| The recognition of parts of speech (POS) is the prerequisite of accurate translation of headwords in bilingual dictionaries. However, POS labeling in Chinese-English (C-E) dictionaries is a longstanding and complicated problem, which matters greatly as a minor step may lead to major consequences. Unfortunately, present studies are weak-based, methodologically outdated, and there exist some disputes with regard to such major questions as the target of POS labeling, the principle of translation by POS, and the basis of POS labeling in C-E dictionaries. This dissertation is intended to answer the above questions through empirical studies from the cognitive perspective.After reviewing the present studies in Chinese parts of speech and POS labeling in Chinese and C-E dictionaries, this dissertation has as its theoretical framework the categorization and decategorization theories, including grammatical metonymy and grammaticalization in cognitive linguistics and grammatical metaphor in functional linguistics. Based on Chinese corpora (including the Web as corpus) and self-made database of POS recognition in C-E dictionaries, it makes a thorough investigation of the POS recognition in the translation of headwords, of the influence of POS labeling on translation accuracy, and of the basis of POS labeling in C-E dictionaries. It has been found that C-E dictionaries have on the whole followed the principle of translation by POS as it should, that they have basically adhered to the principle of labeling Chinese headwords as it should, and that POS labeling in C-E dictionaries should not be based on the Chinese dictionaries, but on the usage patterns of words in large-scale Chinese corpora.Therefore, this study integrates the qualitative and quantitative research methods and offers a new perspective to POS labeling in C-E dictionaries. It has both theoretical significance in lexicography and practical guidance in POS labeling and translation of headwords in C-E dictionaries.
|
PDF Full Text Request