A Cognitive Study Of Chinese Temporary Classifier Frames

This thesis is a cognitive analysis of Chinese temporary classifiers. Chinese temporary classifiers are defined as words which are temporarily borrowed from nouns to measure the quantities of concrete and abstract things. This thesis focuses on the analysis of the cognitive frames of Chinese temporary classifiers and their frame mapping process, aiming to find out the cognitive working mechanism of Chinese temporary classifiers from the perspective of cognitive frame theory.Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis, and based on the examples collected from the corpus of modern Chinese built by the Center for Chinese Linguistics PKU(CCL), the present study discusses the cognitive frames and the frame mapping process of Chinese temporary classifiers. It is argued in this thesis that generally Chinese temporary classifiers consist of two categories: human organ classifiers and other temporary classifiers. By analyzing the frame elements within the cognitive frames of these two categories of temporary classifiers, relevant sub-frames are listed in accordance with different perspectives, to reveal the characteristics of human organ classifiers and other temporary classifiers respectively. Besides, on the foundation of cognitive metaphor and metonymy theories, this thesis devotes to the explanation of the metaphoric and metonymic phenomena and frame mapping process of Chinese temporary classifiers.This thesis maintains that people tend to construct the cognitive frames of Chinese temporary classifiers on the basis of their own experience to obtain the measurement of things. Through the thorough analysis of Chinese temporary classifiers from the cognitive perspective, we find that Chinese temporary classifiers is an analogic group of words. During people’s process of measuring things, people prefer human organ classifiers to other temporary classifiers. The prototype frame of both human organ classifiers and other temporary classifiers is the [CONTAINER] frame. It is the most frequently used and familiar cognitive frame of Chinese temporary classifiers. Besides, the cognitive mode of metaphor and metonymy is the forming mechanism of Chinese temporary classifiers. In the metaphorical process, the semantic meaning of nouns are grammaticalized from the concrete to the abstract and then these nouns are borrowed to function as temporary classifiers to measure the quantities or describe the characteristics of the nouns they modify. In the metonymic process, Chinese temporary classifiers and the nouns they modify are effectively associated. In this way, the overall quantities of the nouns are measured and the image attributes of the nouns are highlighted. We also find that, the frame mapping of Chinese temporary classifiers occurs mainly in two conditions. The first condition is the frame mapping happens within one cognitive frame domain on the basis of association. The second condition is the frame mapping occurs between two different cognitive frame domains on the basis of similarity. Through frame mapping, the concepts or attributes of Chinese temporary classifiers are mapped onto nouns. Thus the quantities of nouns are measured finally.This thesis is comprised of five chapters and structured as follows.Chapter One devotes to the motivation and significance of the present study on Chinese temporary classifiers. Chapter Two presents literature review of previous researches on Chinese temporary classifiers both at home and abroad. Chapter Three is mainly about the theoretical framework of the present study. Chapter Four focuses on the analysis of Chinese temporary classifiers within the theoretical framework mentioned in Chapter three. Chapter Five is a conclusion of the present study as well as an attempt to identify the ways in which this study leads to further research. The noteworthy limitations are presented at the end of this chapter.