The Functions Of Cognitive Metaphor And Cognitive Metonymy In The Formation Of English Polysemy

Polysemy shared by all human natural speech, is one of the most common and vital linguistic phenomena. Lyons hypothesizes that,"It is almost certainly the case that there are no natural languages, and never have been, in which every word has one and only meaning"(1995,72). In the light of the most known and related theories and facts, the conclusion can be drawn safely that polysemy is the usual case whereas monosemy is rare. Polysemization is the inevitable result of languages’ development. Polysemy comes into being with the extension of original meanings synchronically and development of new senses diachronically. It has been always the spotlight of linguistic study. But many traditional researches are confined to the inner elements of polysemous word, for instance, the difference between polysemy and homonymy. They missed the whole picture of polysemy for ignoring the external elements of polysemy. In this sense the essence of polysemy failed to be discovered in the traditional study.The advent of cognitive linguistics brings out a brand-new perspective from a different angle to explain polysemy. It pays more attention to the external elements of language and the interaction between human’s experience and the objective world. It helps to construe the motivation and mechanism of the extension of meanings of a polysemous word. Cognitive linguists hold that polysemy is a process in which the multiplicity of meanings of a polysemous word is fulfilled by the extension from the original and basic sense to the other related senses based on experientialism by virtue of cognitive devices, mainly metaphor and metonymy. The original and basic meaning of a polysemous word refers to the first sense in the appearance of this word. The extended meanings are realized by means of the mechanisms of cognitive metaphor and metonymy. Therefore human cognitive categorization and conceptualization is accomplished and both the subjective and objective worlds are convincingly explained and known.From the perspective of cognitive metaphor and metonymy, the author intends to disentangle polysemy and then answer the following research questions:1.What is the functions of cognitive metaphor and metonymy in the formation of English polysemy?2. Are there any differences between these two functions?3. What are the concrete forms for these two cognitive thinking modes in the formation of English polysemous words? The research methodology which the author adopts is the case study. The corpus is collected from the most widely used English dictionary in China LONGMAN DICTIONARY OF CONTEMPORARY ENGIISH. Based on the theories of cognitive metaphor and metonymy, the thesis explores the functions, mechanisms of them in the formation of English polysemy. The paper holds that in the extension of word meaning, metaphor is based on similarity in the form of radial while metonymy on contiguity and salience in chains. They are like spots on a continuum in the ways of thinking. In this sense the relationships among the meanings of polysemous words are proved to be interrelated, not absolutely arbitrary held by Saussure. To some extent, it is the supplement and perfection of Saussure’s arbitrariness of language. It is expected that the thesis provides some instrumental significance and referential value for the teaching of English vocabulary in EFL and lexicography.