A Study Of The Evolution Of English Third Person Pronouns From The Perspective Of Cognitive Sociolinguistics

Language is the product of the interaction between conceptualizers and the world.With the advance of society and the change of times,new things constantly emerge,and language constantly updates and develops.Personal pronouns,as the important elements in language and frequent words frequently in people’s daily communication,the evolution of their referential connotations reflect people’s cognitive processing mode,as well as the development of politics,economy and culture at that time.However,most current studies simply focus on the pragmatic functions of personal pronouns.Therefore,it is necessary to further analyze the cognitive factors and social factors that influence the evolution of the referential connotations of third person pronouns,so that we can clarify the inter-relationship between the referential connotations,and reveal the cognitive and social reasons for their evolution.This thesis establishes CCM₁M₂ model based on covariance theory,cognitive reference point theory,metaphor and metonymy,from the perspective of cognitive sociolinguistics（the first C stands for covariance theory,the second C for cognitive reference point,M₁ for metaphor,and M₂ for metonymy）.And the author takes 2277sentences with third person pronouns in different historical periods collected from Early English Books Online and Oxford English Online as the main data source,and applies qualitative and quantitative research methods to analyze the cognitive factors and social factors that influence the evolution of the referential connotations of third person pronouns,with a view to clarifying people’s recognition of related issues.According to research findings,CCM₁M₂model has a strong explanatory power for analyzing the cognitive and social factors that influence the evolution of third person pronouns.Specifically,the evolution of third person pronouns is closely related to social factors（such as economy,culture,and religion）and cognitive processing（cognitive reference point ability,metaphor and metonymy）,among which social life has the greatest influence on the evolution of personal pronouns.Social life determines the nature of personal pronouns’evolution,and the usage of personal pronoun reflects the development of social reality and people’s ideology.In addition,in the evolutionary process of third person pronouns,whether the number of representational forms,or the kinds of referential connotations,has experienced the process from less to more,and to less.And only those forms and connotations that conform to the expectation of community members and social norms are preserved,which is also a process of establishing intersubjectivity under economic principles.In short,the evolution of third person pronouns in English has been gradually improved with the development of social history.Social turbulence and historical changes have promoted the derivation of the referential connotations.The evolution of the referential connotations is closely related to social experience and cognitive processing.