A Cognitive Analysis Of Verbal Nominalization In English

Since English language is quite different from Chinese language, Chinese students have some difficulties in remembering English word. When they read, they often feel confused in understanding the word with several meanings. In English, the noun is one of the most important word classes. Many nouns come into being and become well established as common nouns by nominalization. Nominalization is a frequently used linguistic device in English. We often encounter nominalized expressions in the English reading. Through nominalization one word always has several different meanings and functions, but in most cases people, esp. the native speakers, do not feel difficult in understanding these words. It is an interesting linguistic phenomenon. Nominalization often happens with verbs and adjectives, sometimes with prepositions and conjunctions. The present study mainly concentrates on verbal nominalization since it is the most common case. We hope to find out a reasoning mechanism to interpret the meaning of verbal nouns. And we hope to help Chinese students to understand verbal nouns. Since nominalization is a variation of word classes, is it arbitrary or motivated? Why is it the variation in nominalization does not cause confusion in people's understanding? How does a nominalized expression perceive its meaning? How do people understand the nominlaized expression? This thesis tries to answer these questions from a cognitive analysis of nominalization. The aim of the study is to uncover the semantic motivation that underlies the phenomenon of nominalization by concentrating on verbal nominalization. The theoretical framework of the present study is based on Fauconnier & Turner's Conceptual Blending Theory (henceforth CBT for short) (1994, 1996, 1998). CBT suggests that conceptual blending play a fundamental role in the meaning construction of natural language. The meaning construction and reasoning mechanism of verbal nominalization can be interpreted within the framework of CBT. The thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter One gives a brief introduction to nominalization and the present study. Information about the definition of nominalization, the rationale and the objectives of the study is presented. Generally speaking, nominalization is not only a morphological process but also a syntactical process. Cognitive linguistics assumes that nominalization is a cognitive process in human cognition. The purpose of the present study is to explore the semantic motivation through cognitive analysis of verbal nominalization in the English language and the reasoning mechanism in the meaning construction of verbal nouns as a conceptual blending process. Chapter Two reviews different approaches to nominalization and points out their limitations. And the perspective of the present study is prompted in this section. Different linguists try to account for this linguistic phenomenon from different approaches, arriving at different conclusions. Jespersen's study (1924) serves as a first attempt linguistically on nominalization. The other researches are mainly within the framework of transformational grammar, a position represented by Chomsky (1957, 1970), Lees (1960), etc., concentrating on the relationship between verbs and their corresponding nominalizations. Within the framework of systemic-functional grammar, Halliday's (1994) theory of grammatical metaphor is regarded as the beginning of conscious study of nominalization from the functional perspective. Langacker's study gives a detailed cognitive classification of verbal nominalization. His study aims for seeking some basic rules to guide the study of this linguistic phenomenon. Despite great contributions made by these previous researchers, some limitations still exist. For example, concentrating on the product of language, they fail to notice why and how people can understand the nominalized phenomenon in language and how the meaning of a nominalized phenomenon is constructed in the process of nominalization. The meaning construction of the nominalized phenomenon is a res...