Cognitive Approach To Semantic Naturalness Of English Syntactic Constructions

This dissertation makes a relatively explorative and comprehensive study on the semantic naturalness of English syntactic constructions through analysis of three cognitive approach, namely, experiential view, prominence view and attentional view.The aim of the dissertation is to throw a light on our comprehension and command of the nature of English syntactic constructions. The shining points of the study are that the the concept of semantic naturalness is put forward and the view that the semantic naturalness of English syntactic constructions is closely interdependent with the way we perceive the world is set forth.The dissertation is divided into six chapters. The first chapter gives a brief introduction to the whole construction, the aim and the significance of the study. The second chapter briefly introduces three approaches and some theories involved in the subsequent chapters. Chapter Three, Chapter Four and Chapter Five are the most significant parts. Chapter Three focuses on prototype theory, in which prototypicality is taken as a graded judgement for the naturalness of meaning conveyed by syntactic constructions. Chapter Four argues that semantic naturalness of syntactic constructions conform to the degrees of salience displayed by the figure-ground segregation. In Chapter Five, the naturalness of English syntactic constructions is explored from the angle of attentional view, in which frame theory will be proposed. Chapter Six is the conclusion of the whole dissertation.