A Cognitive Semantic Study Of The Polysemy Of The English Preposition Through

Language is a dynamically evolving system. A word in its long development will gradually extend from a single meaning to a number of meanings, resulting in what is generally referred to as lexical polysemy. Polysemy is characteristic of all natural languages. As Lyons (1995) put it, there is, and there has been, no natural language where a word has only one meaning. Lexical polysemy is the result of the principle of linguistic economy and cognitive economy, for it has substantially reduced the size of vocabulary and relieves the burden of mental lexicon.Inquiries into polysemy began as early as the Aristotelian times when it started to become a center of attention in the field of logics, philosophy, psychology, linguistics, etc. In the 1980’s, the rise of Cognitive Linguistics (CG) broke the traditional linguistic interpretations of meaning and proposed a completely new definition and implication. Meaning is no longer understood as a combination of discrete elements, but as closely related to cognitive phenomena, such as human experience, perception, conceptualization and categorization. Cognitive studies of polysemy also demonstrate striking differences from traditional ones. CG has carried out extensive studies of polysemous words that include prepositions. They emphasize associations between meanings, build up a radial network model of polysemy, and explain meaning extension in terms of conceptual metaphor and metonymy. Such work has uncovered the basic rules of polysemy which deviates from the formal trend of traditional semantics. But most of the researches in the cognitive field are based on the theory of prototype and categorization, revealing a unitary perspective with little novelty. The writer believes that such researches overlook the hierarchical nature of semantic structure and makes no distinction between different levels of meanings, so that members of the semantic category of a polysemous word exhibit enormous difference in abstractness or generality. This dissertation thus uses image schema to carry on an innovative research into the polysemy of the English preposition through under the CG framework, aiming at expanding relevant researches and injecting into them new vitality.Contrary to prototype-based categorization, this dissertation uses image schema as a basic categorizing relationship and describes a three-layer semantic category including abstract schema, sense schema and pragmatic schema. Image schema, as an abstract conceptual structure, can manifest different fitness of detail description and develop its instantiations accordingly. It therefore can be separated into several levels according to degree of abstractness. Schemas on the same level form a relationship of extension, while between different levels, it is one of elaboration. An image schema, as well as its instantiations, stands as a sub-category of the whole semantic category. Data analysis shows that four members constitute the level of abstract schema, namely, THROUGH 1, THROUGH 2, THROUGH 3 and THROUGH 4. THROUGH 1 is the first schema that ever emerged, exhibiting the highest degree of entrenchment and acting as a prototype of this level. Part of its structure is profiled and metonymically extends to the three other schemas. These four schemas, by specifying cognitive domains, elaborate into the next level of sense schema. The latter usually manifests itself first in the domain of space, and then extends to other domains by means of metaphorical mapping, forming a sub-category centering on space sense schemas. Sense schemas again elaborate into the next level of pragmatic schema by metonymically profiling features of schema components. Abstract schemas are context-free, with maximum generality. Pragmatic schemas describe details of cognitive scenarios and are maximally context-dependent. Sense schemas are the middle level between them, demonstrating both abstractness and specificity. Schemas on the three levels are connected to each other by extension or elaboration through metaphor and metonymy, shaping a three-level complex semantic category.Data of this research are selected from Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) and the following research methodologies are applied: (1) Relying on synchronic observations. Although polysemy is the result of diachronic development, it can be approached from a synchronic perspective in order to unfold its way of existing and evolving. (2) Combining description and interpretation. Detailed description that displays language facts is integrated with theoretical interpretation that analyzes and synthesizes relevant facts. (3) Using qualitative analysis supplemented by quantitative analysis so as to probe into the complex semantic structure of through on the basis of a large number of natural language data. (4) Describing semantic structure with both the elements of image schema and complex primitives.Innovativeness of this research lies mainly in the reorientation of the semantic structure of polysemy. The mainstream cognitive studies of polysemy build up a radial network model with fuzzy boundaries based on prototype. Members of the same category have imbalanced status and are organized with respect to typicality. The judgment of a category member relies on family resemblance, the commonality between different members of a category, but there is hardly a common element that is shared by all of them. In such a radial network model, prototype owns the most common elements and is regarded as the core of a category; non-prototype members have less common elements and are connected to the prototype through family resemblance. This dissertation breaks away from the above-mentioned popular model and describes a three-layer semantic model by using image schema as a categorizing tool. An image schema is a recurrent conceptual structure in human experience which explains the organization of semantic structures. In language use, an image schema can be activated differently and form different meanings. Members of the same level exhibit similar schematicity or generality. They can develop more detailed instantiations which, as a lower level of schema, can develop further instantiations. A superordinate schema is the manifestation of commonality of all subordinate instantiations. They together form a sub-category of the whole semantic category. Such a model goes beyond the one of radial network, expands polysemy studies, and provides insights for relevant researches. Although only through is selected for observation, the research aims at building a theoretical framework for polysemy as a universal phenomenon. Tyler and Evans (2003: 22) once commented,“investigating the meanings associated with spatial particles will offer fundamental insights into the relation between language, mental representation and human experience.”Although in depth this research cannot compare with previous ones, the writer still hopes to deepen the readers’understanding of lexical polysemy and further unravel the intricate interaction between world, language and cognition.Based on research findings, this dissertation promises implications for lexical semantics, polysemy in particular, vocabulary teaching and lexicography. It is expected that this research can motivate the development of lexical polysemy theories, broaden the understanding of categorization theory by focusing on its hierarchical order, help lexicographers better set and define semantic items, and offer more effective ways of vocabulary acquisition for English learners. Nevertheless it cannot be denied that due to subjectivity of CG in its own right and limitations of the researcher’s capability, this dissertation is far from perfection. More insightful findings are still to be expected.