1.What is motivation理据?

It refers to the connection between the linguistic symbol and its meaning.理据解释语言符号与意义之间的关系。

 

2. Onomatopoeic Motivation拟声理据

It means the imitation of sounds by sounds. Words coined in imitation of the sounds associated with the things named are called onomatopoeia. For examples:

Apes gibber.     Bears growl.   Bulls bellow.   Cats mew (purr).

Eagles scream.   Frogs croak.   Goats bleat.

 3. Morphological motivation形态理据

Words which were formed by means of morphological structure belong to the category of motivation by morphology.

Compounds and derived words are multi-morphemic words and the meanings of many of them are the sum total of the morphemes combined.

When we talked about derivational affixes, we said most of them have a specific meaning, and when added to a root, they derive a new word. If one knows the meaning of the affix and the root, say –able and read, then one can immediately tell that the meaning of the word readable is “that can be read” . We say the word is morphologically motivated, for a direct connection can be observed between the morphemic structure of the word and its meaning.

Compound words may be morphologically motivated too. The meaning of words like good-looking, headache, daydream and many others derive from the combined meaning of the component parts. 

However, not all compounds are motivated. We cannot infer the meaning of words like bigwig, egghead from their component parts.

4. Semantic Motivation语义理据

It refers to the mental associations suggested by the conceptual meaning of a word. It explains the connection between the literal sense and figurative sense of the word.

Metonymy              Metaphor

5. Etymological motivation词源理据

Etymological motivation denotes that the origins of words often throw light on their meanings. E.g.: Pen originally refers to ‘a heavy quill or feather’. Today the writing tool is still “pen”, but a meaning is not exactly the same as what it used to mean.

 Proper nouns, once they become common nouns, can be explained by their origins only. For example: a laconic answer,  Argus-eyed professor

Laconic 源于Lakon ，意为“一个拉哥尼亚人”，它是希腊的一个地区名，斯巴达是其首府。以好战和纪律严明闻名的斯巴达人也同样因为言简意赅而闻名，laconic 这个词从1589年起被发现有言简意赅的意思起直到今天仍然被英国作家用来表示这一意思。