A Study On Semantic Uses Of Temporal Prepositions By Chinese English Majors

This study investigates the uses of the temporal prepositions by Chinese English majors,based on the semantic classification of the temporal prepositions in the A Comprehensive Grammar of the English prepositions by Quirk,et al.(1985)and the cognitive theories,including the prototype theory,image schema and metaphor.With the integration of qualitative and quantitative analysis,the research,taking SWECCL corpus as a collection of raw materials and Brown corpus as the reference,aims to investigate the distributions,semantic uses and factors influencing the uses of temporal prepositions by Chinese English majors.The research concludes three major findings:1.There is a significant difference in the uses of the temporal prepositions in,at,on between Chinese English majors and native speakers,embodied by:1)In terms of the frequencies of uses,Chinese English majors overuse the temporal prepositions in and at,while under-using the temporal preposition on;2)Chinese English majors focus on the uses of the prototypical meaning of a given temporal preposition,while ignoring the uses of its extended meanings;3)Chinese English majors overuse the fixed phrases and collocations of temporal prepositions,hence a lack of diversities;4)Chinese English majors favor the uses of relatively broad and fuzzy temporal meanings and disfavor uses of precise temporal meanings;2.Chinese English majors,unfamiliar with the complex temporal meanings,tend to mix the uses of different temporal prepositions;3.Factors(mother tongue interference,ignorance in the teaching of temporal prepositions,etc.)are found to contribute to the phenomena of overuses,underuses,mixed uses and single uses of temporal prepositions.In the end,this paper,based on the research findings,gives some corresponding pedagogical suggestions for the purpose of helping Chinese English majors to have a better understanding of the uses of temporal prepositions and providing a reference and inspiration for the future studies in this field.