Pragma-Cognitive Study On Metaphor In OT Model

Starting with the traditional research on metaphor in cognitive approaches, the present study attempts to explore the pragma-cognitive processes of metaphor in Optimality Theory.Though metaphor study from the cognitive perspective in China is still on its beginning stage, there is a wave of"metaphormania"abroad, especially now in the field of cognition. This is the first step of the study----- to introduce first some most outstanding theories and models of cognitive study on metaphor: three models of comparative views (Tversky's comparison-based model, Ortony's salience-imbalance model, and Gentner's structure-mapping model), interaction view, blending theory, attributive categorization model; and to introduce metaphor studies in the cognitive-semantic field and cognitive-pragmatic field. Based on these great achievements, this study focuses on the cognitive aspect of metaphor in the pragmatic field,including how to understand metaphors in OT model, the optimal process of metaphor production and interpretation, exploring the cognitive nature and function of metaphor, and how to apply OT to the language acquisition of metaphor.The second step is to give a basic concept and mechanism of OT. This is the theoretical grounding for the following study. With a good understanding about the theory and application of OT, especially in pragmatics, we will have a good beginning on this study.Metaphor and OT are integrated in the fourth chapter. From the optimality principles of blending theory to the relevance theory, the OT framework of metaphor study evokes the interests on metaphor. A bidirectional OT to metaphor understanding thus is the core of this dissertation.Under the comparison of generative grammar and OT, the metaphor acquisition is introduced as the case study. With some examples from the Chinese children, we could see how the constraints work, how the children could choose an optimal form of metaphor to express what they intend to, and how they accept metaphor as an optimal way of interpretation. With the help of OT tableaux, this study will exhibit the constraints of metaphor sentences and their reranking process. Thus, we could see the features of Chinese metaphor acquisition.The present study comes to an end with a brief summary and raises some questions for further study: the first is on the standard OT framework of metaphor in the general linguistic aspect; and the second is for L2 acquisition of metaphor in OT model.Choosing OT as the framework, this dissertation seeks a different and new perspective to interpret metaphor, to explore its pragma-cognitive mechanism and process.