Prototype Effects In Transitivity

The mainstream of traditional linguistics, such as highly sophisticated formalism, firmly believes that language is an autonomous system independent of human cognition and grammar; in particular, syntax bears no relation with lexicon or semantic meaning. Within the framework of traditional linguistics, most scholars' associated work in phonology, syntax and semantics rests ultimately on the main assumptions of the Aristotelian model. So they follow the classical view of categories and categorization, believing that categories are determined by necessary and sufficient features, which are a matter of yes-or-no. The deficiencies of the classical view become conspicuous when applied to the analysis of specific language phenomena. Cognitive linguistics strongly opposes the classical view and alternatively claims that categories center round a prototype and the membership of a category depends not on the binary features but on the family resemblance with the prototype. In consistent with the claims made by cognitive linguists, the structure of language, to them, in no small measure, is closely related with or rather based on human's conceptual knowledge and bodily experience. On the basis of their central proposals, cognitive studies in the field of linguistics have been shifted from semantics to language structures. Numerous fruitful researches have proved that cognitive...