A Cognitive Study Of Extended Meaning(s) Of Converted English Proper Nouns

English proper nouns are treated as linguistic units that signify specific or unique persons, objects and places in the world. But quite a few common words in modern English are derived from generalized or commonized proper nouns. Here in this thesis we hold the idea that the process of generalization or commonization of proper nouns to common nouns is a kind of conversion. So the term converted English proper nouns (CEPN) are adopted in our research. CEPN are widely and frequently used, and they play an important part in everyday use as well as in the fields as diverse as psychology, botany, astronomy and space technology. Following a cognitive approach, we focus our study of CEPN on three aspects: metonymy and the initial extended meaning, polysemy of CEPN, and the important role that culture plays in the conversion of English proper nouns. It aims to get an understanding of the cognition process of the conversion of English proper nouns and tentatively depicts a general model for polysemy of converted English proper nouns.In the first chapter, we give a literature review, which covers relevant studies on English proper nouns, polysemy research in cognitive semantics. What's more, we state reasons why we can regard the transformation of English proper nouns to common nouns as a kind of conversion. Finally we divided CEPN into two major types according to their sources: CEPN from names of people and CEPN from names of places.In the second chapter, we introduce some theoretical knowledge followed by our study: experientialism, prototype model, domain, metonymy and metaphor.Metonymy is the most fundamental cognitive mechanism in the conversion of English proper nouns. The third chapter discusses metonymic mapping within ICM (Idealized Cognitive Model) of different kinds to show that metonymy plays a major part in the first phase of the conversion of English proper nouns.Polysemy is an important characteristic of CEPN. In the fourth chapter, we apply prototype theory to the study of polysemy of CEPN. Our study shows that senses of a CEPN constitute a semantic network and are distributed around a primary meaning or nuclear sense, which is the initial sense derived from the CEPN. The many distinct senses gather in the category through two means of connection: radiation and chaining.Proper nouns are abundant in the English language and a considerable part of proper nouns are from Greek and Roman mythologies, the Bible and other literary works, so senses of CEPN are closely connected with culture. The fifth chapter mainly studies the role that written cultural material, cultural tradition and cultural psychology play in understanding senses of CEPN. And we point out that conventional knowledge also plays a part in understanding senses of CEPN.Through our study we get the following conclusions: The initial extended meaning of CEPN is derived through one of the two basic cognitive mechanisms____ metonymy. The polysemous extended meanings of a CEPN form a polysemous category, whose prototype or central meaning is the initial extended meaning of the CEPN. Other extended meanings of the CEPN distribute around the prototype and are connected directly or indirecly with the prototype through radiation and chaining. Culture is also closely connected with the extended meanings of CEPNS.In short, a tentative study of the senses of CEPN is made here in the hope that it will better our understanding and application of cross-cultural communication.