N-V And V-N Shift

Polysemy describes the fact that a word contains several discrete but related meanings and the meaning items are in derivational and metaphorical relationship. The most commonly used words tend to be the most polysemous. A universal phenomenon in natural language, polysemy is the objective demand for the economical principle in language and the economical principle in human cognition.In the past twenty years, it is held by cognitive semanticists that language should be systematically studied and researched based on basic human cognitive abilities. Therefore, we explicate polysemy cognitively.We hold that conversion is a special way leading to polysemy. Conversion refers to changing words of a part of speech into words of another part of speech without any change of word forms, thus endowing the original words with fresh meanings and functions.In this thesis, denominal verbs and deverbal nouns parented by conversion are my research focus, with their conversion mechanisms termed as the N-V shift and the V-N shift respectively. The N-V and V-N shift extends word meanings, word forms complete. As a cross-cultural language phenomenon, the N-V and V-N shift enjoys so many material examples, though with its own confines. But as is known to all, linguistics has certainly developed beyond the stage where a collection of pretty and curious semantic specimens, however attractively arranged and aptly and minutely described, would be an acceptable offering. So it goes natural that we probe semantic motivation of the N-V and V-N shift. We maintain that there exists the mutual inclusion of semantic contents of noun and verb, which serves as the semantic motivation of the N-V and V-N shift.Besides, I expound pedagogical implications of the N-V and V-N shift, where my great interest lies. The N-V and V-N shift is concerned with teaching of polysemy, writing refinement and understanding the N-V and V-N shift utterances.