A Study On The Categorical Definition Model Of Communication Verbs In English Learner’s Dictionaries Based On The Prototype Theory

Communication verbs are verbs relating to communication and the transfer of ideas(Levin 1993), and they enjoy high frequency in both Chinese and English languages. Compared with native speakers, Chinese EFL learners have been found to fail to acquire a diversified vocabulary of communication verbs. The English learner’s dictionary, as a major reference for Chinese EFL learners, is expected to provide the definitions of communication verbs in a way that can best help learners to differentiate the differences of verbs of the same category.In light of cognitive linguistics, categorization is the main way for human beings to perceive the material world. This is also true in vocabulary acquisition; learning words through categorization can reach cognitive economy. In the cognitive process of categorization, people perceive the distinctive features of the category members on the basis of grasping the prototypical features, making it more effective to differentiate the differences of words of the same category.Based on the prototype-categorization theory, the present study constructed a multi-dimensional definition model for communication verbs. This paper has classified communication verbs into several primary categories, and both of the prototypical features and distinctive features of each category have been abstracted,deduced and summarized with the help of componential analysis, providing the basis and definition constituents for the new model. To make the new model better meet the needs of Chinese EFL learners, a comparative study of the behaviors of communication verbs has been conducted between learners and natives by using the approach of CIA with the help of CLEC and FLOB. The characteristics of learners’ use of communication verbs have been analyzed and served as the realistic basis for the construction of the new model. The present study also analyzed the definitions of communication verbs in current dictionaries and several disadvantages have been summarized from the standpoint of cognitive linguistics, which provided the direction of improvement for the new model. Based on the theory of prototype-categorization,the CIA of corpora and analysis of the current dictionary definitions, this paper proposed a multi-dimensional definition model for communication verbs.To measure the validity of the new model, a test is conducted in this paper, and the categorical definition model has been found to be pedagogically more beneficial to learners’ comprehension and discrimination of communication verbs.