The Contrast And Comparison Studies On Polysemy Between English And Chinese Body Terms From The Perspective Of Cognition

The basic unit of language is vocabulary, and the core of vocabulary is meaning.Polysemy is a very common phenomenon in language, and body terms are thecognitive starting point of human beings for the world. Based on the cognitive law,the ancient Chinese hold that “getting inspirations about what lies near from the bodyand getting inspirations about what lies afar from the universe”, and in the west,Protagoras also holds that “Man is the measure of all things”. Both indicate that thenatural world is humanized. Human beings plays a core cognitive subject role in theprocess of the cognition for the world, so the comparative study between Chinese andEnglish polysemies of body terms to reveal cognitive and thinking characteristics isvery important.The research on semantic extension mainly includes two aspects, the cognitiveimage points and the categories of semantic extension of both English and Chinesebody terms. Based on bodily experience, human beings will make a mental imagewhich is called cognitive image according to the referents. The cognitive image ismainly based on the shape, position and function of three dimensions of the objects,and the image characteristics will become the basis of meaning extension and wordevolution. The research on the categories of semantic extension is about the categoriesthat the polysemy is involved in, including the number of all categories of semanticextension and the number of the semantic items in a category. Because categorizationis the classification of the world by cognitive subjects, it embodies the cognitive andthinking patterns of the cognitive subjects. We can explore the similarities anddifferences of cognitive and thinking patterns of both English and Chinese peoplefrom the perspective of “cognitive image” and “categories of semantic extension” ofpolysemy of both English and Chinese body terms.The difference of cognitive images between English and Chinese people reflectsthe difference of thinking, and the similarities of cognitive image reflect thesimilarities of thinking between English and Chinese cognition.The semantic extension mechanisms of polysemy are the metaphor andmetonymy, prototype category theory. Because metaphor and metonymy are twokinds of human thinking modes and cognitive means, through the comparison andcontrast of semantic extension laws between English and Chinese body terms, thethinking mode differences and cognitive laws similarities between English andChinese people can be revealed. For quite a long time, the research on polysemy isjust the result of linguists’ introspection, lacking fresh linguistic data and empiricalresearch, or confined to monolingual studies. This research uses authoritariandictionaries, based on lots of linguistic data and semantic extension charts anddiagrams, to reveal the laws of cognitive images and categories of semantic extension of body terms, of thinking and cognitive similarities and differences of both Englishand Chinese people, and proves the semantic extension of polysemy is not arbitrary.The semantic extension includes the important philosophical idea of “man is thereason”, based on metaphor and metonymy. The influence of metaphor on semanticextension of polysemy is radiant, and the influence of metonymy on semanticextension is just chain-like.Body terms which are the basis of cognition of human beings are not only thecognitive starting point of human beings for the world, but also the starting point ofall other concepts. From the perspective of cognition, the systematic comparison andcontrast between English and Chinese body terms have the function to trace thesource of their cognitive characteristics. In addition, language is the reflection ofthinking. Cognitive linguistics brings the cognitive subject “human beings” into theresearch scope, and it is not only a breakthrough to traditional theory, but also has animportant function to touch the nature and essence of language cognition. Currently,the systematic empirical contrast and comparison research between English andChinese body terms is still in the blank stage, especially for the cognitive researchfrom the perspectives of cognitive images and categories of semantic extension. Thisis also one of the reasons why this topic is chosen for the dissertation.In this dissertation, the body terms are divided into three parts based on theirlocations: the body terms of the head, the body terms of the trunk, and the body termsof the internal organs to make qualitative and quantitative analyses between Englishand Chinese body terms from the perspectives of cognitive images and categories ofsemantic extension. In addition, representative cases have been chosen from the threeparts of both English and Chinese body terms respectively to make qualitative andquantitative analyses, and the reasons for the differences and similarities betweenEnglish and Chinese body terms have been explored. The three groups of case studiesof body terms are “Bi”(“Nose”),“Shou”(“Hand”),“Xin”(“Heart”) respectively. Thecategory of semantic extension is based on ZhanWeiDong (2001) and Cui Xiliang(2002), according to the principle of pragmatism and goal-driven rule, and thesemantic extension category is divided into11categories, and hopes to promotesystematic research by case studies.This research is mainly aimed at revealing the basic laws of both English andChinese semantic extension of body terms, through systematic comparison andcontrast, to reveal as well the differences and similarities of thinking and cognitivepatterns of English and Chinese people.This research also illustrates the differences and similarities on the semanticconstruction, semantic image, and cognitive salience between English and Chinesepeople. To better illustrate the process of semantic construction of English and Chinese body terms, the “theory of framework” has been introduced, and theempirical interpretation of the case studies has also been analyzed.In the sixth chapter of this dissertation, several theories, such as the metaphortheory, metonymy theory, prototype theory, and the framework theory have beenintegrated from the perspective of cognition. The general laws of semantic extensionand the cognitive map of polysemy of both English and Chinese body terms havebeen depicted. In addition, the cognitive consistency of the several theories has beenpointed out. Besides, the reasons and working mechanisms for metaphor andmetonymy have been reflected in the philosophical sense. The philosophical identityof polysemy based on metaphor and metonymy has been pointed out.The research method of this paper is mainly using qualitative and quantitativeresearch methods, the combination of description and explanation method, thecomparative method, and the combination of case studies and systematic research.In conclusion, this research analyzed and described some language phenomenaby introducing them into the cognitive mechanism, displaying the cognitive processesof both English and Chinese people through the analysis of the cognitive nature oflanguage and the law of semantic extension. This research can not only contribute tobetter understanding of the cognitive patterns and thinking characteristics of bothEnglish and Chinese people, but also to enriching semantic theories, to facilitating thevocabulary teaching, dictionary compilation, English-Chinese translation andcross-cultural communication.