A Prototype-theoretical Approach To Semantic Change

More and more studies has been made on semantic change. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze semantic change from a cognitive point of view based on the prototype theory. Historically, semantic change has been explained based on traditional semantic theory, and has also been explained from the perspective of both historical linguistics and pragmatics, but there has been no satisfactory explanation.In this thesis, the first chapter deals with the definition of semantic change and gives a general introduction to prototype theory, which will be applied to the research of semantic change.The second chapter gives the literature review about semantic change. Some essential fields are discussed, such as metaphor and metonymy, the two traditional ways of figure of speech, how they influence the semantic change and another two important factors grammaticalization and subjectification.The third chapter focuses on the study of prototype theory and some basic notions of it. It analyzes the prototype theory and its application to the field of semantic change. This chapter brings about effect of prototype theory on semantic change and its motivation.The fourth chapter introduces four prototypical characteristics of semantic change. The fifth chapter further analyzes prototype theory and the classifications of semantic change and makes a detailed analysis about four ways of semantic change. More research is done from the aspects of the causes of semantic change and mechanisms and internal and external sides.The last chapter is the conclusion which points out that as an efficient linguistic theory, prototype theory plays a vital role in the study of semantic change but it also has its limits and can not solve all the problems.