A Cognitive Analysis On Letter Words

Nowadays, as lexicon plays a vital role in the whole grammar theory, many language phenomena, which have been described by grammar rules before, are transferred to the research on term in order to tickle problem of vacancy in aspect of term knowledge. The appearance of such linguistic tendency has attracted a majority of scholars to study the lexis. Letter words as a kind of marginal lexis have draw special attention from scholars and experts in academic community. Although there are a lot of studies on letter words, most of researches are qualitative analysis or list of examples. From the cognitive perspective, the research of construction and cognitive reasoning mechanism in letter words is rarely seen.Thus, the present thesis attempts to analyze meaning construction of letter words with the application of Conceptual Integration Theory and Conceptual Integration Networks put forward by Fauconnier, Turnner and other cognitive linguists. The purpose of the thesis is not only to offer a cognitive on-line process for the meaning construction of letter words but also to provide a type of researching perspective and new orientation to study letter words appear in Chinese. Meanwhile, we can also test the powerful explanatory force of Conceptual Integration Theory.On the basis of literature review, the present thesis at first sorts out and classifies letter words and divides letter words into three types: acronym words, hybrid letter words with character(s) or English words, and translated letter words, then employs the Conceptual Integration Theory and relevant cognition theories to closely examine its meaning construction. The research result draws a conclusion that cognitive on-line process of letter words is a process of conceptual integration and the process can reveal how letter words construct meanings. In the conceptual integration network, the meaning construction of letter word is involved in various similarity projections and associative projection apart from metaphorical projection. In addition, we find that present similarity projection based on conceptual metaphor and analogy may limit other similarity projections in the network, like . phonetic similarity projection, form similarity projection and unique feature projection. Subsequently, the presenter gives a unifying cognitive frame to two types of letter words: one type is a three space integration network (single frame network) and the other is four-space integration network (frame networks). Finally, these research results help us find that although the conceptual integration theory possesses a powerful explanatory force to natural language, there are some language phenomena it can not explain. The insufficiencies of the Conceptual Integration Theory and unsteadiness of letter attributes influence the integration of letter words in the cognitive networks. If treating the Conceptual Integration Theory as a general law to reveal human's all language, scholars and experts need to make more efforts to improve and perfect it constantly.The thesis is the first attempt to give a theoretical analysis and research on the meaning construction of letter words with adoption of the Conceptual Integration Theory and Conceptual Integration Networks. The study conclusions are more reliable and persuasive than those from introspective methodologies and ways of listing examples. The observation in this study will provide a platform for future further research on letter words, a basis for standardization of letter words, a reference for present lexis research in China, especially marginal lexis, and a new contribution to the lexical knowledge base of Chinese.