A Study On The Cognitive Mechanism Of The Semantic Formation Of Chinese And English Idioms

This thesis aims at studying the cognitive mechanism of the semantic formation of Chinese and English idioms.Both Chinese and English have an extremely rich treasure of idioms,which are called" core and essence ".Idioms have fixity in structure and wholeness in semantics.The four-character idiom is the typical representative of Chinese idioms and the stereotyped phrase is the typical form of English idioms.This thesis,based on the theoretical perspectives of Cognitive Linguistics,Cognitive Construction Grammar and the "Double-Triangle Approach",firstly discusses the concept properties and theoretical characteristics of Chinese and English idioms.The main part based on the five most important cognitive approaches/strategies,using a variety of research methods such as,case study,diachronic analysis and comparative analysis,delves into the hidden cognitive mechanism behind the semantic formation and evolution process of Chinese and English idioms.The introduction of a variety of theoretical frameworks and research perspectives in this paper can provide a new perspective for this kind of research,and describe and explain in a more comprehensive and in-depth way the nature,formation process,evolution path,motivation and mechanism of the semantics of Chinese and English idioms.This thesis includes nine chapters.Chapter one is the introduction of the whole thesis.This part mainly introduces the research background,the research objectives,the research theories,and explains the research methods and the relevant corpus sources.The second chapter gives an overview of the study of Chinese and English idioms from the perspective of Cognitive Linguistics and Construction Grammar.Cognitive linguistics,which is based on the "embodied philosophy",puts forward the core principle of "Reality-Cognition-Language",which holds that language is gradually formed based on people’s "interactive embodiment" and"cognitive processing" of the world.Idioms are generated in the conceptual system of human beings,and their nature is conceptual and systematic.The semantic formation of idioms is not arbitrary,but rational and motivated.Cognitive Construction Grammar insists on the construction-centered view,that construction itself is meaningful,and that construction has inheritance and hierarchy;Emphasis is placed on the role of construction as a whole,and idioms are understood as pairs of forms--semantics-discourse functions.Its core view is to use "symbolic units" and "constructions" on the basis of The Embodied Philosophy to establish the best and simplest mental representation scheme between structure,meaning and function,so as to make a unified and comprehensive interpretation of language.The third chapter analyzes the conceptual attributes and theoretical characteristics of Chinese and English idioms,and mainly discusses the similarities and differences in meaning,characteristics,etymology and structure of Chinese and English "idioms".Chapter four to chapter eight is the main part of the thesis,which comprehensively compares and analyzes the cognitive mechanism of the semantic formation of Chinese and English idioms from five aspects:interactive embodiment,categorization,conceptual metaphor,construal approach and grammaticalization.Chapter four analyzes the mechanism of semantic formation of Chinese and English idioms based on interactive embodiment.Cognitive Linguistics and embodied philosophy argue that language is the result of embodiment-based cognition.Cognitive structure supports linguistic facts and becomes the cognitive law behind language,including cognitive approach,conceptual structure,semantic system,human(encyclopedia)knowledge and cultural conventions.Cognitive linguistics studies the human mind and cognition on the basis of body experience.The internal motivation and operating mechanisms of Chinese and English idioms are based on cognitive embodiment.Embodied philosophy is the philosophical basis for cognitive linguistics.Experience and relevance are the cognitive basis for the understanding of idioms,while creativity and relevance are the cognitive basis for the processing of idioms.Taking the Chinese idioms containing "men(门)" and the English idioms containing "door" as examples,this paper discusses the meaning-transformation process of Chinese and English idioms based on "interactive embodiment ".Chapter five analyzes the mechanism of semantic formation of Chinese and English idioms based on categorization theory.The primary function of language is categorization.Categorization is the psychological process of classification and the cognitive basis of human understanding of the objective world.The logical order of categorization is:meaning→image→language.As the most basic abilities in human thinking,language,reasoning and other cognitive activities,categorization is bound to rely on the basic ways and approaches of human thinking and follow the general rules of human cognitive model.Categorized cognitive models can be summarized as proposition model,image schema model,metaphor model and metonymy model.These four types of models produce the prototype effect in different ways and achieve the systematic and reasonable categorization of the cognitive object,that is,categorization.In terms of the form-meaning relationship,a typical Chinese idiom is a special construction,that is,a four-character construction with the characteristics of classics and still-usage,which can be divided into three types:fusional,comprehensive and combinational.According to the implicit internal semantic structure,Chinese idioms can be classified into seven categories.Functionally,a typical idiom is equivalent to a word.Phrasal idioms are the main body of English idioms.According to their functions and the parts of speech of the core words,they are divided into seven categories:nominal idioms,verbal idioms,adjective idioms,adverbial idioms,prepositional idioms,connective idioms,and interjection idioms.The English idiom system itself is a gradually changing continuum,which can be described in degree from the aspects of word selection,syntactic arrangement and semantic interpretation.The sixth chapter analyzes its restriction on the semantic formation of Chinese and English idioms from the perspective of conceptual metaphor.Metaphor is an important way of thinking and participates in the whole process of human cognition.Metaphor is essentially a mapping from the original source domain to the target domain.People tend to interpret or reflect the unfamiliar,abstract and complex target domain by referring to the known,objectively existing,concrete and simple original source domain,so as to realize the cognition of the correlation between different conceptual phenomena.Conceptual metaphor is the superior concept of metaphor.Idioms can be divided into simile idioms,metaphor idioms,metonymy idioms and synecdoche idioms.As the product of human conceptual system to the empirical world,idioms not only belong to the problem of language itself,but also are not the arbitrary arrangement and matching of language forms and special meanings.Their essence is conceptual and systematic.The special meaning of idioms cannot be directly derived from the literal meaning,but must be mapped between the literal meaning and the metaphorical meaning of idioms through conceptual metaphor to build a bridge.The meaning of idioms can be analyzed,and its rationale mainly includes the cognitive mechanism of metaphor,metonymy and conventional knowledge.Based on the three most common types of metaphor,this paper discusses the metaphorical cognitive mechanism of Chinese idioms.Chinese and English idioms have their own characteristics in terms of the objects of analogy used and the sources of allusions,and have their own distinct cultural background and social foundation.Therefore,they have common characteristics and personality differences in many aspects.Chapter seven analyzes the formation mechanism of the semantics of Chinese and English idioms based on construal approach.Construing refers to the ability of people to perceive and describe the same scene in different ways in order to think and express.Metaphor and metonymy,the two cognitive mechanisms,play an important role in the construing of idioms.Focusing,salience,perspective and specificity are all involved in the construing process of Chinese and English metaphorical idioms.The construing of Chinese idioms involves a dynamic process from its original meaning to its initial meaning and finally to its interpretation.The essence of idioms is conceptual,and the process of semantic formation is analyzable.Idiomaticity is a comprehensive performance of the structural and semantic features of idioms.The strongest idiom has the worst transparency and the highest construality,whereas the weakest idiom has the best transparency and the lowest construality.The three cognitive mechanisms most closely related to the inference of idiomatic meaning are conceptual metaphor,conceptual metonymy and conventional knowledge.The construal modes of idioms include direct access mode and keyword activation mode.The construal model of English metaphorical idioms is constructed by the following six steps:1)activate the metaphorical thinking consciousness;2)identify the induction point;3)initiating the cognitive mechanism of association and analogy;4)reveal conceptual metaphor;5)construct image schema and concept integration;6)test the relevance of context.Under the same construal mode,Chinese and English speakers are often able to produce metaphorical idioms with complete symmetry of form-meaning.With different ways of construal,metaphorical idioms with symmetrical meaning but asymmetrical form can be produced.Chapter eight analyzes the formation and evolution mechanism of the semantics of Chinese and English idioms based on the grammaticalization theory.Grammaticalization refers to the process or phenomenon of the generation and formation of grammatical categories and grammatical elements.The characteristics of grammaticalization can be summarized as unidirectionality,order,abstraction and specialization.The three main research areas of grammaticalization are causes and mechanisms,stages and features,and tracks and schedules.The results of grammaticalization are embodied in three forms:lexicalization,pragmaticalization and idiomaticity.Taking the semantic evolution as the main line,respectively using the method of "typical case analysis" and "holistic analysis",this chapter analyzes the process of semantic and functional grammaticalization of Chinese and English idioms.Reanalysis,analogy,high-frequency use,cognitive factors(mainly including metaphor,metonymy,etc.)and other motivation or mechanisms have played an important role in promoting the semantic formation and evolution of Chinese and English idioms.The frame mark and construction mode of Chinese idioms can be divided into two types:prepositional and postpositional.The grammaticalization of English idioms is mainly manifested in structural form,semantics and function.The grammaticalization of English idioms is related to the nature of language and other mechanisms:the arbitrariness and regularity of language,the Zipf Principle and inhibition mechanism in language use and understanding,and cognitive factors(mainly including metaphor,metonymy,analogy and reanalysis).The ninth and the last chapter is the epilogue of this thesis.It concludes the research contents and results by means of summarizing the research methods,experiences and analyzing the incomplete parts of the research.