer distinctions exist in the other
language.
问题1：the another language不符合英语语法，根据上下文应改为 the other
language.
25. Different languages may reflect different cultures, different
cultures entail different language expressions.
问题：这两个独立句之间不能仅用一个逗号连接，应该添加一个and。
26. Different languages may have different idioms owing to
different living environments, social conventions and literature
tradition etc.
问题：这里的literature tradition应该改为literary tradition。
27. Despite the cultural differences, there exist a greater or
less degree of cultural overlap between two societies owing to some
similarities in the natural environment and psychology of human
beings. (p. 139)
问题：这个句子的主语应该是第三人称单数，根据英语主谓数一致的原则，谓语动词exist应该加-s。
28. In many English speaking societies in Asia such as Japan and
Chinese, there are circumstances in which the superior, but not the
inferior, may refer to himself by means of the same kinship-term or
title with which he is addressed. (p. 139)
问题：Japan 和Chinese处于平行结构中，为何一个用名词形式，一个用形容词形式？这显然不符合英语规范。
29. who therefore larded their speech with Norman words during
the Norman Conquer in history. (p. 139)
问题：the Norman Conquer应改为the Norman Conquest.
30. Nowadays, with the spreading of modern technology, more and
more loan words have come into our daily use such as email, IT,
E-commerce, B2B, etc. (p. 140)
问题：email，IT，E-commerce是外来语（loan words）吗？请问是从哪一种语言中借入的？
31. In addition to linguistic expression, people may observe
holidays of foreign origins and accept concepts from other
cultures. (p. 140)
问题1：linguistic expression这种说法似乎有画蛇添足之嫌，且应使用复数形式，建议改为linguistic
forms或expressions。
问题2：foreign origins不应使用复数，应改为foreign origin。
32. Recently with the increasing cultural diffusion has been
recognized a tendency of cultural imperialism owing to linguistic
imperialism. (p. 140)
问题：该句子使用的倒装语序似乎不符合英语倒装句规定。
33. With the monopoly of one language over others, its
accompanied ideologies, structures and practices will be a
potential threat to the individual cultural identity and cultural
integrity. (p. 140)
问题：monopoly of one language over others似乎不符合英语表达习惯。
34. For example, France has made special efforts to protect its
language from being corrupted by other language especially American
English. (p.140)
问题1：other language中的language似乎应改为复数形式，才符合英语规范。
问题2：other language与especially American English之间似乎应用逗号隔开。
35. that can cause frustration in communications and
contacts.
问题：communication表示“交流；沟通”是不可数名词。作者在其他地方使用该词时是意识到这点的，但不知为何这里作者却忽视了。
除了上述问题之外，该章的其他表达方式还有待于改进，以便与整本书的质量保持一致。
二、其他章节发现的一些问题
1. On the other hand, we should be aware that while language is
arbitrary by nature, it is not entire arbitrary. (p. 10)
问题：应把entire改为entirely.
3. Phonetics looks at speech sounds from three distinct but
related points of view.
First, it studies the sounds from the speaker’s point of view,
i.e., how a speaker uses his speech organs to articulate the
sounds. Then, it looks at the sounds from the hearer’s point of
view, i.e., how the sounds are perceived by the hearer. Lastly, it
studies the way sounds travel by looking at the sound waves, the
physical means by which sounds are transmitted through the air from
one person to another. These three branches of phonetics are
labelled articulatory phonetics, auditory phonetics, and acoustic
phonetics respectively. (p. 14)
问题：学过英语写作的人都看得出，第一段实际上是第二段的主题句，似乎合并为一段为佳。
4. 教材在分类时存在不一致情况。如第五章Semantics的Major sense relations一节中，把同义词分为i.
Dialectal synonyms，ii. Stylistic synonyms，iii. Synonyms that differ
in their emotive or evaluative meaning，iv. Collocational
synonyms，v. Semantically different
synonyms。这里，其余四种同义词都是用短语表示，而第三种同义词却使用定语从句。这似乎不符合英语的平行原则、也不够科学吧？
5. The horse raced past the barn fell… The correct interpretation
of the sentence is that fell is the main VP while raced past the
barn is a clause modifying the NP The horse. (p191)
问题：这里的raced past the barn明明是分词短语，怎么变成了clause（从句）呢？
三、术语表中存在的问题
1、“co-hyponyms并列下一次”（第198页）。译文拼写错误，应改为“并列下义词”。
2、“Complementarity
互补性反义现象”（第199页）。该术语与正文中出现的术语不一致。换言之，在反义关系部分的正文中（第76—第77页）并没有出现complementarity一词，而正文中出现过的粗体术语complementary
antonyms却在术语表中没有列出。顺便一提的是，该《教程》在讨论反义关系的三种反义词时，前两种被分别称为Gradable
antonyms和 Complementary antonyms，第三种却被称为Relational
opposites。虽然从广义上来说，antonyms与opposites都可表示反义词，但后者不是英语语言学中的专业术语，因此笔者以为还是统一为好。
3、“emotive meaning表情意义”（第200页）。该译文似乎不够准确。
4、“incompatibility反义词”（第200页）。该译文值得商榷。
四、结 语
读完上文后，大家会发现，文中指出的许多问题都与标点符号的使用有关。这是目前中国英语学习者中存在的一个带有普遍性的严重问题。我们知道，英语与汉语是两种差别很大的语言，英语被称为“法治语言”、“语法型语言”，而汉语则是“人治语言”、“语义型语言”。英语注重形式，汉语注重意思的表达。英语的理解是从结构到语义，结构的分析有助于理解文句的意思；而汉语的理解是从语义到结构，不弄懂字词的意思，是根本无法进行语法分析的。英语的基本单位是“词”，而汉语的基本单位是“字”。英语句子具有封闭性，逗号和句号的使用有严格规定；而汉语句子则呈现出开放性特点，很难在字组、句子、句群之间划出一条清楚的界线，标点符号的使用带有随心所欲性。
[4]总之，英语与汉语在形式上的差别非常明显，英语学习者千万不可小视标点符合的使用。否则，一不小心，你就会犯错误。
关于逗号错误问题，笔者在此作一补充说明。在正式英语文体中，一般不能只用逗号来连接两个独立句，否则就是“逗号错误”（Comma
splice）。不过下述三种情况，“逗号错误”可以接受：1、两个独立句很短，尤其是其主语相同。如英语中一句很有名的话：I came,
I saw, I conquered.
2、如果两个较短的独立句之间表示对比关系，尤其是当其中一个是肯定句，另一个是否定句时，如：This is my father,
that is my uncle. / Some students find writing easy, some find it
excruciatingly difficult. / It's not a comet, it's a meteor. / We
aren't visiting Pennsylvania this year, we're spending the summer
in Florida. 3、反意问句，如：You saw that movie last night, didn't you?
尽管如此，在正式语体，还是应尽量避免这种逗号句。
【注释】
[1] 戴炜栋、何兆熊主编：《新编简明英语语言学教程》（A NEW CONCISE COURSE ON LINGUISTICS
FOR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH）：上海外语教育出版社，2002年7月第1版，2005年8月第16次印刷。
[2] 张道真编著：《实用英语语法》（A Practical English
Grammar）（最新版）。北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2002年5月第1版，2003年1月第3次印刷。
[3] L.G.亚历山大：《朗文英语语法》（Longman English
Grammar）。北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1991年1月第1版，2002年3月第16次印刷。
[4]
潘文国：《换一种眼光如何？——关于汉英对比研究的宏观思考》。载郑立信、王菊泉编：《英汉语言文化对比研究：1995——2003》。上海：上海外语教育出版社，2004年10月，第17，18页。
