The Polysemy Of English Perception Verbs: A Cognitive Study

Polysemy is a peculiar phenomenon in human speech. Polysemizing known words is a convenient and economic way for human beings to meet their needs of expression. In this dissertation, I study polysemy with five typical English perception verbs (see, hear, smell, taste, and feel) from a cognitive perspective, with a focus on sense categorization, cognitive processes in polysemization, motivations of sense extensions, and comprehension of the five perception verbs.Most English perception verbs are typical polysemes, which might have senses of sensory perception (sensorily perceptual senses), senses of cognitive perception (cognitively perceptual senses), and nonperceptual senses. Both sensorily and cognitively perceptual senses can be further divided into senses of result, senses of action, and senses of copula. To make clear the relations between these senses, I argue that different senses of a perception verb are different combinations of bases and profiles. The senses across domains (from sensory domain to cognitive domain; from sensory domain to nonperceptual domain, or vice versa) have the same profile but different bases between the source sense and the extended sense; and the senses within the same domain, sensory domain for example, have the same base but different profiles between the source sense and the extended sense.Polysemization is a cognitive process to satisfy the human needs of expression. In polysemization metaphor and metonymy are two cognitive processes involved. Through the analyses of the five perception verbs (see, hear, smell, taste, and feel) identified from corpora, I find the senses (of one perception verb) across the domains are metaphorically related. Cognitive senses are metaphorically derived from the sensory senses. Nonperceptual senses may be metaphorically derived from the sensory senses or vice versa. The senses within the same domain, the sensory domain for example, are metonymically related. The sense of result could be the source sense of the sense of action and the sense of copula. Also, the sense of action could be the source sense of the other two types.I take the notion of cognitive context as the background of this study. I define context as the interaction in minds between human experiences and the outside world. From the perspective of the speaker's (or writer's) context, I explore motivations of the polysemization of English perception verbs; from the perspective of the hearer's (or reader's) context, I construct the process model of comprehending the polysemy of English perception verbs. I hold that the direct motivation of polysemization is the change of the speaker or writer's context besides the cognitive and the functional motivations. When the speaker or writer needs a word to fill his semantic vacancy in a new context, to add a new sense to an established word may be the first choice. Thus, it is the context that changes the image of a word, and thus changes the sense of the word. From the sensory domain to the cognitive domain or nonperceptual domain, or from the nonperceptual domain to the sensory domain, the context changes the base not the profile of the source sense of the perception verb. Within the same domain, the sensory domain for example, the context changes the profile of the source sense instead of the base to extend the sense. The base and profile to the sense of a perception verb is determined by the context in which the verb is used. Thus, to be cognizant of the sense from the hearer's perspective, firstly one has to work out the context in which the perception verb is used through the linguistic symbols. Secondly, from the context one may get the base and the profile of the sense. The combination of the base and the profile is the sense of the perception verb in the context.My contributions in this dissertation are as follows:(1) Innovation of Methodology I combine the introspection method of cognitive linguistics study and the corpus method of linguistics study, which renders this study more reliable, and therefore the results convincing. The corpora are from the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and the Collins COUBUILD English Wordbank (CCEW). The OED is a diachronic dictionary, in which all the senses and the examples of each sense are arranged diachronically. The CCEW is a synchronic corpus, which contains widely-collected British written, American written, British spoken, and American spoken materials. Moreover, the diachronic and synchronic approaches are reunited in depicting the polysemy of English perception verbs in this dissertation. I argue that polysemy is a synchronic phenomenon, which is the result of diachronic sense extensions. In the sense extensions, the cognitive processes of metonymy and metaphor are involved.(2) Discrimination of the Senses of English Perception Verbs I discriminate the senses of English perception verbs into senses of sensory perception (sensorily perceptual senses), senses of cognitive perception (cognitively perceptual senses), and nonperceptual senses. Both sensorily and cognitively perceptual senses are further divided into senses of result, senses of action, and senses of copula. So far as I know, no prior researches have done the discrimination in this way.(3) Invention of Perception Base I develop Talmy's (2000) sensory path, conceiving a perceptual path. Putting the perceptual path into the base of Langacker's (1987) image, I get the sense base of English perception verbs, which consists of Perceiver, Perceived, Probe, Stimulus, and Setting. I find different perceptual senses of a perception verb are different combinations of bases and profiles. Langacker's domain and image are usually used to explain the senses of words. In this dissertation I also use them to illustrate polysemization and comprehension of English perception verbs, which seems a breakthrough.(4) Definition of Context I define context as the interaction in minds between human experiences and the outside world. Human experiences are stored in minds as knowledge. The outside world mainly refers to situations in cultures. Simply, in one culture context is the interaction in minds between knowledge and situations. The context includes the speaker's (or writer's) context and the hearer's (or reader's) context.(5) Construction of Models I construct the model of polysemization of English perception verbs and the process model of comprehending the senses of English perception verbs within the framework of context that I define.The implications of the Research include:(1) This study provides a new way for cognitive linguistics study. As we know, introspection is the idiomatic method used in cognitive linguistics study. Usually, the results of introspection can be plausible but they lack in empirical support. Now the results of the introspection can be supported with authentic corpora. The combination of the introspection method and the corpus method may be widely used in studies of lexemes, syntax, and texts.(2) This dissertation studies the polysemy of English perception verbs comprehensively, which sets an example for researches on other polysemes. In the researches of other polysemes I believe that similar results may be found.(3) The research will contribute to the teaching of polysemes. The findings in this dissertation will not only help students identify individual senses of a polyseme, but also help them make clear sense relations and sense extensions of a polyseme. (4) The research also provides an approach to the compilation of dictionaries. When a definition is given to a word in the dictionary, it's most necessary to provide the base and the profile of the sense. As to a polyseme, it will be better to put the source sense and the extended sense together and show their relations.