論英語midwife詞義變寬的內在原因

10.29716/TKSFLL.200812.0002

吳小晶(Xiao-Jing Wu)

對立入中 ； 回配效應 ； 詞義變寬 ； 語義複合 ； 上位入中 ； Antonym-as-Head ； Return Effect ； semantic broadening ； semantic combination ； Hyperonym-as-Head

淡江外語論叢

12期（2008 / 12 / 01）

36 - 50

繁體中文

英語midwife一詞經歷了意義變寬的過程：從midwife1（女接生員）到midwife2（接生員）。這一過程至少歷時三百多年。男性加入接生行業是引起這一變化的外部原因。本文分析表明，對立入中和回配效應是促成這一變化的內在原因。分析還表明，從man/male midwife1演變爲man/male midwife2，使編解碼過程變得簡單而省力。這對midwife的泛化來說也是一個重要的內在原因。

The English word midwife has undergone the process of semantic broadening, i.e., a shift from midwife1 (a woman who helps women in childbirth) to midwife2 (a person who helps women in childbirth). This change took at least more than three hundred years. That men began to ”help women in childbirth” can be considered as the external cause. This paper shows that the important factors which constitute a set of internal causes include Antonym-as-Head (a process of compounding) and the Return Effect (a type of reanalysis). This paper also shows that the following factor should be another cause inside language for the change. That is, the shift from man/male midwife1 to man/male midwife2 makes simpler and easier the processes of encoding and decoding man/male midwife.

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