A Cognitive Study On The Generalization Of Military Terms

In recent years,with the development of science and technology,the exchange and penetration between various sectors of the scientific field is becoming more and more frequent,and the cross-sector technology has also increased,leading to the increasing trans-boundary use of cross-sector languages.More and more professional technical terminology went into daily life by cross-sector generalization.The cross-sector generalization of professional technical words has aroused great interests among scholars since 1990 s when the concept of “language generalization” was first put forward.Although no great works has appeared in this field,there are still some good achievements in the research of the reason,mode and the pragmatics value of the language generalization.The mostly representative of the language generalization is the generalization of military terms.So,the study of the generalization use of the military terms will have great influence on the whole generalization-researching field.Guided by the theory of Cognitive Linguistics,basing on the Online Corpus of Peking University and the Online Corpus of National Language Committee,focusing on the military terms in the“Modern Chinese Dictionary”as the research material,this dissertation carried out a systematic study on the generalization of Chinese military terms.Through the discussion of the law of the generalization from the cognitive point of view,we are to test the applicability of the Cognitive Linguistics to Chinese military terms,to provide some beneficial explorations into the improvement of the “Modern Chinese Dictionary”,and to offer some effective translation strategy for the generalized military terms at the same time.The dissertation has 7 chapters all together.The first chapter is the introduction part.After the discussion of the current study situation and existing problems in this field,this chapter introduced the target,the range,the main content and the value of this research.The current study has achieved some success in the reason,the stage and pragmatically usage of the language generalization.But most of these researches are scattered description,lacking systematicness.Some research field like the generalized terms in the military dictionary,the translation of the generalized terms,and the inclusion of the generalized military terms into the modern language dictionary are still untouched.The study of the generalized military terms from the view of the Cognitive Linguistics is a frontier to be discovered,a challenging valuable project.Guided by the theory of Cognitive Linguistics,this study carried out a comprehensive research into the characteristics,the trigger mechanism,the channel of the generalization of military terms,as well as the integration networks,the motivation reason,the magnetic value of the generalization.The trend of the generalization and the translation strategy are also discussed.We are to help the standardization of the military terms,to perfect the compilation of the “modern Chinese dictionary”.Then,the theoretical base for this study is clarified.Scientific research must be guided by certain theories,and the progress of the study is also a test of the theory.This study is guided by the theory of Cognitive Linguistics,mainly based on the theory of the Conceptual Metaphors,the Integration Theory,Mental Space Theory,together with the cognitive concept of symbolization units,the base and profile of the image,and the cognitive domain.Cognitive Linguistics is developed on the premise of English language.It has to be tested by other languages.This study is going to test the Cognitive Linguistics on Chinese language,which is definitely very meaningful.The second chapter discusses the performance and the characteristics of the generalization of the military terms.Through the investigation into the 6 version of the “Modern Chinese Dictionary”,the dissertation gets an overall outcome of the generalization.The newest version published in 2012 included 267 generalized military terms all together,covered up to 29.1% of the total military terms it included,which increased 8% compared with the first version published in 1978.Then the dissertation studies the sound distribution,the grammatical distribution and the distribution of the military subject of the generalized military terms.Through the investigation of more than 1.4 million political reports,7.28 million economic reports and 100 thousand sports reports,it has been found that the register distribution of the generalization is not balanced.The generalization frequency is the highest in the field of sports,political the second,and the economics the third.The active characteristics of the generalization also vary according to the different historical period.The third chapter discusses the trigger mechanism and the channel of the generalization.All things in the universal are inter-connected,similarity and comparability is one presentation of the inter-connection.We have found that the trigger mechanism of the generalization is the similarity and comparability between the military concept and the concept that the military terms is used to express.Triggered by the similarity,the military concept is activated,and matched with concept that the speaker wants to convey,making the conceptual elements between both of them map onto each other.Then the military terms is generalized to convey the non-military concept that the speaker wants to express.We discuss the trigger mechanism by three types according their different similarity;they are similarity in behavior,similarity in function and similarity in the state of affairs.Then we will discuss the channel of the generalization by dividing the generalized military terms into 5 groups according to the traditional Chinese classification of phrases.This part also discusses the 3 generalization stages.The fourth chapter discusses the conceptual integration during the process of the generalization of military terms.It first takes a look into the cognitive domain,the image and the integrated concept of the generalization,and then analyzed the mental spaces concerned during that process.There will be mental spaces aroused by the military terms,and also spaces aroused by the military discourses.More specifically,the generalization of military terms involves at least 4 mental spaces: a military mental space(input space 1),a dialogue mental space(input space 2),a generic space and a blend space.By conceptualization,hypothesis,inference,analogy and metaphors,serials of mapping relations between the source domain(military concept)and the target domain(concept to convey)are built up,and the emergent structure is formed,which finally drives the generalization of the military terms.As the integration networks concerned,we have found that the generalization has two integration networks: the Single-scope Network and the Double-scope Network.The fifth chapter analyses the motivation reason and trend of the generalization.We discuss the motivation reason of generalization through the intrinsic attribute of the language system,the human cognitive metaphorical thinking,military cultures and the mental worship of the society toward the army.Compared to the infinite demand of the express for the world,the language is always in short of need.Generalization of technical terms is a good solution to this problem.The generalization of the military terms is to understand the target concept by the way of military concept,which is a typical metaphor.The propaganda of military lives in the literature is a strong driving force of the generalization.The worship of the army makes people imitate the service men's words and deeds,which accelerates the generalization.Then we study the trend of the generalization,and we got a totally different conclusion from the previous studies.On the whole,the generalization is becoming more and more popular.The sixth chapter discusses the translation strategy of the generalized military terms.It analyses the necessity of the translation,then discussed the principles for the translation.We have found a great difference exist toward the using of the generalized military terms between Chinese and English.To translate the military sense into English under non-military situations is not always acceptable.It's better to transplant the military metaphor or domesticate that during the translation.The last chapter is the conclusion part,summing up the main findings in the research.It firstly concludes the overall situation and the trend of the generalization of the military terms,summarizes the appropriation of the application the Cognitive Linguistics to Chinese language.The innovation and further research topics are then discussed.