A Cognitive Study Of The Generation And Use Of The Voice Of The English Verb

The studies on the voice of the English verb have been one of the important tasks in the grammatical research. Within the past several decades, different grammatical schools, grammarians and scholars have conducted some research on the voice of the English verb and they have made achievements in different aspects. Most of the studies, however, are confined to the language itself, without reflecting the cognitive processing of human beings in using a language, thus limitations exist in the studies. Based on the prominence view, this thesis chooses the voice of the English verb as the study object, aiming at rendering cognitive theoretical principles for the generation and use of the voice of the English verb, and put forward sound interpretation of the restrictions on the use of voice in grammar books.In the light of cognition, voice is defined from the cognitive perspective as a grammatical category of the English verb which mirrors the language user's perspective on an event. Two subcategories, the active voice and the passive voice, are included in the grammatical category of the voice of the English verb.From the perspective of the prominence view, the thesis has made a cognitive analysis of the voice of the English verb on the basis of the canonical event model and energy transmission. In the unmarked situation, the participants in the focus function as the main part of a sentence, while the setting is expressed by an adverbial modifier. On the one hand, in a case where only one participant is involved, this participant will function as the clausal subject. As there is no energy transmission from one participant to another, intransitive clauses are accommodated. On the other hand, transitive clauses are accommodated, in a case where more than one participant is involved, the participants function as the main part of a sentence. Two voices, namely, the active voice and the passive voice are used in the transitive clauses. The generation of the transitive sentences depends on the degree of the prominence of the participants. The active voice is generated when the degree of prominence of the agent is higher than that of the patient.On the contrary, when the patient is more prominent than the agent, the passive voice is generated.In the final analysis, the choice of the voice is determined by the language user's perspective. The perspective of cognition is syntactically reflected by the subject of the sentence. In the process of specific language use, the particular context may manifest the degree of the prominence of the participants and the choice of the voice is constrained by the context. The general rule of the choice of the voice is that the context determines the degree of prominence, the degree of prominence determines the perspective of cognition, and the perspective of cognition, in turn, determines the choice of the voice. On the basis of this rule, this thesis gives an integrated interpretation to the constraints on the use of voice listed in the grammar books.To sum up, this thesis reveals the cognitive nature of the voice of the English verb. It is hoped that the study will provide beneficial reference for teaching and learning and help teachers and learners to understand, master and use the voice of the English verb more confidently.